Fridge Magnets Anyone?

[lizzywednesday]

So, while visiting my dad for a belated Thanksgiving feast, and spending time with the nephews, my brother, sister, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, dad, grandmother, stepmom-to-be, uncle and aunt, I noticed that, when she wasn't chasing the cat, DD camped out in the kitchen to play with ... refrigerator magnets.

Yes.

Refrigerator magnets.

OK, so ... where can I find fun ones - letters, numbers, shapes, etc. - preferably with free shipping? (I have Amazon Prime and am a Barnes & Noble member.)

Also, if I don't want to let her into the kitchen to play with them, what's the best way to play with them upright? Could I drill or punch holes in an inexpensive cookie sheet & hang that on an IKEA easel?

[candaceb]

We have 2 of the Leap Frog sets. We have a stainless fridge so we can't stick magnets to it. I put an Ikea magnetic board under the stupid desk in my kitchen. I never sit at the desk (the microwave is on it) and it makes a great "fort" for DS.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10159443/#/30159442

[MizMojoLaveau]

I will also be watching this thread as I am in the market for magnets. OP, I just painted a half wall (under our bar counter) with this:
http://www.amazon.com/Rustoleum-247596-Rust-Oleum-Magnetic-Primer/dp/B003ZW7XL4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354025657&sr=8-1&keywords=magnetic+primer
that I got from Home Depot. Then just paint the wall color over it for a magnetic wall (or part of wall). Our walls are textured so it is working okay, but not great. Still enough magnetism after three coats to hold up magnets that aren't too heavy, like the ones that come in these little book sets like these:
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Animals-Magnetic-Story-Scene/dp/1846660939/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354025747&sr=1-7&keywords=magnet+animals+book

I was also thinking that I should just get some of the old school plastic letter ones (we have some wooden letter magnets, but they are too heavy to hold...).

[jerigirl]

Are any of your doors metal? At our previous house, the door to the backyard was metal and near the kitchen but not in it. so it was perfect to put our leapfrog farm and other magnetic toys on and keep ds out of the way.

[lizzywednesday]

I will also be watching this thread as I am in the market for magnets. OP, I just painted a half wall (under our bar counter) with this:
http://www.amazon.com/Rustoleum-247596-Rust-Oleum-Magnetic-Primer/dp/B003ZW7XL4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354025657&sr=8-1&keywords=magnetic+primer
that I got from Home Depot. Then just paint the wall color over it for a magnetic wall (or part of wall). Our walls are textured so it is working okay, but not great. Still enough magnetism after three coats to hold up magnets that aren't too heavy, like the ones that come in these little book sets like these:
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Animals-Magnetic-Story-Scene/dp/1846660939/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354025747&sr=1-7&keywords=magnet+animals+book

I was also thinking that I should just get some of the old school plastic letter ones (we have some wooden letter magnets, but they are too heavy to hold...).

Thanks for the info about the magnetic paint. I'm not sure I want to do that, but it's good to know it exists. (For the record, I kind of feel the same way about chalkboard paint, too.)


Are any of your doors metal? At our previous house, the door to the backyard was metal and near the kitchen but not in it. so it was perfect to put our leapfrog farm and other magnetic toys on and keep ds out of the way.

I'm pretty sure the interior facing of our front door is metal, but I don't want DD playing behind it. She knows how to undo the deadbolts and the storm door has a lever handle that she can manipulate quickly.

All our other doors are hollow wood and we have no plans to replace them.


We have 2 of the Leap Frog sets. We have a stainless fridge so we can't stick magnets to it. I put an Ikea magnetic board under the stupid desk in my kitchen. I never sit at the desk (the microwave is on it) and it makes a great "fort" for DS.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10159443/#/30159442

Thanks for the link to the product - that's better than cookie sheets!

[jam224]

We love the Leapfrog magnetic letters. They've recently updated it to make it an all-inclusive toy with a storage container, which is nice: http://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-19199-Letter-Factory-Phonics/dp/B00804BCO6/

I'm thinking about getting a couple of these books with magnetic pieces for DD to play with (they have colors, shapes, letters, etc.): http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=magnetic+top+that&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Amagnetic+top+that

The Ecomom sale is over, but if you have a voucher, these Mudpuppy ones look nice (you can also find them on Amazon): http://www.ecomom.com/salesperson/result/?q=magnetic+mudpuppy

I'm also in awe of the handmade ones on etsy, but their price point is much, much higher.

