Magnetic tiles like Dreambuilder are a hot toy trend that seems to get more and more popular each year. These brilliant building blocks turn playtime into a hands-on learning experience that enhances skills in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
As an innovative construction kit for the 21st century, magnetic tiles allow children to explore concepts like geometry, physics, spatial reasoning and design thinking. The creative possibilities are endless!
This beginner’s guide will give you a comprehensive overview of Dreambuilder magnetic tiles. You’ll learn about:
- Different types of magnetic tiles and their unique benefits
- How magnetic tiles promote educational and social skills
- Creative ideas for magnetic tile structures and projects
- Safety considerations and age recommendations
- Incorporating magnetic tiles into learning environments
- The future of magnetic tile innovations
So if you’re curious about how these clever manipulatives can inspire the next generation, read on!
A Brief History of Building Toys Like Magnetic Tiles
Construction toys have been around for centuries, but magnetic tiles are a relatively new concept that was first patented in the 1990s by Peter and Richard Hanington.
The idea combined building blocks with magnets to allow for more flexibility and creativity than traditional blocks. Over the years, several brands like Magna-Tiles have popularized magnetic tiles as an educational toy.
In recent years, the growing focus on hands-on STEM learning has made magnetic building tiles increasingly popular both for home use and in schools. The creative possibilities draw kids into designing and problem-solving.
Brands like Dreambuilder are bringing more innovation and affordable pricing to magnetic tiles. New designs and additive pieces make them an engaging option for open-ended construction play.
Understanding Dreambuilder Magnetic Tiles
Dreambuilder offers magnetic building tiles in affordable sets ranging from 30 up to 210 pieces. Their high-quality acrylic magnetic tiles are made from a shatter-resistant plastic and come in a variety of colorful shapes like squares, triangles, pentagons and hexagons.
Here are some of their most popular sets:
- Dreambuilder 120 Piece Magnetic Tiles – Bestseller set with patterned squares and triangles
- Dreambuilder 88 Piece 3D Magnetic Tiles – Includes wheeled platforms and hinged tiles
- Dreambuilder 162 Piece Magnetic Tiles – More shapes and sizes for advanced builders
The magnets embedded inside each piece are strong enough to hold pretty impressive structures, yet safe for little hands. Reviewers praise their durability too – even with heavy use over time.
Let’s look more in-depth at one of their top-selling sets.
Key Features of the Dreambuilder 120 Piece Magnetic Tiles
This versatile set includes an assortment of 68 triangles and 52 squares in 5 bright colors. Here are some notable features:
- Made of thick, shatter-resistant acrylic plastic
- Smooth edges for safe handling
- Colorful squares and triangles in assorted sizes
- Strong embedded magnets hold structures securely
- Includes ideas for building printable card
- Best for ages 3+ with adult supervision
- Measures storage box: 305x230x68mm
With a balance of squares and triangles in differents sizes, this 121-piece set allows for all kinds of creative designs from simple houses to intricate crystal-looking shapes.
Reviewers praise the vibrant colors and say the durable plastic and strong magnets make them great for small builders. They stack easily without sliding around and support interactive play between multiple kids.
Key Educational Benefits
As an engaging STEM toy, the Dreambuilder magnetic tiles set promotes learning across multiple domains:
- Spatial intelligence – Visualizing and manipulating shapes in 3D space
- Geometry – Understanding polygons, angles, symmetry
- Creativity & design – Exploring artistic expression and engineering
- Fine motor skills – Precision hand and finger dexterity
- Problem-solving – Planning, adapting and critical thinking
- Collaboration – Working together to achieve common goal
Their open-ended possibilities allow kids to direct their own experience, trying, testing and expanding their conceptual understanding.
Educators love having magnetic tiles available as center activities to teach and reinforce math skills. The hands-on learning also keeps kids engaged for long periods of time in purposeful play.
Comparing Dreambuilder vs Other Magnetic Tile Brands
Dreambuilder is a relatively new brand, but they’ve quickly become a budget-friendly competitor to more established magnetic tile companies. How do they compare?
Here’s an overview of key brands:
[Insert comparison chart of popular magnetic tile brands]
- PicassoTiles – Affordable tiles in generic colors/shapes
- Magna-Tiles – Premium quality in clear and colored sets
- Dreambuilder – Great value sets with bright colors/patterns
- Magnet Genius – 176 pc. set with storage case
While Dreambuilder doesn’t offer clear tile options, their use of color/patterns creates high visual interest for kids. Their budget price point makes them very affordable compared to other quality brands.
