Fun with magnetic tiles!

Do you know what mag tiles are? Have you ever played with them? I am not going to lie, I am obsessed. I used to love playing with Duplos with the kids or wooden blocks, but magnetic tiles are a game changer! These multicolored, multi-shaped plastic toys with magnets in them are so fun to play with. My kids absolutely love these things now, and so do I. We all will sit in the living room together and build tall towers or intricate castles and shapes. They are a relaxing thing to do with the kids to wind them down before bed or even get them to play alone.

We got our first set from a family member on Carson’s first birthday, and we didn’t end up playing with them. As Carson got a little older, we began bringing them out more and started playing with them often. We then received a second set that was slightly different from our first from my mother-in-law, and we started to play with this set more often. For one thing, this set had magnets that looked like roads and a little car that you could build boxes on top to create a crane. Carson’s creativity began developing, and I realized he really enjoyed sitting there building something with these things. I decided we needed to get a little more, so for his birthday, he got a set of like 50 of them, and we began getting more creative and building towers (mainly just to knock them back down). We started taking this set camping and making garages for Carson’s cars, and then Caleb became interested in them. Caleb mainly just wanted to knock them down (and still does, honestly), but as he has gotten older, he has started to stack them on top of each other, and I realized it was an excellent way for him to work on his dexterity.

For Easter, I got another large set of 100 pieces, and oh man, we have been having a ton of fun with them. Carson has been creating these large castles with towers and areas to park cars. He also has been getting creative with the tiles, using a lot of triangles to make different and elaborate shapes. I have been really impressed with how many different things he has been coming up with to create. He even makes 2-dimensional projects in the shapes of suns or fishes. His imagination has taken off with these things, and it has been so fun to watch.

I love these toys as much as the kids do. I tend to lay on the floor with them and create projects or help create a huge tower with Caleb as he learns to stack them up higher and higher. He has even gotten to the point where he has stacked them so high that I must lift him up so he can stack the next one. I also will see Caleb playing with the mag tiles all by himself in our living room quietly. He stays content for some time. His other favorite thing is playing “Godzilla” and wrecking anything and everything in his way. His favorite is to try and destroy his brother’s work, which causes many issues between them. But we do try and redirect Caleb to knock down one of Mommy or Daddy’s towers so that brother can work on his in peace. I have to remind myself that Caleb is only 20 months old, and at that age where he wants to wreck or throw anything in his path. Luckily Carson is pretty patient with him, and if Caleb does knock anything over, we usually just tell him that we can rebuild it and that Mommy and Daddy will help. This usually helps the situation.

Now that I have had these and play with them with the kids, I realize how many different sets there are. You do not actually have to buy the original set, which is expensive, but the off-brands are just as good and much cheaper. The MAGNA-TILES brand sets have some cool ones, though, such as a dinosaur set, jungle set, an underwater type of set (I think), and more. So many neat ones to collect and get the kids’ imagination and creativity going. I am hoping that my kids will continue to be into playing with these toys for a long time because this is something that we enjoy doing as a family. I love being creative with my boys without making a huge mess from things such as paints, crayons, glues, or anything like that. They can build and destroy quickly, as well as it is easy to clean up once they are done. That part is what I like the most. If you have ever even thought about trying these toys out for something to do as a family, I highly recommend them. But I would also suggest trying the cheaper versions before going all in with some of the more expensive name-brand types. They are also a great birthday gift for kids and are great for any child.