Magnetic tiles have always been a personal favorite ingredient for kids’ play. Be it the class Magna-Tiles or any other brand; they are the most perfect 👍🏼 and versatile toys for toddlers and preschoolers. Well, kids of all ages love it, and even the adults might too!
There can be so many variations to games and activities that involve Magna-Tiles, so many ways to have endless fun 🤩 and learn something fun, all during their playtime.
Playing with Magna-Tiles, especially building activities, is crucial for a kid’s STEM skills. Toddlers can be introduced to shapes and colors, and their creative skills can be intriguing through these games.
Interesting Magna-Tiles Ideas for Your Kids
I remember my little one coming up with so many engaging and innovative ideas 💡 when I introduced him to magna-tiles.
To make sure you have enough inspiration when your kid gets their hands on Magna-Tiles, we present to you an assortment of activities that include Magna-Tiles as the primary ingredient.
You can also use the printables and tutorials available online.
These activities are super simple yet fun and trust me, the kids are going to love them. So, hop in. This is going to be so much fun!
Matching Magna-Tiles
For my son, this activity, finding out matching pairs of tiles and the odd one out, has always been fun and educational.
If your kids are toddlers, you can simply ask them to find tiles of the same color.
Tic-Tac-Toe.
I often made a square grid out of nine magna tiles so that my son could play Tic-Tac-Toe ⭕️❌.
This is a fun version of the game, and most importantly, you are not wasting any paper unnecessarily. Let them have endless fun 🤩!
Pro Tip:
You can use colored bottle caps as markers.
Guessing the Shape
Parents can arrange magna-tiles into specific shapes on a board and let the little one guess them.
This is a great way to teach different shapes to toddlers while having fun and engaging them in a learning task, and for older kids, you can ask them to create the various shapes by themselves.
Magna-Tiles Pattern Cards
Using pattern cards is manipulative and engaging for kids. Without much hassle and little prep, you can let your kids have endless hours of fun learning.
You can print and laminate Magna-tile cards from plenty of online websites.
Pro Tip:
This was my go-to exercise for my son to practice his motor skills when he was a toddler.
Sorting Game
This is also a great activity for kids to learn about the basics of color, shape, and design by playing with magna-tiles with kids.
Give them a bunch of tiles and ask them to sort those according to specific color or size patterns.
Magna-tiles Maths Games
Looking for ways to combine learning mathematics 🧮 with the fun of magna-tiles? Well, look no further.
You can simply break out a magnetic surface and perform interesting maths activities with your little ones. They will learn something new while enjoying themselves.
Pro Tip:
I have always found this a useful exercise to make my kids learn counting and calculation ➕➖.
Marble Maze
Magna tiles can be used to form the walls of a marble maze. Then, all you need to do is drop a marble and let your kids watch it fall.
You can rearrange the tiles to adjust the maze in different ways.
Magna-Tiles Ten Frames
This is a top-up for having fun with math and Magna-Tiles. You can use the latter to create a set of ten frames.
This will help you do many other fun exercises, and trust me; your kids will love to spend their time playing with it.
Pro Tip:
See how fast the kids can fill the frames using the dice.
Pom-pom Ball Run
This is another way of playing the maze game. You can create an entertaining pom pom ball run on your fridge or simply on a whiteboard.
Coding with Magna-Tiles
Always try to keep kids engaged in something productive, even during their playtime. I came up with the idea of using magna-tiles to teach my son the basics of coding, such as sequencing, algorithms, and debugging – so many complex concepts taught so simply!
Pro Tip:
You can use toys 🧸 and mega blocks to create obstacles in the squares.
Sensory Table
When my son was a toddler, I would often set up a fun sensory table over the weekends. Only with a few simple ingredients like colored rice, magnetic candies, and, of course, Magna-Tiles can you teach your kids about the working principle of magnets.
Pro Tip:
Our most preferred ones are the Connetix tiles.
Magna-Tiles Dominoes
Do your kids love playing with dominoes, too? Well then, you can have fun with this one by using magna-tiles instead.
It’s so fun to knock a tile down and watch everything fall. I find it so satisfying, even as an adult.
Colorful Shadows
I loved doing this experiment with my kids. I would simply shine a flashlight through different magna-tiles, leading to the projection of a rainbow of colors.
Kids love watching the shiny colors, and you can also teach them how a rainbow occurs in the sky.
Pro Tip:
You can overlap various colors to explore the variations of color mixing.
Magna-Tiles Sight Word Activity
This activity is so simple. You can simply write letters on the tiles using a marker. Then, the little ones can easily combine them to create new sight words.
This is a fun way to improve vocabulary while they are young.
Pro Tip:
I would suggest using a dry-erase marker.
Experimenting with Colors
This one is the best activity to teach toddlers about primary and secondary colors. You will just require some magna-tiles of primary colors- red, blue, and yellow. Next, let your kids find out how they can create various color combinations.