One unique design advantage is their inclusion of wheeled platforms and hinged tiles in some sets. These add movable parts for more dynamic structure building.
Overall, Dreambuilder strikes a great balance between cost, durability, magnet strength and design options.
Key Educational Benefits of Magnetic Tile Play
While magnetic tiles provide endless hours of entertainment through creative block play, they’re also designed intentionally to develop cognitive, social-emotional and fine motor skills.
Developing STEM and Critical Thinking Skills
As mentioned earlier, magnetic tiles are a powerful STEM learning tool. Building intricate structures requires planning, spatial reasoning skills and an understanding of geometry and physics concepts.
Kids also utilize critical thinking abilities like:
- Problem-solving – To determine appropriate tile placement and balance/stability
- Innovation – Coming up with unique structures and uses for tile pieces
- Analysis – Studying shapes, angles and properties of designs
- Creativity – Expressing themselves through original constructions
As an open-ended toy, magnetic tiles allow for divergent thinking where there’s no “right or wrong” answer. Kids are motivated to test possibilities and push creative boundaries.
Cultivating Social-Emotional Skills
Collaborative play is another benefit of magnetic tiles. The large tile sets work well for groups of kids to jointly visualize, plan and build structures together.
This teaches vital social-emotional skills like:
- Teamwork – Assigning roles, sharing ideas and materials
- Communication – Discussing plans, expressing needs and feelings
- Empathy – Understanding others’ perspectives when collaborating
- Executive functions – Impulse control, flexibility in adapting to new ideas
Educators incorporate magnetic tiles in group challenges to foster these cooperative skills too.
Refining Fine Motor Dexterity
The process of snapping magnetic tiles together and pulling them apart works muscles in the hands and fingers. This helps develop fine motor control and dexterity.
Toddlers may start off using a basic pincer grasp and build up to using multiple fingers and their thumb. The improvement in hand-eye coordination shows as they learn to precisely place tiles.
This skill translates into holding a pencil correctly and manipulative small objects like buttons, zippers, etc.
Creative Play Ideas with Magnetic Tiles
Beyond free-form building, there are tons of ways to expand magnetic tile play through creative ideas and themed projects.
Printable Activity Cards and Challenges
Many magnetic tile brands provide printable activity cards or e-books with suggested building ideas. These give kids ideas for structures to recreate or use as inspiration for their own designs.
Dreambuilder’s printable building ideas e-book includes:
- 2D outlines to visualize shape layouts
- Step-by-step instructions for 3D constructions
- Themed structure concepts like robots, animals, buildings
- Open-ended creation suggestions to spark imagination
Print out cards or ideas to display for reference or recreate constructions on a light table for illuminated designs.
You can also find tons of free magnetic tile structure templates online to print out. Or make your own custom building cards to challenge spatial reasoning skills.
Art and Design Creations
Incorporate magnetic tiles into arts and crafts by:
- Building scenes and characters to display
- Making paintings on tiles with acrylic paints
- Stacking into sculptures or designs
- Creating color patterns and mosaics
Use an acrylic marker to draw landscapes or designs directly onto magnetic tiles. Then light up from underneath with an LED base plate.
Let kids decorate basic tile constructions with craft supplies like pom poms, feathers, gems or stickers to embellish their structural designs. Add toy figurines for even more creative embellishments.
The possibilities are endless when you integrate magnetic tiles into artmaking activities. Not only do kids learn about color mixing, balance, symmetry and more – they’re also having tons of fun!
Key Benefits of Magnetic Tiles for Child Development
Now that you know the wide range of educational and creative possibilities with magnetic tiles, let’s look more closely at why they’re so beneficial for child development.
Enhancing Cooperation and Social Skills
As mentioned previously, magnetic tiles lend themselves perfectly to social play. When multiple children want to build something together, they have to utilize teamwork and communication.
- Collaborating requires discussion of ideas, sharing materials, taking turns
- Communicating thoughts, expressing needs and compromising respectfully
- Learning from each other through practice, effort and problem-solving together
This builds empathy, maturity, verbal skills and abstract thinking abilities. Teachers also use magnetic tiles to encourage positive group interactions in the classroom through creation challenges.
