Geomag, celebrating its 25th birthday this year, makes a variety of construction system toys that aim to sneakily add a bit of engineering and mathematics into playtime, connecting creativity and STEM subjects.
And if you prefer your construction sets to come with a bit more flair than just dull metal or primary colours, then Geomag have just the thing, with their Glow or Glitter sets.
Geomag Glitter – aimed at anyone who likes a bit of sparkle in their life – is exciting from the moment you open the box and tip out the solid but sparkly containers that hold the goodies: a 60 piece set of magnetic rods and metal balls, along with several bases, that can be used to create a range of different geometric shapes.
READ MORE: Masters of the Universe: Masterverse #3 – Comic Review
Pop open a glittery box and immediately the glittery rods bunch together and try to attract the neatly packed metal balls that the box also contains. The rods come in four colours: purple, pink, orange, and aqua, which is more than enough to create a stylish shape. The rods and balls are chunky and satisfying to pick up, and are well suited for play by children and adults alike.
We gave this set to an eight year old to play with, and the result was much excitement. They had, apparently, played with a similar set at a friend’s house, and were super-keen to get into the set and start building. There were some ‘oooohs’ as they pulled out the glittery boxes that house the glittery magnetic rods and shiny metallic balls, and immediately they got to building.
READ MORE: Injustice: Gods Among Us – Throwback 10
The magnets are pretty strong, and their first creation survived being carried from room to room in order to be shown off, before eventually crashing to the floor and exploding into a mess of rods and balls. These were easily retrieved, and after a little trial and error (“Which way up do these go?”) our child play-tester got the hang of using one of the coloured bases to give stability when building “THE HIGHEST TOWER POSSIBLE”.
“Look at my tower!” they commanded, proudly showing off the multi-coloured sparkly construction. And then it was time to take it apart and build something else. “I’ll take it apart slowly”, they sensibly proclaimed, before pausing for a second to consider, and then smashing the entire thing down from the top and collapsing into laughter. “That was faster.” Indeed it was, child. Well done.
Geomag Glitter (60 pieces) is available from Toys R Us and other retailers.
