Xyloba Melodia Folksongs 1 – Musical Marble Run Melody Kit (52 Pieces)

The Xyloba Melodia Folksongs 1 Melody Kit brings music and building together in one beautifully engineered set. Included are all the pieces needed to construct marble runs that chime out the opening notes of beloved folk songs — among them "Oh When the Saints," "The Moon Has Risen," and "Silent Night." It's a wonderful pick for families ready for a bit more of a challenge, offering entertainment that spans generations.

Detailed assembly instructions make building the set's pieces approachable, while curious children are free to design their own original marble runs and melodies. Because interchangeable pieces and tracks of varying lengths shape the rhythm of each tune, children get to experiment freely — composing their own music while engineering their own structures. The result is a beautiful, ingeniously designed heirloom toy, built to be passed down and enjoyed by children and grandchildren for generations to come.

Product Details:

• Recommended Age: 5 years and up. Not suitable for children under 36 months — contains small parts that pose a choking hazard.
• Includes: 52 wooden pieces
• Material: Beechwood, metal
• Made In: Switzerland

The Story Behind Xyloba

The idea for a musical marble run first took shape in 1969, when Samuel Langweiler set out to design a track where a rolling marble could strike a series of chimes to create a melody. Samuel envisioned something truly interactive: a system where the chimes themselves could be rearranged, letting children build not just marble runs, but their own original tunes, simply by changing the order of the chimes and the spacing between them. The design process brought plenty of challenges, but after many experiments, Samuel arrived at his first working melody.

As a cellist with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Samuel spent long stretches of time on tour and had little opportunity to seek out a manufacturer for his invention. It wasn't until years later that the Weizenkorn Foundation began producing and distributing his design under the name Xyloba Musical Marble Runs.

Today, Xyloba remains a wonderfully creative wooden toy — one that builds fine motor skills and spatial reasoning while nurturing a genuinely musical way of thinking. As the marble descends the track, it strikes each chime in sequence, and the interlocking system of ramps and sound blocks allows for an enormous range of possible setups. By experimenting with different chimes and adjusting the length of the ramps between them, children can compose entirely their own rhythms and tunes.

About the Weizenkorn Foundation

Based in Basel, Switzerland, the Weizenkorn Foundation is a social enterprise that supports and employs over 200 young men and women living with psychological impairments who might otherwise struggle to find work. Within the Foundation's sheltered workshops, these skilled craftspeople handcraft every component of the Xyloba Musical Marble Runs, alongside many other beautifully made wooden toys.