Exploration of Symmetry
This is a fun one to do at home 🏠. First, keep a mirror at 90 degrees to the floor or a table. Now, arrange Magna-Tiles into a specific shape. Let your kids understand the reflection of it in the mirror 🪞.
Pro Tip:
You can also use the tiles to create numbers and study their reflection.
Magna-Tiles Fishing
Use a stick 🦯, strings 🧵, and a magnet 🧲 to make a fishing rod. Now, just arrange the magna-tiles on the file and ask your little ones to go fishing 🎣!
Making model fishes 🐠 out of magna-tiles is an activity that your kids will enjoy thoroughly.
Magna-Tiles Monster
I still have the magna-tile monster my elder boy made a few years ago.
You can encourage your kids to do something artistic and fun with magna-tiles. It is creative and will let them use their imagination to the fullest.
Pro Tip:
You can use triangular pieces for the eye 👁️, ears 👂🏼, and arms 💪🏼.
Race Car Track
Yes, boys are going to love this activity! They can make their race car 🏎️ truck using magna-tiles, or you can buy them a premade set.
Then, all you need are the toy cars 🚘 and your little ones can wheel them in the track as much as they want.
Magna-Tiles Ramp
If a race track isn’t cool enough for your kids, build them a ramp instead. Next, give them toy cars and turn it into a competition.
This was my go-to way to make my son and his friends spend quality time together.
Pro Tip:
This activity is tough and may not be suitable for toddlers, so please use it at your discretion.
Magna-Tiles Hot Wheels Bridge
If you have magna-tiles left, you can amp up the race car 🏎️ game by adding a bridge to the setup.
And there! You have given your kids the most amazing course to play Hot Wheels and other toy sports cars.
Magna-Tiles Robots
Kids love playing with robots 🤖, don’t they? Well, you can do a creative activity with them where you build a robot with magna-tiles. You can get an instruction manual with the pieces or look up a video online and follow the steps.
Pro Tip:
I would suggest using Connetix tiles because they are strong magnets 🧲.
Magna-Tiles 3-D Rainbow
With a few square and triangular magna tiles of different colors, you can do this fun activity with your kids on a Sunday afternoon. The shapes and colors result in a beautiful 3-D rainbow 🌈. It is so beautiful to look at!
Magna-Tiles Castle
I loved doing this airy with my son when he was a toddler. Mostly, I would not often give them instructions – just the Magna Tiles and would ask him to use his imagination and creativity to build a magnificent castle 🏰 by himself.
Pro Tip:
Use triangular tiles to make curved staircases inside the castle.
Magna-Tiles Strawberry
Another great approach to teach a toddler about fruits! Rather than sticking them with a book, make them do something creative and learn new things at the same time. Using red and green magna tiles, you can easily make a strawberry 🍓.
Magna-Tiles Ostrich
Do you have Picasso tiles of different shapes and are wondering how to use them? Well, look no further to have fun with Magna-Tiles.
Your kids will love making animals out of them, and an ostrich is one of my son’s favorites. It’s an excellent and creative way for kids to learn about animals.
Pro Tip:
You can use narrow tubes to form the ostrich’s neck.
Magna-Tiles Flower
My son has always been very interested in home decor. So, I taught him to create innovative floral 💐 arrangements using magna-tiles.
All those shapes and colors can be used to make the stems and leaves. The kids can also experiment with the petals.
Magna-Tiles Ice Cream Cone
If you have tall, orange triangular magna tiles, you can use them to make ice cream cones with your little ones.
Kids love ice cream 🍦, even if they don’t get to eat it. This would be a fun, creative activity to do with them.
Pro Tip:
Use the smaller triangles of various colors to form different flavors of ice cream.
Magna-Tiles Ball
The little ones cannot throw this ball around, I know. But they are super fun to make with minimum effort and time.
With eight equilateral triangular and six small square-shaped magna-tiles, you can help your kids build a cool 3-D ball.
Pro Tip:
Initially, you would have to form a 2-D flat pattern.
Magna-Tiles Christmas Tree
Take your Christmas celebrations up a notch by making a Christmas tree 🎄 out of Magna-Tiles. You can use green and red tiles and add small jingle bells 🔔 to make a beautiful tree with your kids. It just adds a lot of glam to your holiday preparations.
Magna-Tiles Star
With just 28 equilateral triangular, four square-shaped, and two right-angle triangle magna-tiles, you can do this amazing activity with your kids where you build a huge, shining star 🌟. You can later hang it on your kitchen wall as a room decor.
Pro Tip:
Since the tiles are so small, make sure the kids don’t put anything in their mouths.
Magna-tile Shape Printables
You can easily access these online printables that help your kids arrange Magna-Tiles into different shapes, including animals 🐅 and vehicles 🚗.
There are levels of difficulties in analyzing how efficient they are at arranging and learning.
Magna-Tiles Number Printables
I also love the number 🔢 printables for magna-tiles that help kids form letters from 0-9.