[zukeypur]

I bought an oil change drip pan at Walmart for Dd to play with in her room. We can use dry erase markers, play with magnets, and hang her art on it.

Like this...
http://nicandkate09.blogspot.com/2011/08/alphabet-board.html

[lizzywednesday]

I bought an oil change drip pan at Walmart for Dd to play with in her room. We can use dry erase markers, play with magnets, and hang her art on it.

Like this...
http://nicandkate09.blogspot.com/2011/08/alphabet-board.html

Super idea!

Thanks for the link.

[roseyloxs]

The ikea board looks cool. I hung a large 3'x2' magnetic dry erase board in the kids playroom. We bought ours at a local B&M store but its just a generic one like this: http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Magnetic-Melamine-Aluminum-Plastic/dp/B000ONEZXG

I don't trust my kids with dry erase markers and have not heard good things about the supposed 'washable' dry erase markers. I did find these dry erase crayons from crayola (http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Magnetic-Melamine-Aluminum-Plastic/dp/B000ONEZXG) and they have been great! Takes a bit of effort to rub off though so she might need your help for cleaning the board. The plus side of getting a dry-erase board is that you can draw things on the board like a Christmas Tree and then make your own magnets and let her decorate her tree. Here is a playathomemom post (http://playathomemom3.blogspot.de/2012/09/diy-story-telling-magnets.html) about making your own magnets with magnetic sheets from an office supply store.

As for magnets we are fans of the Melissa and Doug products.
Animals (http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Animal-Magnets-Box/dp/B000N178E2)
Letters (http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Magnetic-Wooden-Alphabet/dp/B000IBPD76)
Dress-up (http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Deluxe-Magnetic-Dress-Up/dp/B0012GV1HM). The girls are not magnetic but I put some magnetic strip on the back of them and ta-da they are magnetic too now.

[Bootsie]

My twins love these refrigerator magnet gears from Tomy. http://www.walmart.com/ip/16880240?adid=22222222227000870783&wmlspartner=wlpa&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=&wl3=13737428590&wl4=&wl5=pla&veh=sem They are out of stock at Walmart on line right now but if you google them, you can find them at a bunch of places.

My family has a tradition of bringing back souvenir magnets whenever we travel and one place I worked, we (work colleagues) had a tradition of bringing back the tackiest magnet we could find from our business trips to put on the work fridge - some of these we divvied up as we moved on. As a result, my husband and I have amassed quite a collection of interesting refrigerator magnets and, honestly, THESE are my kids favorites of all. They have interesting pictures or are shaped like animals or trees or a canyon or might be smiley faces that light up when you press them or have something floating in them. I have one that is a flip flop from a beach vacation that my DD simply loves. They were all really cheap magnets and nothing a kid could choke on or anything. Just an idea for developing a collection over time . . . Plus, when the kids play with them, we can tell them a story about them - who brought them back and from where. They love to line them up and move them all over the side of the fridge.

[lizzywednesday]

...

My family has a tradition of bringing back souvenir magnets whenever we travel and one place I worked, we (work colleagues) had a tradition of bringing back the tackiest magnet we could find from our business trips to put on the work fridge - some of these we divvied up as we moved on. As a result, my husband and I have amassed quite a collection of interesting refrigerator magnets and, honestly, THESE are my kids favorites of all. They have interesting pictures or are shaped like animals or trees or a canyon or might be smiley faces that light up when you press them or have something floating in them. I have one that is a flip flop from a beach vacation that my DD simply loves. They were all really cheap magnets and nothing a kid could choke on or anything. Just an idea for developing a collection over time . . . Plus, when the kids play with them, we can tell them a story about them - who brought them back and from where. They love to line them up and move them all over the side of the fridge.

My sister collected magnets for a while, so each trip I took, I'd get her a new one ... and these were the types of magnets my DD was playing with at my dad's.

That's definitely an idea to extend the play-value of a basic set of letters & shapes, though!!