Good, high-quality magnetic construction set for kids. Balls have diameter of 5 cm, rods – 8 cm. It contains urved pieces, short and long rods, each of them has its own texture pattern like pimples, convex lines, dents. The colors are pleasant, there are balls and hemispheres that don’t have a magnetic surface at their base.
This magnetic tiles set has tiles of standard shapes – they are either squares or triangles. However, this set has an interesting feature – a magnetic building plate you may include in your crafts. Kids can create 2D art attaching tiles to it and creating some figures. The board also holds tiles together, allowing you to build higher or carry your buildings around after they are finished. And if you have a very big magnetic tile collection, this board may act like a roof or a huge solid tile for anything you build.
Here is an example of a craft with a baseplate included.
This is a wooden magnetic mosaic set by the Melissa and Doug brand. It has 120 magnet pieces, 6 pattern cards, and a magnetic board to build on.
25 wooden cubes with built-in magnet. A booklet included in the set has options for building both from the cubes themselves and with the addition of parts from other EDTOY sets. The manufacturer emphasizes that all the parts in different EDTOY sets are compatible.
Those who held this constructor in their hands will understand my bewilderment, at the first meeting with him – is that SUCH money for that ?! Firstly, not enough, and secondly, the parts made of transparent plastic looked somehow … unimpressive. All skepticism disappeared when we started connecting, recharging in the light, and then looking at the structures in the dark!
Using all the parts, you can create a long road train like this one.
In large Tegu sets, in addition to cubes and thin planks, there are also bricks with 6 magnets in them. At the end of a brick there is also a magnet. The bricks were placed between the cubes like the keys in a piano. If you press them, the bricks spring back, almost like in a real piano, only there is no sound, but children voiced it themselves. It turned out a funny piano with one incomplete octave. Invented by Anny (7 years old).
Arisha made this boat from Tiko all by herself, the idea and construction are all hers.
Pythagoras, Tiko, and Tako are vintage building sets. They have big panels of different colors and shapes, that connect by the edges. Each piece has sockets and balls that can snap together, connecting the pieces. You can also connect the pieces of different shapes, as long as their sides match. This connection is strong enough to hold even the biggest structures together.
Because of the sockets’ form, Pythagoras and Tiko panels can form both flat surfaces and 3D shapes. The flexible joint connection means that you can connect the pieces at different angles. The bigger panels are huge – they are a few inches long, so kids can create toy hats or items to hold, and not just toys. They are sturdy enough to wear and to play with. There also are smaller pieces that can help connect the bigger pannels together or make smaller crafts. The pieces of this set have all kinds of shapes – there are different triangles, rectangles, squares, pentagons, and so on, all in different colors.
Sadly, Amazon seemingly has no sets exactly like Tiko and Pythagoras, but some very similar concepts also are interesting enough.
A proud builder with his craft. He did all by himself from Knex 100 models kit, without any help.
K’Nex exists in two sizes – regular and mini KNex. There are also mathing thick and thin rods, as well as some rods that can connect big and small flakes together. Not all K’Nex sets have mini parts. Knex 100 models kit has regular pieces.
Just like with any other K’Nex sets, this one has pieces that hold together securely. However, you can easily dismatle your crafts and create something else using the pieces. The regular K’Nex pieces have more robust connections, and crafts can survive even the most active play. Mini K’Nex crafts are slightly more fragile.
While the crafts themselves can be very big, the pieces, especially mini pieces, are very small. Because of this, K’Nex can be dangerous for small babies who can accidentaly swallow the pieces. These pieces can also be too tricky for smaller kids to assemble properly. Because of this, the recommended age for K’Nex sets is 7+ years.
It’s also important to remember that most K’Nex sets don’t have many detailed crafting instructions. Some crafting ideas packages depict may be only shown as completed toys. However, with versatility and possibilities K’Nex offers, this usually is not a big problem.
Simple patterns. Younger children may start with simple thing made from these cubes.
