Magneatos (144 Piece Set)

by GuideCraft

Product Features

• Magnetic contruction set
• Designed for small hands and huge imaginations

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 20 x 20 x 6 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 15 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000BC7TTC
• Item model number: G8102
• Manufacturer recommended age: 36 months - 7 years
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #101,958 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

Product Description

2 years & up. Children can create structures, build on imagination skills and experience the fun and mystery of magnetic construction. These jumbo sized pieces are magnetized and connect together easily. Designed for small hands and huge imaginations. Includes 144 pieces.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty cool toy, BUT it is also a collection of hard plastic-coated metal balls., January 25, 2007

By 

Mark A. Peot (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Magneatos (144 Piece Set) (Toy)

My children (age 6 and 2) have built some pretty neat things with Magneatos. Unlike the tiny metal balls and rods in a Magnetix, the large rods and balls do not pose a choking hazard. The rods come in two different lengths, that allow the child to explore a wide range of geometric structures.

Pluses:
* It is easy for kids to build complicated geometric structures. The magnetic rods teach kids the properties of magnets.
* In order to build tall structures, the child has to learn how to build strong "crystalline" structures on the lower levels.
* It is easy (and automatic) for young children to assemble balls to rods. No fine manual-dexterity required here!

Minuses:
* There are 144 pieces to return to the box each time. Half of the parts roll, which means that they are distributed evenly throughout the house when it is time to put them away.
* The toy has an additional use as a collection of 40 or so 3" hard plastic covered lightweight metal balls that your child will throw around the house (and my two year-old does just that). My two year old has constructed an improvised atl-atl by putting a ball on the end of a rod and then slinging the ball.
* The ratio between the mass of the parts and the strength of the magnets is less than for the smaller building sets. This means that models will be a bit more fragile than Magnetix models. You cannot build structures that are as tall and your children cannot play with the model they build or carry it to their parents.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Magneatos Nice, but Weak - really cannot use for construction, January 10, 2007

By 

W. D. Shehane "Grandpa Dave" (West Linn, Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Magneatos (144 Piece Set) (Toy)

We bought the set for our grandson for Christmas. We were impressed with quantity and quality of the parts - that met all expectations. But when you go to build something with it, the magnetic force is so weak that it just falls down - a real bummer and a disappointment. So you are limited to single dimension construction, flat on the carpet, and cannot go up even a single layer without real engineering skill to construct trusses to totally reinforce the structure. Even then, a slight touch brings everything down. And it seemed like such a neat idea....

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Magneatos, April 3, 2007

By 

A. Smieja "Cozy Cottage Child Care" (MN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Magneatos (144 Piece Set) (Toy)

Just like the review from Grandpa Dave, I too thought this was such a wonderful concept. My daycare kids love to discover with magents and this toy is safe as far as choking hazards. However, we too found that every time they built something it would fall right over. After the 2 sets arrived just yesterday, we've already had many tears over broken masterpieces. This will end up being a great toy for toddlers who will discover magnetism but my preschoolers will probably just let it sit once the "newness" of the toy wears off. Too bad since I paid a lot for them. Amazon has the best price that I've seen though.