Toy of the Week: Magnetic tile building set
Posted: March 15th, 2010 | Author: Dave | Filed under: Toy of the week | Tags: kids, magnetic tile building set, Toddlers, Toy of the week, toys | No Comments »
Buying toys for kids is hit-or-miss. Often times you’ll labor over a decision to buy. “Will she really like this? Is it worth fifty bucks? OH MY GOD DID I JUST CONSIDER SPENDING FIFTY BUCKS ON A TOY FOR THAT INGRATE?”
Others you toss down onto the floor in hopes that it’ll keep their pie holes sealed long enough to get dinner on the table.
Then there are those magical toys with near-hypnotic powers. They keep the kids engaged — appropriately engaged, not assaulting each other — for an hour or more. The next day, they’re still playing with it. And the next day. It’s a miracle, and in that moment you don’t care how much the damn thing cost.
This magnetic tile building set is one of those toys.
We “borrowed” this set from my wife’s classroom one weekend and the kids loved it. Convinced that it was the novelty that had them enthralled, we kept it around for a week. Their interest never waned.
My son, 5, builds all kinds of interesting and creative structures: Towers, castles, cubes, pyramids, houses for this action figures. My daughter, 6, builds by color and shape. They play cooperatively with them and extend the fun beyond simple construction. They hid things inside, knock them down and set up whole “towns” of brightly colored, plastic homes.
This thing meets all of my criteria: 1.) There’s no definite end, so play can go on and on; 2.) It can grow with the child, staying appropriate as their interests and skills change; 3.) it’s damn hard to break.
Yeah, a set is fifty bucks. But the kids will play with it for a long, long time, you can work lessons into it and finally, isn’t it worth it to go 60 minutes without playing referee?
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