Building Hand and Finger Dexterity
The process of snapping magnetic tiles together utilizes fine motor skills in the hands and fingers. This enhances:
- Muscle control through precise tile placement
- Hand-eye coordination by visually lining up blocks
- Finger and thumb dexterity when connecting/separating magnets
- Bilateral skills using both hands cooperatively
With repeated practice manipulating the tiles, kids improve the muscle tone and coordination required for later fine motor tasks like writing, buttoning, tying shoes, etc.
Sparking Creativity and Imaginative Play
Free-form construction kits like magnetic tiles inspire kids to create worlds, characters and stories beyond the tiles themselves. Building a castle might lead to imagining a royal family that lives inside.
Open-ended play allows for unlimited creativity through:
- Unique structures like underwater scenes, treehouses or amusement parks
- New uses for tile pieces like pathways, enclosures or moving parts
- Self-directed play without following instructions or rules
This sparks imagination, self-expression and an intrinsic motivation to experiment and learn through play.
Using Magnetic Tiles for Structures and More
While magnetic tiles are most commonly used for building free-form constructions, they also lend themselves perfectly to specific applications like architectural structures, ball runs and more.
Architectural Constructions
The right angled edges and stability of magnetic tiles make them ideal for architectural creations like:
- Houses, castles and cottages
- Skyscrapers, bridges and towers
- Barns, garages and hideaways
Follow blueprints or let kids design their own buildings. They’ll explore concepts like balance, symmetry and geometry. Add toy figurines, play silks, cardboard props or craft supplies to decorate and embellish.
Print out landscape templates or draw designs on flat tiles to create customized wallscapes.
Marble Ball Runs
Build winding tracks, ramps and tunnels from magnetic tiles to send marbles careening from start to finish.
This develops planning abilities, an understanding of physics concepts like gravity/friction and structural engineering skills.
Add obstacles, alternate paths and moving elements to increase the challenge. Time participants racing multiple marbles or collaborate to build the longest run possible.
Using Magnetic Tiles in Educational Settings
If you’re a teacher or homeschool parent, a set of magnetic tiles offers endless possibilities across all content areas. They’re a versatile material to keep kids engaged in purposeful play.
Math Center Activities
Incorporate magnetic tiles in math lessons or manipulative play:
- Identify and categorize polygons – sort by shape, size, color, etc.
- Learn about fractions by dividing structures
- Count sides and vertices, measure angles, calculate area
- Explore symmetry by replicating balanced designs
- Create patterns and sequences by size/color/type
Print reference sheets or display visual math prompts to reinforce concepts. Have kids record attributes in a science journal.
Language and Literacy Exploration
Expand vocabulary and literacy skills with magnetic tiles too:
- Build scenes from a story then narrate and write about it
- Label creations with printed words or handwritten descriptions
- Follow verbal instructions to construct specific structures
- Describe tile properties using expanded vocabulary and comparisons
Print words onto tiles or write vocab words with dry erase markers for kids to incorporate into themed creations.
Sensory-Based Education
Magnetic tiles also work beautifully for sensory-based education through:
- Auditorily recognizing magnetic clicking while connecting
- Visually scanning bright colors and unique shapes
- Tactilely feeling the smooth plastic sides
- Using fine motor control to handle pieces
Sensory integration is vital for cognitive processing and magnetic tiles seamlessly incorporate sight, sound and touch for well-rounded learners.
Use tiles with students on the autism spectrum or those with sensory processing differences to develop connections and skills.
Choosing Magnetic Tiles for Kids by Age
Magnetic tile building sets range dramatically when it comes to number of pieces, size/weight of components and small parts safety.
To determine age-appropriateness, consider:
Under 3 years
- Begin with chunky plastic shapes like squares/triangles
- Limit tile number to less than 50 pieces
- Prioritize easy grasping versus magnet strength
Great starter sets for toddlers:
- Magna-Tiles Clear Colors – 10 piece intro set
- PicassoTiles – 30 – 100 piece starter sets
Ages 3 – 5 years
- Seek more tile variety and magnet power
- Up to 100 pieces encourages shared play
- Ensure smooth finish and rounded edges
Ideal preschooler sets:
- Dreambuilder 88 pc – good beginner variety
- Magna-Tiles Inspire Set – 50 pieces with activity guide
- Magnet Genius – Affordable 60-piece starter
Ages 6 – 12 years
- Expand piece counts up to 200+ tiles
- opt for precision-fit tile connections
- Combine sets for more creative possibilities
Top magnetic toys for school-aged kids:
- Dreambuilder 162 pc – lots of shapes/sizes
- PicassoTiles 100 pc – budget-friendly huge set
- Magna-Tiles Hypershapes – puzzles with wheels
Consider children’s age, dexterity level and interests before purchasing magnetic tile sets. Many brands indicate appropriate ages, but use your own discretion too!
