Magnetic Tilesare such a fabulous open-ended toy that can be used in a variety of ways to foster children's learning on a hands on and interactive way.
Offering children magnetic tiles to free build with issure to open a wide range of opportunities and learning but if you're wanting some inspiration or to focus on a certain skill you might like to browse the ideas in this blog.
We've got you covered with how to get started, simple play, small world play, literacy, numeracy, games and outdoor play too!
At Little Toy Tribe we stock the full range of Connetix Tiles which are pictured in all the activities below. Have a read of another blog Comparing Brands of Magnetic Tiles if you'd like to know more about how Connetix Tiles compare to other brands.
If you don't already have a chalk markerconsiderbuying one to try some of these activities as we use them in many activities througout the blog.
They draw onto the Connetix Tiles easily and dry staying on better than whiteboard markers. You can easily remove itby wiping the tile over wtih a baby wipe or spray and wipe!
Watch the video below!
Let's GetStarted
Free Building
When you first open your Connetix Tiles children may get straight into building or they may need a little guidance or inspiration to learn how the tiles join together and what they could create.
My children loved to lay them flat, make stacks of matching colours before building upwards and making bigger creatings. We introduced this by sitting next to them playing and building alongside them and they have continued to use the tiles in so many ways creating constructions small and big as they have grown with them over many years.
Start with a Base
I used to leave little bases with three or four sides like the picture below on the mat as an invitation to play and they would build up from this base as they found making the base a little difficult at first.
Build Them High
Children will love to see how high they can build towers. See how high they can get before they fall (or knock them down)!
Build a House
Use magnetic tiles to build houses and cities. They allow for many different design possibilites and children will learn through play to build supports for the floors, walls and roof. Use peg people, dolls, Maileg mice or even your childrens favourite chartacters like Bluey. We also love to add a garage and laythe tiles flat to build a road for cars or footpath for people.
Use them in Pretend Play
Great creative and use them in different ways for play! We love to incorperate them into our shops as shelves to displaying stock or like the picture below we used them to sort loose parts in an ice cream shop.
BuildAgainst a Window
A fun way to play with them is against a window in the sun! Children will love to see the colours diffuse and may even like to try mixing the primary colours together to make other colours.
Simple Play
Two Piece Puzzles
You can make your own simple two piece puzzles for children to match when learning to complete puzzles. This can be done with stickers or printing pictures and taping them on top.
Bookish Play
Use them to retell or recreate favourite stories such as Dear Zoo. Hide animals inside for them to discover as you find them throughout the book.
DIY Photo Puzzles
Why not make your own puzzles personal to your little ones with their favourite people, pets and animals by cutting up photos and sticking them onto the tiles with tape.
Colour Matching
Offer children cubes or single magnetic tiles to colour match with. Over the years we have loved a mix of loose parts to post in cubes as well as the metal rimmed counting chips as they stick to the outside.
Grapat Coin Run
Create your own coin run with Grapat coins or rings. It's the perfect simple play without small balls in the ball run set which can be a choking hazard for younger siblings.
You’ll need - 6 x large square tiles 12 x right angle triangles 12 x small square tiles & Grapat coins. Watch the video for how to make it!
Making Flatlays & Mandalas
Usesome ideas from the inspiration book that comes inside the Connetix Tiles box or let children create their own!
Making & Copying Patterns
Begin making a pattern and let children copy. Let them make a pattern for you to finish too!
PostingBoxes
Use loose parts or pom poms to post into boxes made from Connetix Tiles.
You could even use some tongs to make it a little trickier!
Shape Match Puzzle
Trace Connetix Tiles in different shapes onto a piece of cardboard, paper or whiteboard and offer your child the pieces to match up.
others may be made with just the outer line of the magnetic tiles.
Knock It Down
Build a tower of Connetix Tiles and offer sandbags or a felt ball for you child to roll or throw at it to knock it down. The perfect invitation to destroy!
Literacy Play Ideas
Letter Tracing
Use paper underneath or inside two Connetix Tiles and write a word or letter on it. Offer your child a chalk marker to trace over it.
Uppercase and Lowercase Matching
Write all or some letters on separate tiles and offer them to your child to join them together and match them up eg. A & a. You could do the same with a picture and a word too.
Making CVC Words
Write letters on your tiles and offer them to your child to makeCVC words. A CVC word is a single syllable three-letter word that follows the pattern of consonant, vowel, consonant.Some examples you could try are:
bat, sat, cat, fat, cab, dab, lab,beg ,leg, peg,dip, flip, hip,cop, hop, mop, pop and SO many more!
Sounding Out Words
Following on from making the CVC words you could practice sounding them out. Join the tiles together to make a word then use a car to move along each letter saying the sound of each then the full word.
