Which pack to do start with?
This is a super tricky question to answer without knowing more about you and your family. There are three main factors in choosing the perfect first pack to start:
- The ages of your children.- What are their interests?
- What is your budget?
The Mega pack is the best value with more options in shapes and comes with two car bases. This set encourages big builds and more complex designs.
The Creative Pack comes with a great selection of shapes and pieces. No car bases, rectangles or hexagons in this pack, but these can be added with different packs later on.
The Starter pack comes with 62 or 64 pieces. and is just a less quantity of the creative pack but all the same pieces.
Why are they so good?
Connetix are the epitome of open ended toys! As with any construction type toy, the possibilities for play are endless. But due to their easy to build nature - the magnets connect together with little effort! Meaning even the youngest of builders can achieve amazing builds! There is no fussing like with Lego, Mega blocks, etc.
Use them with animals, barbies, figures, loose parts - the possibilities are endless!
These will grow with your child and last for many many years! Their builds and play will begin simple, but wait a few years and they will continue to grow, bigger and more complex.
Kmart make the same for way less price...
They do! And the Kmart magnetic tiles are great value for money! We were gifted them first a couple years ago. Once we knew our children used them we invested in the Connetix and straight away they are a million times better.
With stronger magnets - you can build more, higher and it's overall less frustrating for the child. We found with our Kmart ones - and tiny knock or touch could mean they more than likely collapsed. This frustration is gone with Connetix!
And maybe the best thing - Connetix concave in the middle - meaning fewer surfaces that get scratched!
Pastel or Brights?
They mix well together so you don't need to stick with the one type.
The Rainbow (Brights) feature the 6 main primary and secondary colours in traditional tones. We find this is best for younger children - there is more that matches colour wise to these, they are easily identifiable for toddlers learning colours.
The Pastels feature eight colours with 2 greens and a pink included. This one is far more muted, but so beautiful.
Ball Runs?
Even though the age is 3+ - I strongly suggest this is introduced around the 5-6 age. Even us as adults find it tricky and frustrating at times to get the clear pieces locked into the connectors. Never mind the problem solving skills needed to create a successful marble run.
However these are also super fun for adults! So if you're keen to build (and rebuild) a run for your 3+ year old - then it's a great choice!
I recommend purchasing this after you have a set of regular tiles as you need the square shapes to support the run and make it stable.
Please contact us if you need any help or have any questions deciding!
