Guidecraft Magneatos Review & Giveaway

I promised that I’d have another great review & giveaway this week – and here it is:

My kids received this awesome set of Magneatos from Guidecraft 2 weeks ago.  Even though they are geared for ages 2 and up, I knew that even Gracie (almost 10) would enjoy these.  She loves the little cheapy sets of rods and magnetic balls that you can buy at the dollar store (you know the ones that little kids swallow and get very sick?)  Anyway, she can entertain herself for hours with a set of those, so I knew the Magneatos would be a big hit.

I was right!  Both Gracie and Ian dug right in and had a blast with the Magneatos.   The set we received is the 144 piece Jumbo Magnetic Construction set.  As a mother, I was quite impressed with the packaging.  I expected to open the outer box and find the pieces just all throw in.  No!  They come packaged in the styrofoam that you see in the picture on the left. All the balls together and all the rods together.  The rods come in 2 sizes. With Legos and other construction sets that we have, I usually end up purchasing a large plastic container to dump everything in. However, with the Magneatos, my kids enjoy putting everything back together in the styrofoam container – so I’m hoping it will hold up for awhile.

Again, the mom in me is much impressed with the educational factor of this toy.  You can see in the picture at the right that Gracie has received some of the perfectionistic qualities that I have – she was always organizing the parts and making sure they matched up. This is a great activity for Ian too – he already knows his colors, but matching up the small and large rods by color was a great activity for him and kept him busy for a long time.  That’s great for a busy boy who doesn’t often want to sit still!

I expected that, much like a box of Legos, the Magneatos would come with a “how to build” booklet of some sort.  They didn’t.  So, while Gracie looked at the pictures on the box to figure out how to construct a few things, she quickly figured out that the possibilities were endless and that she was limited only by her own imagination.  We discovered “houses” for stuffed animals and other interesting structures!

And, yes, I’ll confess, even I have had my fair share of fun with Magneatos!  It’s very difficult to walk past the box and not stop and play with them! 

These pieces are very well constructed and they have some powerful magnets in them! I have a 4-year-old boy who tends to be rather hard on things, and these Magneatos hold up quite well to his abuse. I believe they will look just as good after years of hard use as they do right now.

Magneatos come in various set sizes.  You can start small to see if your children will enjoy them, then add larger sets to expand your  collection.  I’d very much like to add the Jumbo Master Builder set because I know my kids would enjoy adding the panels, clips, and bendies to their Magneato creations!

Would you like to win this set of Magneatos?  I have a set just like mine to give away to one lucky reader!  Please visit Guidecraft and let me know your absolute favorite Guidecraft product (let’s pretend money is not an option!)

Would you like a few more chances to win?  If so, you may do any/all of the following for additional entries (please leave a separate comment for each one that you do):

• Follow Guidecraft on Twitter
• Like Guidecraft on Facebook
• Follow the Guidecraft blog
• Follow MY blog
• Like Heidi’s Reviews & Reflections on Facebook
• Follow HeidiSays on Twitter (even though I’m not a very good tweeter – yet!)
• Put my (new!) button on your blog (2 entries)
• Post about this contest with a link back (3 entries)
• And for extra fun, tell me what you’d like to make with your Magneatos set!

This contest will remain open until 8am next Monday, May 17th. At that time, I will draw ONE random winner.  Good luck! Please note: Guidecraft will ship to U.S. addresses only.

I received this product for free from Guidecraft.
The thoughts expressed above are entirely my own.