Customer Reviews

Magna-Tiles Translucent Colors 100 pieces

5 star:		(162)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We bought our 100-piece set in September, and four large squares were included. There is a review that says no large squares are included in the 100-piece set - that review is outdated.

Specifically, the set includes:
50 - 3"x3" Squares
15 - Isosceles Triangles
11 - Right Triangles
20 - Equilateral Triangles
4 - 6x6 triangles

We've had magnatiles for approximately two months now, and my daughter has played with them every day. Magna-tiles are very open-ended and can be incorporated into practically any game. Rocket ships. Parking garages for matchbox cars. Jail cells and homes for little people and weebles. My daughter constantly amazes me by what she builds.

As a parent, I really love magnatiles too. I can see educational opportunities in them from preschool to geometry. Right off, my daughter learned that two right-triangles make a square, three isosceles triangles make a trapezoid. She instantly figured out how to build cubes and pyramids and she said, "I'm a cube builder! I'm a pyramid builder!" In addition, I use magnatiles to teach about patterns.

We have both translucent and opaque magnatiles. At times, my daughter will yank the opaque ones away from me and give me a translucent one instead. That way she can see her weebles and little people inside of her structures. So if you're choosing between the two, I'd buy translucent.

So, in conclusion, buy the translucent magnatiles! This is the best toy ever!!

My friend had always raved about her son's magna tiles, but they seemed kind of pricey to me and I figured my kids could play with lego's or blocks, which are much less expensive.
For Hannukah this year, I decided to buy my three kids (4 1/2 year old girl and twin 2 1/2 year old boys) a set of 100 magnatiles. I was concerned that the boys wouldn't understand how to stack them up, but I was totally wrong.
I got home from work last night and my nanny and three kids were building a huge tower with the magna tiles. My nanny told me that they had played ALL DAY LONG with the magna tiles and that the kids built all sorts of things with them. I was thrilled!
They were totally worth the money - just to see my three kids sitting there all working together to build something. I highly recommend the 100 piece set. 32 pieces just isn't enough. In fact, I think we need more than 100 pieces because each of my kids wanted to build a huge Empire State Building tower!
For those of you who are scared about the price tag, I assure you it is worth the money. I store them in a clear plastic container so they are easy to clean up and store. At approximately $1 per piece, I also don't want to lose the pieces!!!!

My 4 year-old has these at school, in opaque colours, and loves them there; but I didn't realise quite *how* great they are until we bought these. Technically, they're both interesting and impressive - the magnet arrangements had our engineer-science geek family playing for several hours - but pale beside the engrossment (OK, that's not a word) which enveloped Aidan after he opened them. Just glorious to watch him constructing - the tiles are easy to use, easy to keep together, easy to knock down. Remarkably good.

Be aware that the manufacturer of this toy has suspended all sales due to the flooding in Thailand. This explains why these toys are selling for well over the normal retail price. Surely you can wait to buy there rather than overpaying the lucky middlemen who have these in their warehouses.

After reading the reviews, I really thought I couldn't go wrong buying these tiles. But so far my 4 year old has no interest in them. He gave them a try, but he can't pick up the structures he builds because they immediately collapse into each other. I'm really surprised this isn't frustrating for at least some kids. But I thought I'd add my experience to the totally positive reviews just in case you think your kid might be that 1 in 100, like mine, who finds this an irritating experience.

I told my parents that our daughter really liked to play with these at the Discovery Center, so she got it for Christmas from "Santa" (she was then 19mo). It has been over 6 months since then and she is still playing with these tiles nearly every day! Our Magna-Tiles were "tested" on other kids of different ages (1 to 5 yo) everybody liked playing with them.

None of the tiles broke so far - absolutely no problems in this area.

I first thought not to rate the educational value, but then I thought that it helped her learn better what the triangle and square look like, she now feels well what sorts of tiles she needs to take to build various kinds of houses she is building, she knows how to put the triangles upside down when she is building the roof of a wider building, she knows what kind of triangles (and how) she needs to put together if there is not enough squares to build what she wants... I think she already knew the colors when we got the Magna-Tiles, but the colors (there are 5) are great and they are also being used - to build "all green" room in the house, for example.

Using one's imagination these tiles can be used not only for building houses and castles - the colorful floor looked great; yesterday she put longer triangles in the bucket and said that those are slices of watermelon - the shape is similar to the real ones I cut myself :) ; at one point today I saw that the tiles were used as "chairs" in a "restaurant" :)

I was right when I told my parents that the Tiles have to be of clear color - it is important that she can see the characters in the houses she builds through the walls - see for herself and show the others without having to open anything. Sometimes she also makes a 2x2 square out of 4 squares and looks through it to notice "the world becoming a different color".