Making Letters
Connetix Tiles has a range of free resources to download and use. Below I have attached the uppercase & lowercase letters but you can head on over to the Connetix Tileswebsite to browse and download any others you'd like to use.
DOWNLOAD CONNETIX UPPERCASE LETTERS
DOWNLOAD CONNETIX TILES LOWERCASE LETTERS
Matching Objects to their Initial Sounds
Write letters on tiles using a chalk marker and practice the sounds. Search around your house or playroom to find objects children could match to the letters. For example S & spoon or D & dog.
Sorting Rhyming Words
Write words on the tiles and offer them to your child to sort the words together that rhyme.
For example:
Cat, mat & sat | Peg, leg & beg | Dig, big & pig.
Numeracy Play Ideas
Counting and Representing Numbers
Get creative and you can offer this activity in many different ways!
Make ice crem cone using a triangle for the cone and offer the squares as scoops to be stacked up ontop to represent each number (or) Make boxes and offer children loose parts (like the Grapat Nins, Rings and Coins) to put inside.
Sequencing NumbersWrite numbers on each tile and offer them to children to sort and sequence. Start small and add more as children become more confident. You can colour coordinate them like the photo or mix the colours to make it more difficult!
Representing Numbers
Represent numbers by writting 1000, 100, 10 & 1 on multiple tiles. Offer them to children to place under each number to visually represent the number in each colum.
Number Match
On one Connetix Tile write the numeral and on another put the corresponding amount of dots. Offer them to children to match them up. You could do the same with tally marks for bigger numbers.
Roll, Match & Make
Gather a dice, numbers and loose parts then place your tiles in a 3 x 3 square like the picture below. Have your child roll the dice, choose the number and then make it with loose parts (Grapat Pink Flowers).
Pyramid Addition
Start by writing numbers across the bottom row. Children can then add the two numbers and write the answer on the tile in the middle above them until they reach the top!
Games
Tic Tac Toe
Join together 9 tiles in a 3 x 3 square and gather loose parts of the same colour or shape to use instead of X's and O's.
Snakes and Ladders
This game is such a classic and easy to make using chalk markers and fencesfor ladders and rectangles or ball run tubes as the snakes!
Twister
Experiment with light coming through windows andstack the large squares or 4 x 4 small squares so the the light on the floor. Get creative and play a game of Twister taking turns selecting colours, have fun!
Table Tennis
Set this one up on a low table like the coffee table. Build a net using the magnetic tiles. Offer children ping pong balls and a bat. Don't worry if you don't have one, cut one out of cardboard!
Connect 4
This one is a bit of a DIY with cardboard but sure to be well enjoyed, it's giant connect 4! Give children. colour each to try and get 4 in a row to win a round.
Make a Maze
Build a maze out of Connetix and give children a straw and ping pong ball to blow through the maze. This is a great wayfor children to practice deep breathing too! You could do the same activity pushing a car through!
Outdoor Play
Garage Door Play
Offer children tiles to create with on your garage door! It's simple and fun!
Hopscotch
Build hopscotch on the grass to enjoy outdoors! You could also experiment and create other obstacles like a ladder to run through or towers to jump over.
Colour Paddles
Cut out a piece of cardboard with a hole in the middle to place a tiles. Offer them to your child to explore outdoors.
Tips:Make the cutout slightly smaller than a tile by about a mm so you get a nice snug fit. The tile may still pop out! Use double wall cardboard if possible (2 layers of corrugations inside) and run the corrugations lengthwise up the paddle so your handle is stronger.
Catching Sunlight
Find a patch of sunlight and build a tower to see how the light filters through different colours. You could also experiment with mixing colours.
Collecting Flowers
Let your children collect flowers when you're out on a walk and display them between the Connetix Tiles!
Picnic Mat
And lastly the most simple one of all! Take your magnetic tiles outside and enjoy building in the sunshine on a picnic mat!
If you'd like to read more about our favourite resources that work well with magnetic tiles head on over and have a read of another blog '5 Toys to Combine with Magnetic Tiles.'
Well we hope that gives you some ideas to get you started with playing and enjoying your Connetix Tiles to their full potential! We'd love if you could tag us on Instagram at@littletoytribe if you try any of these ideas to inspire more of our play community over on Instagram!
Photos and videos throughout this blogare created by ourselves, Little Toy Tribe as well as:
- Kathryn from@cardboardfolk
- Lisa from @labyrinths.and.lovehearts
- Liz from @playinginstyle
- Ryanne from @the.everyday.learning.space
- Kristy from @today.our.children
- Annika from @1_2_3_play_with_me
- Amy from @ourpackinpictures
