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Why These Magnetic Tiles Are Awesome Gifts for Kids and Families - CNET

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Now on sale at Amazon, these tiles offer hours of fun for everyone in the family. Children Flash Cards

Why These Magnetic Tiles Are Awesome Gifts for Kids and Families - CNET

I'm 23 years old and I'm considering buying these magnetic-tile toys from PicassoTiles  (which are now on sale for Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days event). Let me explain.

I don't have any kids of my own, but there are young children in my family. The last time I went to visit them, the toddler -- we'll call her Emily -- immediately ran into the living room, where these colored tiles were all over the floor.

At first I was reminded of the colored tiles and shapes we used to build figures in geometry during elementary and middle school. But these are a lot cooler. The tiles, each set containing a variety of shapes, sizes and colors, have magnets along each edge. This lets you stick the shapes together to create beautiful designs or build 3D towers. Emily's favorite way to play? Have me and her parents build towers for her to knock over (while she giggles the whole time).

Each set also comes with a guidebook, which illustrates all the different things you can build with the tiles, including but not limited to: Olaf from Frozen, castles, roller coasters, flowers and more. Emily's parents and I spent some time trying to build a realistic-looking rocket ship, and it was a blast. The car trucks with wheels can help make your designs mobile.

Perhaps most impressive, and most importantly, these tiles engaged Emily's attention for quite a while. And, as a colleague pointed out, these tiles grow with the kids -- as children's spatial awareness and understanding of shapes and construction grows, the tiles will still be an appealing toy. 

I mean, I'm 23, and spatial intelligence isn't my strong suit, so maybe they're educational and fun for all of us who are kids at heart. I'll have a nice time messing around with them whether or not I've got Emily lurking, waiting, yearning to knock my creations down.

Why These Magnetic Tiles Are Awesome Gifts for Kids and Families - CNET

Custom Engineering Building Blocks Toys You can buy these PicassoTile sets on sale now at Amazon: the 100 piece set is $32 (you save $29) and the 60 piece set is $21 (you save $6). The set of two trucks is also discounted at $9. .