Jenny Peck, parent of six year old Luke, takes a look at Geomag’s Supercolor Panels.
Supercolor Panels are a range of construction sets from Swiss toy experts Geomag, described as ‘The original magnetic construction toy since 1998’.
This 35 piece set is made up of small plastic rods with magnets at the ends, small ball magnets, and flat plastic plates, that can be inserted into the shapes that you make to give a more solid appearance.
The box states that this set is suitable for ages 5-99. Luke is six, but from the moment Luke and I opened it I was on high alert. This might just be me being overly cautious, but the small round ball magnets made my mum sense tingle!
The rods and spherical magnets come in a plastic box that is good for storage and making sure that all of the parts are accounted for at the end of play. What you see on the box is what you get. Everything looks and feels well made but I do feel that the plastic panels may get broken or damaged quickly. The product is made with 100% recycled plastic, a big tick in my ‘good’ book, and it is brightly coloured, which I like.
When Luke opened the box he didn’t know how to use the toy at first, so we played together with it for a while. Once I stopped and let him investigate on his own he was just interested in the rods and magnets. However, he lost interest quite quickly and has not really wanted to play with it since. I get it out occasionally to look at, but he’s not interested in joining in.
I think overall I would be happier leaving Luke to play with this if he was a little older, and he might have the required patience and interest with age. I also think that the age range – to 99 years – may be a selling point, but the dexterity needed to use the rods and magnets mean it might not be suitable for anyone with arthritis or an eyesight impairment.
The price point – which seems to range from £14 to £24, depending on where you buy from – seems fair for the level of the product, but I would only recommend it to people with slightly older children, as I feel the spherical magnets seem, in my opinion, too much of a risk.
Geomag Supercolor Panels are available from various retailers.
