Customer Reviews

Magnetix 70 Count - Primary Colors

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This toy consists of just two kinds of pieces: marble-sized ball bearings, and short plastic rods with magnets in their ends, which attach to the balls with a fairly strong attractive magnetic force. Using geometric and structural principles, you can assemble strong, rigid or flexible sculptures.

There is only one length of rod, which might seem to limit the kinds of shapes you can make, but one of the attractions of the toy is in discovering that very complex and beatiful shapes can be constructed from simple elements. For the educationally-minded, this stimulates thinking about geometry, spatial relationships and physical forces.

In addition to just connecting rods to balls, you can actually connect the _balls_ to each other, using the magnetic field that extends from attached rod(s) through the balls themselves. This lets you build interesting kinetic sculptures that swing and spin with almost no friction. The magnets in this set seem to be stronger than in similar sets from other manufacturers, which makes this kind of construction work even better.

There's little chance of actually breaking any of the pieces, but I gave this a lower durability rating for two reasons. First, the pieces are small and tend to roll away, so there's a definite possibility of losing parts of the toy over time. Second, the balls are just barely too small for rods to properly fit around them in standard geometric formations. For example, one should be able to fit six rods around a ball at 30-degree angles, but the sixth rod gets crowded out. This might be frustrating when you are putting together a shape that you know should fit, but just isn't coming together.

I have to say that I do not OWN this toy, but I was at a museum with my daughter and they had it out for children to play with. My daughter is 4 1/2 and LOVED it! She asked me to buy it for her and to be honest, I forgot all about it and happened to come across it just now on the computer. I will have to buy this for her. It says that the recommended age is 8-12, but I have to say that younger children can also have a blast with it. Though a 4-6 year old may not make complicated things out of the magnets or use it for building science projects, it is definitely a lot of fun to play with and easy enough, as well. Of course, it is not recommended for kids under 4 because of the marble balls...don't need them swallowing one! But for some science magnetic fun, it's worth the purchase at many ages!

We bought these as a birthday gift for our son when he turned two. They were his absolute favorite gift, rivaling his new Fisher-Price GeoTrax set (and he's a train freak). He loves carrying around these heavy little marble-sized silver balls, and sticking the inch-long rods together. They are extremely, strongly magnetic. The polarized ends jump together - or push apart - and the balls jump onto the rods in strands of two or three. The balls are not magnetic, so they do have a tendency to get separated (and carried away) from the set, but the magnetic rods all stick together, so they won't be easy to lose. The more sets, or the larger set you have, the better. 35 pieces is not as much as you'd expect it to be, definitely get at least 70, and a storage box/jar/bag for them as well. We're storing ours (140 pcs) in a standard-size peanut butter (plastic) jar - the screw-on lid helps limit accessibility to little hands. The 35-piece set has 14 balls, five each of red/yellow/green rods, and six blue rods. The 70-piece set has 28 balls, ten each of yellow/green rods, and eleven each of red/blue rods. 70 pieces clump together in a wad about the size of a tennis ball; 140 about the size of a (melting? hehe) softball. My husband had to get a set of his own and loves playing with them as much as our son does. This is a GREAT GIFT idea for anyone, particularly a guy, of any age. Our son is good about not putting things like this in his mouth, but of course I keep a close eye on him while we have these out. I would not let age (if you're careful) deter from a very high recommendation!!! I would not trust a cheaper brand - these are very durable.

We gave this building set to my son for his third birthday. I agree with another reviewer who said that this toy needs a carrying case. I have twin 7 month-olds who will soon be on the move, and I'll be nutso trying to keep up with the small pieces. To help alleviete this problem, I keep the pieces in the original box. When my 3 year-old wants to play with them, I put the pieces on a large cookie sheet with 1" sides. The rods stick to the sheet, and the sides of the cookie sheet keep the balls from rolling everywhere. Happy building!

You won't regret purchasing this set! It has provided hours of entertainment and discovery for both my children (ages 7 and 5). It's the toy that comes with us everywhere we go!

These are the greatest things! My son 11 and daughter 7 will play with these in the car for hours! I just put them in a Tupperware container for each of them and take them everywhere! Even at home they keep them busy trying to out do each other! Wonderful for airplane trips also!

i have been playing with this toy for a week now and havent put it down. I feel that this toy is very educational because you can make many science shapes out of it and also it helps with the creative mind. i think that the price is quite high and they need to put more parts into a box like 100 or 200 i feel that there are not many parts because on the box it shows a very tall building but i carnt make that because i have to little parts. Also i think it would be a good idea to show how to make all of the 500 shapes it says on the box. There is another toy that is good that is k'nex that is a creative game but i still think magnetix is better. And another suggestion is that they they could put some extra parts in like wheels and different joints.

A great toy for everyone. I spend as much time as my son playing with it. The only real complaint I have is the ratio of rods to balls. 70 pieces is great, but it breaks down into 40 rods and 30 balls or something. Well, rods are far more useful than the balls are, and I ALWAYS end up with alot of spare balls, wishing I had more rods instead. That we cannot purchase JUST rods is a shame.

My father has a set of these, supposedly for the grandkids, but the kids aren't the only ones that can't seem to put them down. My Dad, brother, brother-in-law and boyfriend will sit for hours and play with them. They are enthralled with the way they work and have little wars to see whose pieces fall over first from the power of the magnets.

My grandson (age 7) and I have had a lot of fun building with these magnetics. We sit on the floor for hours coming up with new building ideas. I highly recommend this item.