magnatiles - how many is enough for 2 kids?

[wifecat]

We have a 100 pc set that gets played with - and fought over - every day by my almost 2 year old and 3.5 year old. How many do I need (or does it not matter because they're going to fight over however many are available?).

[Seitvonzu]

when i just read your thread title i was going to say "the 100 piece set" -- my child loves her magnatiles, and is an only....but honestly? she never uses ALL the pieces.

though....when she does (ok, she has on a few rare occasions), i'm not sure what would have been ENOUGH. when we've had playdates, 100 seems enough, unless both kids are super into a "project"--then i just make them take turns.

the first couple days (where she literally played with them for hours) i DID seriously consider a couple more sets....but then she cooled on them a bit. so, 100 seems good for us. maybe since you have 2 kids , 200? but then, like you said, it's possible they'll fight over them no matter how many you have (we have lots of duplicate/triplicate/etc sorta stuff and at playdates i've found that the kids would hoard things no matter how many i had. they didn't really get "each gets one")

[khalloc]

We have a set of 100 and they get fought over by my 2 kids. Usually the small square ones are the ones they are fighting about.

[infomama]

2 sets. We have one and we always run out.

[baileygirl]

We have 2 sets and 2 boys (3&5) and generally run out of them. I wish they sold a set that just included the squares!

[brittone2]

We have 2 sets of 100, but now that DS2 is building more complex stuff, I think we could use a third set of 100, TBH.

They are all playing with them now, in fact.

It is also one of those activities DH and I enjoy doing with the kids, so uhhh...maybe even more than another set of 100 (will not happen, but it would be nice!).

[logan's mom]

My 3 year old DS1 can use all 100 by himself. He is getting another 100 pc set for Christmas and I am hoping to get a third 100 pc set for DS2's second birthday....next August.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

my kids are 4 and 9 and I just got our third set of 100

they both like to build towers tall enough to stand in. And they can build some elaborate Barbie Houses. Or Littlest Pet Ship houses. Or garages for Lightning McQueen.

[cellenly]

I bought 1, then ended up buying another 100 pc set for the same reason. More is always better, but it feels to me like the minimum is 100 pc for each child. They still fight about it, but the extra set did help with the fighting.

Actually the best thing that alleviated the fighting was saying child 1 gets all the blues and reds, child 2 gets the purple and oranges, and splitting the greens. This is how we did it when we had one set, and this is how we do it now. Actually, when we have kids come over, they end up fighting over the 200 pcs we have, and we give each kid one color. The kids look at their sad little pile of one color and figure out that they're better off sharing and collaborating or other times I see them trading.

At the height of their play, I thought about buying another 100 set. However, I am glad I didn't. 2 sets was just enough, and now that we're in school and spend much time on extracurricular activities, we don't play with magnetiles too much. Also, Legos are now more the toy of choice though they still enjoy the magnetiles.

Eta: I think the kids would like the magnetiles more if they could do as the previous poster said. They like building large structures with it.

[blisstwins]

We ended up with three sets of 100 for twins and they played with them for years. The are 8 now and still take them out from time to time. Money well spent.

[KrisM]

We have 2 sets of 100. We could really use another set. It does seem like 100/kid is good.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We have 2 sets of 100. We could really use another set. It does seem like 100/kid is good.
Yes, we have 3 sets now, and all is well until DH joins in. HE asked for the 3rd set for Father's Day, actually. Kids were happy to get it for him, lol.

[KrisM]

Yes, we have 3 sets now, and all is well until DH joins in. HE asked for the 3rd set for Father's Day, actually. Kids were happy to get it for him, lol.

I really debated it last time they were on a good sale. But the first 2 were only about $75 each, so $100 is hard! Plus, DS1 is 8.5 and his playing time is going down on them.

[kristac]

We have 2 sets of 100 and the 48? piece DX set. Most times my 3 kids are ok with that.

[wellyes]

We have 2 sets and 2 boys (3&5) and generally run out of them. I wish they sold a set that just included the squares!

Me too. I think 100 would be plenty if they were all squares!!


We have a 100 piece set and it's been enough for my 4 and 2.5 year old, knock on wood. They don't play together but often play at the same time. If it became a problem, I would probably encourage them to play one at a time, rather buy more. They have a lot of toy options and while Magnatiles are awesome, 2 sets is $250+. Which makes me think "hey, Lincoln logs are cool too, and don't we have a ton of duplos, and Barbies, and...."