Magnetic Tile Puzzle Activity

Did anyone in your house get magnetic tiles this holiday season? We have several sets, but all of the kids love playing with them and I thought we could use at least one more basic set, so our 1-year-old got some for Christmas. I love the idea of the youngest having something to contribute to group play instead of her always taking toys.

It is fascinating to me that Brinley didn’t really know how to play with this type of toy when we first borrowed a set from the local library when she was nearly 2. Vaila loved magnetic tiles at 20 months old, and Ellette started enjoying them around 13 or 14 month old. She can’t build structures yet, but she’s interested and likes holding or tapping them together. Having older siblings or other older children to observe does wonders!

This activity is a great way to get acquainted with the magnetic tiles if your child needs a bit of help understanding how they work or what arrangements are possible.

We have so many cardboard boxes at my house right now! I’m thinking a lot of you do as well, so grab one and let’s get started.

Here’s what you need

• Cardboard box or a roll of easel paper

• Magnetic tiles. We have Picasso, Connetix, and Magna-Tiles in our house and they are all great for our current needs. The Connetix magnets are the strongest, but all of the brands we have work well together. The kids are not building super elaborate structures right now, the weaker magnets don’t really interfere with their play.

• Marker. I used a dry erase marker so I could easily wipe off the tiles, but a washable marker would work. Avoid a permanent marker because you might get some on the magnetic tiles.

Set up

5 minutes

1. Flatten your box or cut a large piece of paper.

2. Gather your magnetic tiles and create different configurations on your work surface. I had a simple side and a more complex side to match the needs and abilities of the kids, so do what feels best for your child.

3. Trace the outline of the different shape arrangements with a dry erase marker.

4. You might need to show your child how to engage with this activity. Vaila needed a some demonstration and encouragement for any 3 piece grouping, but was quick to catch on and loved the 1- and 2-piece puzzles. She was just shy of 3.5 years old when we first tried this activity. My 5 year old didn’t need any explanation and got right to work when she say this invitation to play still out.

Clean up

1-2 minutes

1. Collect all of the magnetic tiles.

2. Save or toss the cardboard. We kept ours for a few weeks so the kids could come back to this activity again.

I recommend keeping track of the magnetic tiles you’ve used or setting them aside so you can make sure you have enough tiles to complete all of the puzzles. Once the kids had a puzzle figured out, they really didn’t want to disassemble it. That left a few of the puzzles undone until I gathered more magnetic tiles.

This activity is so simple to set up, doesn’t leave a mess to clean, and is perfect for a mixed age group. You can make this as large or as small as you want, so use a big box or piece of paper if you want multiple children playing alongside each other.

I kept one side of the box mainly 1 and 2 piece configurations, which allowed the kids to gain some exposure to this new type of problem solving. This can be a great way to show children different ways the magnetic tiles can interact with each other and gives them the tools to build more than just cubes. Once kids figure out how to make more than just single square width towers, their creativity is endless.

The more complex side was too abstract for my 3-year-old to complete independently, but it was still fun to do together. Our 1-year-old had no idea how to build any of the puzzles, but did a great job deconstructing all of them! Crashing towers or taking apart these magnetic tile puzzles is a wonderful introduction to building these types of structures. She got to analyze how the tiles stayed together and learned a tiny bit about magnets!

Magnetic tiles are one of the most played with toys in our house. They are a great investment or a great thing to put on a birthday or holiday gift list. If they are available in our toy rotation, they get used every single day. I actually put them away for the week right before Christmas so there was some excitement for the new set Ellette was getting, but they will be coming back out today!

My favorite part about this activity is how easy it is to clean! This doesn’t need a lot of supervision, so it is a perfect thing to set up if you need a minute to catch your breath, get dinner on the table, or finish up some work.

If someone in your house got magnetic tiles as a gift this holiday season, whip up one of these puzzle boards! They are a perfect introduction to different configuration options and provide a new way to play with the magnetic tiles.

Hope you enjoy!

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