Safety Considerations and Maintenance
While any toy has potential risks, magnetic building tiles have an exceptional safety record. Still, there are a few precautions to note when using them.
Safety Tips
- Designed for ages 3+ with adult supervision
- Choking hazard for loose pieces and small magnets
- Ensure sets have smooth finish and edges
- Don’t step barefoot on scattered pieces!
Store tiles in an air-tight container since moisture can impact magnet function. Promptly retrieve pieces rather than letting them linger on the floor.
Watch children under 3 years closely since they still mouth objects. Monitor plastic wear and immediately discard damaged tiles.
Care and Cleaning
Most magnetic tile brands recommend wiping pieces with a damp cloth and mild soap if needed. Avoid abrasive cleaners which could scratch the plastic finish over time.
Since magnetic tiles don’t contain electronics, liquids or paper inserts, they’re quite durable for regular use. Still, be cautious about dropping pieces on hard surfaces or overextending the magnets with very heavy leaning creations!
Proper storage is also key – keep unused tiles in a sealed plastic bin or the original box. This prevents dust buildup and maintains magnet strength. Many sets even have built-in storage compartments with a lid to keep all the pieces neatly organized.
Incorporating Magnetic Tiles in Classrooms
Educators have enthusiastically embraced magnetic tiles as a versatile teaching material across academic disciplines. They even sell special classroom packs with storage solutions to easily utilize them in schools.
Manipulatives for Math and Stem
Use magnetic tiles when teaching concepts like:
- Geometry – shapes, measurement, symmetry
- Fractions and spatial reasoning
- Positional concepts like balance and sequencing
- Engineering and physics through intricate structures
Frequently Asked Questions
What ages are Dreambuilder magnetic tiles appropriate for?
Dreambuilder magnetic tiles are designed for ages 3+, but provide open-ended play opportunities for ages through elementary school. Select starter sets with around 50-100 pieces for ages 3-5, while older kids can handle more tiles for more complex structures. Always supervise young children since small magnets can pose a choking risk if loose.
How do Dreambuilder magnetic tiles compare to other top brands?
Testimonials show Dreambuilder holds up well against premium magnetic tiles in terms of quality and durability. Their use of color patterns creates high visual interest compared to basic colored tiles. While not as affordable as generics, Dreambuilder offers good value at price points between budget and high-end brands. Their inclusion of special pieces like wheels and hinges also adds play value.
What are some ideas for structures to build with magnetic tiles?
Brainstorm things like houses, castles, tunnels, bridges, towers and more. Print reference sheets with architectural drawings or animal outlines to recreate. Use magnetic tiles to build roadways for toy cars, enclosures for animal figurines, or towering “crystal” creations when stacked diagonally. The possibilities are endless so encourage kids to think creatively!
Can I incorporate magnetic tiles into educational activities and lessons?
Absolutely! Center activities with magnetic tiles teach skills in math, engineering, literacy, art and more. Have students identify geometric properties, create symmetrical figures, label creations, mix paint colors, or construct scenes from stories. Collaborative building challenges encourage teamwork as well. Add related printables to reinforce concepts across the curriculum with magnetic tiles as engaging hands-on manipulatives.
How can I maximize the longevity of magnetic tile pieces?
Read the care instructions to note any cleansers that may damage the finish over time. Wipe pieces periodically with a damp cloth to prevent surface grime buildup. Avoid dropping on hard surfaces. Store unused tiles in an airtight container rather than loose to prevent chipping and maintain magnetism. Routinely check for damaged pieces like tiles with rough edges and immediately discard and replace them.
What safety guidelines should I follow with magnetic tiles?
Supervise young children closely during play since tiles pose choking hazards if broken or loose magnets swallowed. Ensure sets have smooth edges without cracks or leaks to prevent injury from sharp pieces. Don’t step barefoot on pieces left out. Follow age grading with only basic starter sets for under 3 years. Monitor for proper collaborative play so no grabbing or throwing pieces. Store completely after use rather than loose piles since scattered tiles pose tripping and falling hazards.