There are many construction toys for kids out there, but magnetic tiles are easily the most popular with my own two children. Here are 7 ways we use them…
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Building Brilliance Magnetic Shapes
the past month and a half years now.
And brilliant is right.
These magnetic tiles are an awesome kids construction toy.
The magnet shapes are made of sturdy, brightly colored translucent plastic that beautifully catches and filters both sunlight as well as artificial light. We especially like to use ours on our simple DIY light table.
They are brilliant in more sense than just that one, though.
Any toy, construction or otherwise, that captures my kids’ imagination day after day after day for over a month is brilliant. (I know many parents would agree with that assessment.)
And it’s not just my kids, but every kid who comes to our house.
These magnetic tiles are so open-ended that they get used in all kinds of ways–not just for building castles and towers. With magnets along each of the edges, kids can construct any number of interesting shapes and the magnets help hold the tiles together. Brilliant!
Here are 7 Ways My Kids Use Their Magnetic Tiles
- Construction
- Pretend Play
- Light Table Play
- 2-D and 3-D Design
- Color Mixing
- Exploring Magnetic Properties
- Building and Learning about Shapes
I want to go through this list one by one and share pictures of each in action…
#1 – Construction with Magnetic Tiles
This is the biggie, and obviously what the magnetic tiles were made for. I love how the variety of shapes plus the magnetic aspect of the tiles allow the kids to really get creative with their building.
#2 – Pretend Play with Magnetic Tiles
I wasn’t expecting this at all, but the magnetic tiles have been used nonstop for a variety of pretend play scenarios. Besides buildings and castles that are then incorporated into pretend play, they’ve been used for roads, slides, animal carousels, barns, fences, and, as you can see in the photo above, food stalls.
#3 – Light Table Play and Exploration with Magnetic Tiles
Yes, a lot of the play and building with the tiles have been on the light table, just because they are just so lovely in the light.
#4 – 2-D and 3-D Design with Magnetic Tiles
While a lot of the designing with the magnetic tiles has been three-dimensional, there’s been a fair amount of two-dimensional designing done as well.
#5 Color Mixing and Color Sorting with Magnetic Tiles
Pretty self explanatory, right?
#6 Exploring Magnetic Properties with Magnetic Tiles
How close can you get the magnets before they attract each other and click together?
#7 – Learning about Shapes with Magnetic Tiles
Love this! The 2-dimensional shapes of the tiles–triangles, squares, rectangles, and trapezoids–can be combined to form 3-dimensional shapes, including pyramids, cubes, and prisms.
I initially thought the price tag on these Building Brilliance Magnetic Tiles was a little steep. But I’m a convert. These are completely worth it!
My kids even combine them with legos and other construction toys!
You may have seen similar magnetic tile building products with different names, such as Magna-Tiles
Discount School Supply, is one of my blog sponsors, and sent me a box of the Building Brilliance Magnetic Tiles for free to try out and review (at my request). But as always, all opinions expressed are my own.
Update: We’ve since found 3 fun NEW ways to use these magnetic tiles!
6 MORE Awesome Construction Toys for Kids
- Fort Magic (an open-ended fort building kit for kids)
- A straw building set
- LEGO, of course
- Wooden blocks (classic and still one of the best)
- Marble run mazes (some of these are surprisingly the best construction toys!)
- Sand, dirt, sticks, and stones 🙂
How about you? Do your kids like magnetic tiles? What other constructions toys do they play with?