This is an amazing way to introduce numbers to toddlers through their playtime. Rather than making them write it on paper, use the activity for fun learning.
Magna-Tiles Letter Printables
These online printables are an easy guide to help kids learn the alphabet 🔡 using Magna-Tiles. They will be familiarized with the letters easily, and you can also teach them to form words.
Learning becomes so fun for kids when they are using colorful tiles.
Magna-Tiles Puzzle Printables
I was amazed at the puzzles you can find out for your little ones, especially preschoolers, and that too out of Magna-tiles.
This is a fun way to make puzzle-solving a lot more interesting! My son still enjoys doing this activity.
Magna-Tiles People Printables
Yes, surprisingly enough, they also have an amazing activity where you can pick outfits for different people 👩🏽 using magna-tiles.
This is a great way to teach your kids about the diversity of cultures and differences in clothing habits and preferences.
Magna-Tiles Printables for Lunar New Year
Celebrate the Lunar New Year 🧧 by making firecrackers 🧨, lanterns, and coins of various shapes and colors, using magna-tiles. It’s a perfect way to keep your little ones engaged.
I believe that kids should learn about these customs and practices as early as possible.
Magna-Tiles Dinosaur Printables
Is your kid a dino lover? Well then, look no further. They will love this activity where they can easily create dinosaurs 🦕 out of magna-tiles using online printables.
They will be scary and adorable to look out for, just that they will probably not roar!
Design your Dinosaur
This is a slight variant of the usual dinosaur craft.
Allow your kids to use their imagination to create their dinosaur 🦕 outlines on craft paper. Then, ask them to fill in the outlines using magna-tiles, with whatever shapes and colors they feel like using.
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Well, this is just your regular enormous Tyrannosaurus dinosaur 🦖 that you made using 71 Magna tiles.
This might be a project for older kids, but even you will enjoy the process. The little ones are going to love making their own showpiece.
Brontosaurus
As already discussed, playing with magna tiles is an amazing way to teach your kids about the various types of dinosaurs 🦖.
My favorite is the Brontosaurus, a model I made once with my son.
This might make them want to be a cool paleontologist; who knows?
Magna-tile dino collection
Well, you can also purchase customized magna-tile dinosaur 🦕 sets for your little ones that have all the ingredients and instructions for the little ones to get going on their building process.
Trust me, they will end up roaming with delight once they are done!
Magna-Tiles Dinosaur Templates
I know we’ve been talking about dinosaurs 🦕 a lot, but this is probably the coolest way for kids to have fun with Magna-Tiles. Plus, there is so much variation that can be done.
You can also get premade templates that help kids arrange Magna-Tiles to create their favorite dinosaur 🦖 from scratch.
How High Can This Go?
Well, the easiest way to play with magna-tiles is to make your kids stack tiles, one on another, just like Jenga. See how tall a pile they can build.
They will laugh their hearts out when the huge stack just gets knocked down.
Flower Pressed in Magna-Tiles
Well, this is another way to do a nature-themed activity with magna-tiles.
Ask your kids to collect different specimens of flowers 🌺 from the garden and then press them between colorful Magna-Tiles to create a collection of pressed flowers.
Magna-Tiles Task Cards
We often played this game when my son was young, and he always enjoyed this activity.
We kept 25 cards, face down, in a pile. He would pick up a card and then do the mentioned activity with Magna-Tiles, and it could be a challenge to create an airplane or a robot.
Coloring Magna-Tiles
I remember buying a Sesame Street Magna-Tiles set for my son when he was young. This amazing coloring 🖍️ activity allows kids to draw and paint the tiles using washable markers.
This could be an engaging activity for preschoolers, learning about colors as well.
Garage Door Decor
You can give your garage door a makeover and have your kids help you out with it! Use Magna-Tiles to make the door 🚪 look unique, and ask the little ones to come up with something fun and quirky.
Pro Tip:
You can only do it on a door you don’t use very often.
Customized Magna-Tiles Photos
Yes, you can even get your customized set of magna tiles with photos 📷 of your preference on the tiles.
Imagine getting this set for your kids and watching them build stuff out of it, using their imagination 💭 and creativity.
You can easily find them online.
Conclusion
The reason why I love Magna-Tiles so much and prefer it for kids’ playtime is that they encourage open-ended play, involve so many color and shape variations, and are super easy to set up.
More importantly, kids of all ages enjoy it so thoroughly. So, you can simply set up your toddler or youngster with Magna-Tiles and let them play as they wish.
I hope these ideas are helpful, and I would love to know how they work out for you all and if your little ones enjoyed doing them.
Let me know what you think of these activities, and leave a comment to express your honest opinions.
Much love to the little ones, and best wishes to you! Have endless fun! 😊
I’m a former teacher (and mother of Two Childs) with a background in child development. Here to help you with play-based learning activities for kids. ( Check my Next startup Cledemy.Com)