Even though there is a 100 pieces, I still consider them as easy to clean up, because they stick to each other and it is very easy to build up a pile and put it back in the box.

We never had any big squares at home, so we did not miss them :).

Great toy!
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Update: it now has been 18 months since we got the first set - she still plays with it almost every day and we got a second 100-set for her 3rd Birthday. This was probably a set #6 that we bought - we were buying some for our friends. Some people who played with the tiles at our house bought them too :)
none of our tiles are lost or broken. the second set we got had the 4 large squares.

This has been my kids' favorite toy for 2.5 years now. Nothing else even comes close. We bought the 32 pc. starter set when they were 2.5 yrs old, and quickly followed up by buying the 100 pc set. They just turned 5, and we've added two more of the 100 pc sets to their collection. I have BGG triplets and all three love to play with them, and every kid who comes over loves them. As my kids have gotten older, they've learned to build larger and more complex structures, and even use them to interact with other toys (e.g. building castles for figurines or bridges over railroads). I don't see them falling out of use for years to come. I recommend getting the translucent set as the kids like to put figurines and other toys inside their creations and want to be able to see what's inside. I don't recommend the 32 pc set as its difficult to build much with 32 pieces and its simply not a good value.

Pros:
* Durable - We've never broken a piece despite being routinely stepped on, dropped, toppled, and thrown into a storage drawer.
* Excellent play value - Kid's play with them frequently, and for long periods of time (up to 4 hours). The manufacturer recommends age 3+, but they're also great for kids younger than that. The magnets are pretty strong, so they hold structures well, and the kids don't get frustrated by things falling apart.
* Easy to clean up and store - They're flat and magnetic, so they pick up fast, are easy to stack, and don't take up much space. Consequently, they're the first toy my kids pick up when asked to clean their playroom. If you're short on space and looking for a limited number of high-quality toys, this has to be at the top of your list.
* Safe - The magnets are completely enclosed in plastic and can't come out.
* Educational - You'd be surprised what can be made out of them.

Cons:
* Not cheap - Sometimes you just gotta pay for the good stuff. They're still a great value, though.

My 6-year-old daughter got the 32-piece Magna-Tile set for Christmas and she LOVES it! She's been asking for more pieces, so I just sat down to buy the big set. But after doing a little research I discovered that the 100-pc set does not come with ANY of the large 6"x6" squares shown in the picture! That's a real bummer, as the big squares are really all you can use for large, stable floors and ceilings. I was all ready to drop the big bucks on the big set, but now I'm not sure about that based on the lack of big squares. I know, it sounds like it shouldn't be that big a deal, but try telling that to the Queen of the MagnaSkyscrapers!

UPDATE: Apparently they've changed what they include in the box, so that criticism may not be valid any more. I just wanted to chime in again to say that my kids STILL play with this toy almost every day! Amazing!!! I ended up buying more sets and they've been so worth it. I'm sorry to see that the company was so affected by the flooding in Thailand, as it appears the sets are almost impossible to come by at the moment. Hopefully they'll be able to weather the storm (no pun intended) and get the supply up again as this is really hands-down the best toy I've ever bought. The regular price is around $100 for the big set, so unless money is no object don't pay the crazy inflated prices scalpers are getting now. $100 was a stretch for me, but it was SO worth it. Best toy ever.

We first saw Magna-Tiles at the children's museum, and I immediately knew they'd be perfect for my sons, ages 5 and almost 3 years. We waited a couple of months for the older son's birthday to arrive before we purchased them, as the 100-piece set (which is really the minimum you need, especially for more than one "player") is around $130 by the time you pay postage. Due to the price, this was his only gift from us, but we thought that one gift was okay this year, as this toy sparks creativity and will begin to build math skills. Everyone in the family is enjoying these. Even my almost-three-year-old will spend 10-15 minutes at a time playing with them. The pieces seem very sturdy (the magnets are encased in plastic, so I am comfortable that there's not a risk of ingestion), but my boys throw them at times, so I will need to watch for cracking.

It would have been handy if they had come in a carrying case rather than just a cardboard box, but I bought a 15.5 liter Snapware container with lid and handle that holds them nicely, with room for growth in case we want to add to the collection someday.

I agree with previous reviewers that the translucent tiles are preferable to the opaque ones because they can be used with a light table (as at the museum), and the user can place little people or objects inside and still be able to see them.

I'm sure these will bring us years of enjoyment at different ages and stages. Great toy, and well worth the investment!

I already had already purchased two sets of 32 pieces, when my daughter (4) said she ran out of pieces for her castle.

Now we have 164 pieces and we build incredible castles; although I think we need another set of 32 so we can have more of the big squares.