Good building toys besides duplo magna tiles and unit blocks,,,

[junebaby07]

I like the idea of getting my 4.5 and 2.5 yr old girls some new building toys for Christmas. We have duplo, magna tiles and unit blocks already and they are used a lot...

Excuse the iPad typing....

[kristac]

citi blocks
connectagons
cardboard blocks
marble run
tree blocks
zoobs
superstructs

[essnce629]

Pretty much everything kristac said!

[junebaby07]

Thanks for the suggestions! Are any of these more recommended than others? I think I might steer away from the large cardboard blocks just due to storage

[pakin]

How about Lincoln logs?

We have a few sets of Zoob. They seem to be a little tricky for younger kids to put together.

Pakin

DS 4/2001
DD 6/2005

[Canna]

Tree blocks can mix in nicely with unit blocks, so your girls might like that. Wooden trains get play at our house mixed in with blocks. We have unit blocks and smaller Haba blocks and I find the smaller ones get played with more. Connectagons are nice but not a runaway hit at our house. We also have wedgits. You might also consider architectural blocks (Melissa and Doug make some as does Haba and Hearthsong sells some that are colorful http://www.hearthsong.com/Kings%2Dan...101_C2102.html). My older DD really enjoys engineering things out of Tinkertoys.

By far the biggest hit, played with daily at our house by my 3.5 and 6.5 y.o. DD's is magnatiles which you already have.

[ett]

In addition to unit blocks, we have lots of smaller wooden blocks that the boys build together with their unit blocks. Haba has some really nice sets.

We have these Twig blocks, however, they have not been a hit with the boys.
http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toy_comp...oy_co/twig.cfm

[elbenn]

Lincoln Logs and Tinkertoys

[essnce629]

DS2 is 28 months and really likes playing with DS1's zoobs. He can't really build anything with them yet, but he can link them together and then adds a wheel (we have the car set) and calls it a car and is very proud of himself! We also have Connectegons and I think they're cool, but they also don't get much use. I've been dying to buy some Magnatiles for years, but DS1 was adament about not wanting any so I've been waiting for DS2 to turn 3 to get them! Wedgits are cool too and we have a large set of those as well.

[mnosky1]

I absolutely love our wedgits. My girls are 5 years apart (now 3 and 8) and have both always enjoyed them - we got them when they were 1 and 6 I think. I found a starter set at a garage sale and have expanded it with a few more sets. It's really neat how they both use the sets differently. I like playing with them too and I like to use the cards and try and figure out how to build the set on the card, like a logic puzzle, my 3 year old tries to make castles, my 8 year old either uses the cards or balances things or makes new creations, they are just really neat. Even though we have a big set, they fit in a zippered bag and are good to take along (like to a relative that has no kids)