Magick1's Full Review: 36 Piece Magneatos Set by Guidecraft
I was looking for some creative ideas a couple of years ago for my daughter. I wanted her to have things she could build with and learn from and I found Guidecraft’s MagNeatos™ and thought these looked like just the ticket.
There were, at that time, recalls happening on some magnetic oriented toys due to the magnets coming out of the pieces. These, I thought, were well enclosed in the plastic, nowhere that they could fall out or be pried out and they looked like they worked wonderfully to create some terrific designs! (Well, at least by the picture on the box anyway, they looked like they could make neat designs.)
The Product
There are magnets inside of plastic which keeps the magnets hidden from view, but allow the magnets to stick together to help your little one (and possibly your big one) design some fantastic things! This is a 36 piece pack, great starter pack and it contains the following:
12 Round balls
6 Long rods
18 Short rods
These items are all in bright colors: red, blue, green and yellow
The long rods are about 5 ¼ inches long and roughly 1 inch around. The short rods are 3 inches long and the same 1 inch around. The balls seem to be about 1 ½ inches in diameter.
The magnets they claim to be super strong on the box. I don’t know if they were super strong prior to being encapsulated in plastic, but the plastic makes them appear to be strong, but they don’t hold very well.
This toy has received many awards for toys from the likes of Oppenheim Toy Portfolio™ for the Best Toy Award – Platinum. It also has the Oppenheim SNAP (Special Needs Adaptable Product) Award.
Overall Impressions
We enjoy playing with the MagNeatos™, but feel they are quite lacking. If you have a 36 jumbo pack, as we purchased, you will be hard pressed to build anything, really. The amount of pieces and the lack of magnetic “stick”, make it hard to create anything super. The rods slide around on the balls and do not hold up where you put them. And, you have to have a lot of MagNeatos™ to create the pyramids and boxes and castles the show on the front of the box.
The magnets are completely covered in the balls. The rods, the magnets are somewhat visible on either end, but they are well covered by the plastic surrounding them. One would have to work tremendously hard, breaking the rod to get to the magnet if they wanted it.
The sizes of the rods and the balls make them perfect for 3 year olds and they help show the magnetic properties and how magnets of the same polarity reject ‘or fight’ each other, but the opposites attract each other and click together with an audible snap.
It’s fun trying to create things. We have tried walking sticks, boxes and many other items, and usually can make it fun. But, I do not foresee buying more of these to be able to make grand structures. I will stick with building blocks like we have or Dado Cubes, etc.
If you are looking to purchase these, do not go for the 36 count package. You will want to get the 72 or 144 piece set to make it truly worthwhile. Don’t get me wrong, they are not terrible. But, I think there are better options out there.
~Thank you for spending time with me today!~
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 30.00 Type of Toy: Educational
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years
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