The magnetic constructor, despite its publicity, may not be as interesting for the child as the manufacturers want to present it. Whatever one may say, the plausibility of crafts made from magnetic parts is very lacking, therefore children, when they first encounter Lego and its analogues, usually very quickly forget about some magnets there. Therefore, companies that produce magnetic constructors have to come up with all sorts of tricks to interest kids, and one of the best solutions to the problem is to release kits that glow in the dark.
Why magnetic, why luminous?
There are a lot of types of constructors on the modern market, but magnetic sets are really popular. Apparently, the great demand is caused not so much by the interest of the children themselves as by the desire of parents to ensure the faster development of their child. Indeed, any magnetic constructor contributes to this very much, since it "promotes" a number of useful skills and abilities.
- Magnetic constructor develops the ability to count... Even at school, they start learning counting by offering kids to count not abstract, but quite concrete things - figures, cubes, sticks. Working with such a constructor will be an excellent preparation for the first math lessons.
- These products help enhance your creative thinking and design skills. To collect a specific craft, it is worth first deciding how to do it - to compose an algorithm for future actions in your own head. If in small kits intended for collecting a specific craft, there may be detailed instructions, then large kits are usually completely devoid of it - the baby will have to come up with an idea for implementation and ways to implement it.
- Constructor develops hand skills... Although assembling the parts of a magnetic kit seems to be an extremely simple manipulation, do not forget that this toy was created mainly for preschoolers. In children of this age, the neural connections have not yet been worked out at a sufficient level, and it is the practice with magnets that will help them quickly acquire the accuracy of movements.
As for the backlit magnetic constructors, they are chosen simply because they look prettier, and therefore children like them more. Thanks to the fluorescent glow, the craft from very primitive parts seems more interesting, and therefore the constructor can be used a little longer, which pays for the parental costs.
Varieties
As a rule, magnetic designers are classified not by type, but by manufacturer. There are usually no global differences between them, however, the concept of appearance can be slightly different and create a well-recognized image.
Sticks and balls
The simplest concept is a set of long thin sticks connected by balls. It is unlikely that it will be possible to assemble anything really complicated from such details, but it opens up a huge space for experiments with volumetric geometric shapes. Most popular brands appeal to details of this shape, including Bornimago (a whole series of glowing Glow sets), Geomag (a series of inexpensive and very high-quality constructors, also called Glow), and Kribly Boo (just one set, but very voluminous).
Geometric figures
Such a designer is most often called "Magformers" for the fact that he became famous thanks to the Magformers company. The concept here looks fundamentally different: the parts are connected directly to each other, and at the same time they do not look like individual sticks and balls, but like ready-made geometric shapes - squares, triangles, rhombuses. On the one hand, it is easier to make a complex figure from such parts, on the other hand, the presence of specific parts in separate sets makes it possible to collect rather complex crafts that are far from banal geometry.
The original product is quite expensive (at least a few thousand rubles), but managed to become famous, even in popular animated series: it was shown in their episodes "Fixies" and "Smeshariki". As a result, a huge number of Chinese counterfeits were brought up at lower prices, among which Mag Building or 3D Xinbida can be distinguished for the better.
Thematic sets
The SmartMax company has presented so far a very rare type of luminous magnetic constructors, which consist of quite plausible parts from which you can assemble, for example, a typewriter or an airplane.
Such a toy finally looks believable, but its magic depends heavily on the presence of batteries, since here the manufacturer refused to use fluorescent materials.
How to choose the right one?
It would seem that the choice of luminous magnetic constructors is not so great, but even here you can make a mistake with the choice. To prevent this from happening, pay attention to some obvious things:
- a child who is bought a designer of any type should at least get a little carried away with design, but even in this case, those sets from which you can assemble crafts of interest to the kid - cars for a boy, fairy locks for girls will be more successful;
- since the choice fell on a luminous structure, you need to make sure that its radiance even at dusk is noticeable enough, because otherwise it would be possible to buy an ordinary set if the baby still does not see the glow;
- the indication of the recommended age on the package is not a strict recommendation, because each child develops at a different speed, but at least approximately it is worth being guided by what is written;
- in order not to be afraid for the safety of your child, kits should be bought only from trusted sellers and only well-known manufacturers, while it is not a shame to demand quality certificates, since the number of fakes is only growing every year;
- very often an indicator of the quality of a magnetic luminous constructor is its price, therefore it is usually recommended not to spare money and buy albeit expensive, but proven sets of American and Swiss manufacturers, while spending money on Chinese goods is always a certain risk;
- An important indicator of the quality of a magnetic constructor is also the strength of the magnets, because it depends on it how well the assembled craft will hold, and whether it is even possible to use it as a separate toy.
Incredible discounts on "original products of a well-known manufacturer" and sale on the Internet on an unknown site - this is almost guaranteed an offer to buy a fake, which will probably be inferior in quality to the original.
For information on what can be done from a magnetic constructor, see below.
