My kids have always loved playing with magnetic toys. My oldest's favorite toys as a toddler included alphabet and number magnets. Unsurprising though, given that he's hyperlexic and has hypernumeracy. And you would think I would have more activities here that use those materials...but alas, he mostly used them for spelling words all day long.
Another favorite toy for years has been magnetic tiles. It's the toy that spans ages. Seriously, it seems kids of all ages - even adults! - love to play with magnetic tiles. There's just something so special about them. Perhaps that's why my boys still love to play with them after almost 10 years.
Then there are magnet wands. Oh boy did my youngest ever gravitate towards magnet wands!
Needless to say, my kids have always loved magnet play. So here are some of the magnet activities for kids that we've done (and shared here!) over the years.
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Magnet Activities for Kids
Below you will find a variety of different activities with magnets. Some use magnetic tiles. Some use magnet wands or those horseshoe shaped magnets. And others use magnet sets like letter magnets or magnetic counters.
Favorite Magnetic Toys & Tools for Kids
I've already mentioned and highlighted some of our favorite magnetic toys over the years above, but here's a full list of our favorites.
- Magna-Tiles Clear Colors 100 piece set - Clear colors are our favorite because you can use them to explore light as well. And honestly, get two sets. You'll find that 100 pieces just isn't enough.
- Magna-Tiles Car Expansion Set - So you can build cars and trains and whatnot.
- Another great brand of magnetic tiles is Connetix. If they had been around years ago, I would have bought these instead of Magna-Tiles. Their colors are much more vibrant and their sets include more unique pieces.
- Melissa & Doug Wooden Alphabet Magnets in a Box - A hyperlexic favorite!
- Plastic Letters & Numbers Fridge Magnets - Another hyperlexic must own toy.
- Magnet Wands - These are great to add to a variety of activities. Highly recommend having at least one on hand.
- Horseshoe Magnet - We actually bought ours from the dollar store. The shape is great for even tiny toddler hands.
- Transparent Magnetic Counting Chips - You'll see these in a number of our sensory bin activities.
- Melissa & Dough Wooden Magnets Sets: Dinosaurs & Animals - We had both of these sets and my boys used to spend hours playing with them.
- Melissa & Doug Magnetic Wooden Puzzle Games - My boys loved these! We had three of these: cars, fishing, and bug catching.
- Magformers Set - These are cool too, but I always found them more finicky to put together than magnetic tiles are.
Now that you know our favorite magnetic toys and tools, you're ready to try one of the activities from above. The question is though, which one of these fun magnet activities will you try first?
