Should I get Magna Tiles or these...

[georgiegirl]

My kids are 7.5 and 4 and live Magnatiles. Both love Legos too.

[Blakes Mommy]

Thanks for all the input....I am still on the fence. I was thinking go with the Playmags given the price (especially the Overstock deal) and reviews. Or just play it safe with the Magna Tiles. As far as the other copy cat brands I either saw not great reviews like the magnets coming out of the squares(Picasso) or lack of variety of colors stick and stack looks like they are missing purple and yellow. But, now I am thinking maybe Magformers since people have posted they are better as children get older etc... I think I am now more confused than before! I wish they had a place with all of them so I could "test" them out with the kids!!! I guess I was originally leaning toward Playmags since they seemed like the Magnatiles and with the open squares and a car piece a little bit Magformer. I was really hoping someone on here had them and could give an opinion. I am torn because I don't want to buy the Magna tiles and wish I got the Magformers or vise versa.

[hellokitty]

So are magna tiles more for toddlers then? It sounds like I should stick to magformers then. Thanks ladies for the input! DS is 6 and DD is a couple of yrs older but both love toys that they can build things with. They're avid fans of lego and we have some magformers but for some reason I always find these magformers harder to locate. A few months ago, we saw several children playing with the magna tiles at a Lakeshore store, and both of my kids said they think the tiles are "cool".

With your childrens' ages, I would go with magformers. The magnets are so much stronger on the magformers, IMO, you can build cooler stuff with it compared to the magnatiles. If I would have bought these when my kids were little, I probably would have just gotten the magnatiles and stuck with those, but since we are getting these when my kids are older, I definitely feel that the magformers are the way to go. Plus, I like playing with the magformers more than the magnatiles too.

[ellas_mom]

With your childrens' ages, I would go with magformers. The magnets are so much stronger on the magformers, IMO, you can build cooler stuff with it compared to the magnatiles. If I would have bought these when my kids were little, I probably would have just gotten the magnatiles and stuck with those, but since we are getting these when my kids are older, I definitely feel that the magformers are the way to go. Plus, I like playing with the magformers more than the magnatiles too.

Thank you! That helps a lot. I didn't realize that the magnets in magnatiles are weaker.

Thanks for all the input....I am still on the fence. I was thinking go with the Playmags given the price (especially the Overstock deal) and reviews. Or just play it safe with the Magna Tiles. As far as the other copy cat brands I either saw not great reviews like the magnets coming out of the squares(Picasso) or lack of variety of colors stick and stack looks like they are missing purple and yellow. But, now I am thinking maybe Magformers since people have posted they are better as children get older etc... I think I am now more confused than before! I wish they had a place with all of them so I could "test" them out with the kids!!! I guess I was originally leaning toward Playmags since they seemed like the Magnatiles and with the open squares and a car piece a little bit Magformer. I was really hoping someone on here had them and could give an opinion. I am torn because I don't want to buy the Magna tiles and wish I got the Magformers or vise versa.

I can't comment on the Playmags or Magna Tiles since we don't own any, but I can say that my DS got the Magformers when he was about 3.5 or 4 and he still loves playing with them. At one point, magformers were really hard to find so we then got into lego the last couple of years. Recently out of the blue my DS started asking if I can get him more magformers again. I was going to do that until the recent thread about magnatiles. I guess that's why we are here now.

[crl]

Aren't the magna formers the ones that a child swallowed the magnets and they pinched the intestines together and killed the child? I remember being super paranoid about toys with magnets when that happened.

Catherine

[citymama]

Aren't the magna formers the ones that a child swallowed the magnets and they pinched the intestines together and killed the child? I remember being super paranoid about toys with magnets when that happened.

Catherine

I can't imagine how the magnets could get out of Magformers (or magnatiles). But I'd like to know the answer to crl's question if anyone knows.


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[ellas_mom]

Aren't the magna formers the ones that a child swallowed the magnets and they pinched the intestines together and killed the child? I remember being super paranoid about toys with magnets when that happened.

Catherine

I think there was an article about Buckyball magnets being recalled. There were others too but I don't remember the names.

[NJ_Mom2011]

Aren't the magna formers the ones that a child swallowed the magnets and they pinched the intestines together and killed the child? I remember being super paranoid about toys with magnets when that happened.

Catherine

I think that you are referring to the 2012 recall of an adult desk "toy" manufactured by Reiss Innovations. Strictly speaking, they were NOT supposed to be used by kids, but children were still getting harmed as some kids were playing with their parents' stuff.

Here's the Consumer Protection Safety Commission's recall notice: http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2013/...-on-Amazoncom/ Here's a CPSC safety bulletin about the dangers of high powered magnets: http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Safety-Educat...nters/Magnets/ Before everyone gets alarmed about these kids' toys, note that the very dangerous magnets featured in the bulletin are ones that are shaped like marbles, and thus easily ingested by children.

[Blakes Mommy]

Aren't the magna formers the ones that a child swallowed the magnets and they pinched the intestines together and killed the child? I remember being super paranoid about toys with magnets when that happened.

Catherine

It was Magnetix that had the problems...I believe they were sticks and balls and the balls were magnets. I remember this, and a few years ago I alerted DS1's preschool teacher about them and to remove them from the classroom! Especially since around that time my DS1 had swallowed a penny and I was terrified he may swallow the ball magnets. Very dangerous!!! I am not sure they still sell them, but, even much older kids had issues with these and putting them in their mouth and accidentally swallowing.

Here is the recall:
http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2007/...orted-to-CPSC/

I just read they were for 6 years plus...I am not sure why our integrated public preschool would even allow those in a classroom with 3 and 4 year olds...Especially since some of the kids were special needs. Crazy!!!

[Blakes Mommy]

Update on my purchasing....Still trying to decide but now after watching the video on QVC I am leaning towards the Magformers....I love the demonstrations. Maybe I could start with a small set and see how it goes then I won't be gambling too much. I can always add more. They are more pricey though overall than the Magna tiles or Playmags, especially if we start adding more sets....Decisions, Decisions!!!!