Choosing a children's designer. Review of Bristle, Zoob, Magformers

Let's move away from such familiar cubes and Lego, which has already become “ours” in our area (Lego Duplo for little ones), and see what new solutions the creators of children's designers offer us.

In today's article I want to make a review of exactly unusual, in my opinion, designers.

I will offer them to you right away with an indication, as far as possible, of a site for purchase or a hint on how to search on the English-speaking Internet. I’ll make a reservation right away that almost all models are available for sale with us, but the prices bite a lot. Therefore, foreign online stores are our option.

So.

Bristle Block constructor from Battat, USA

Designers of such a plan are called needle. The details are blocks of soft plastic with "needles-villi", which are easy to connect to each other in various combinations.

Sold in sets of 36, 50, 54, 67, 85, 112, 113, 128 pieces in a box, tube or suitcase. There are thematic constructors, for example, "Builder", "Jungle", "Family", with the help of which the child can create his own little world using colorful bristle details.

In addition to the main blocks in the sets, there are wheel figures that will allow you to set in motion the constructed structures, figures of men or animals.

Looking for Battat Bristle Block, Bristle Basic Building Set, Battat Bristle Blocks Basic Set Building Kit. The issue price is an average of $30. for 100 pcs.

Constructor Playskool Clipo

Very similar to the previous one, except that the brushes are more rounded. Does not contain small parts, the manufacturer recommends children from 18 months.

A minimum set of 30 pieces is enough to create a house, car, train. It would be fantasy!

Free construction from a bright brush constructor develops fine motor skills, spatial thinking and satisfies the creative needs of the child.

It is convenient to buy in containers with a "bristle" lid, it will serve as a convenient base for construction. Playskool also produces gaming music tables with the same surface.

You can search by queries: Playskool Clipo Building Toy Pieces, Playskool Clipo Starter Set, Playskool Clipo Figure, Clipo mini bucket. The price is about 15 dollars. for a set of 30 pieces.

Needle constructor Interstar

Originally from Israel. Quite interesting due to the fact that in addition to standard needle blocks, there are wheels, figures of animals and people in the sets.

The designer also has a significant subjective minus - all products are fragile and fall apart in children's hands, so it is not always possible to play with the assembled machine.

Constructor Snowflake (Snowflake) and other similar abstract

Pretty simple, abstract, but very interesting. From my experience, I can say that interest in this kind of constructors is rather short-lived.

Suitable for children from 3 years old (snowflakes are very small, 2-3 cm in diameter).

You can “blind” them into very realistic figures, for example, houses, trees, cars, boats and much more. Develops motor skills and spatial thinking. If the details are large, you can offer kids from a year old.

It is most profitable to buy on Aliexpress - at a price of $ 1.5 for 100 pieces. I will not give links, goods are constantly added and disappear. Easily searched for "snowflake building blocks toys". For a productive game, you need to take at least 500 "snowflakes".

The designers "Daisy", "Collect", Tukzar look similar.

Bauer, Quercetti, Discovery kids gear sets

The highlight of the designer is that the rotation of one gear sets the rest in motion. With kids, you can assemble flat structures, from 3-4 years old you can assemble locomotives, cars and even engine models!

On Ebay you can find a set of 266 parts for 28-30 dollars. There are also Chinese counterparts from Fenming . If you buy in Russia, then, of course, they are cheaper.

Movable constructor ZOOB

A fundamentally new designer ZOOB consists of parts of 5 types, connected in 20 different ways. Its distinguishing feature is the movable connection of parts according to the “joint” principle. They snap together and form a very strong structure.

You can collect everything from animals to dinosaurs, from cars to a DNA chain. ZOOB helps kids learn, explore and create with their imagination.

What can be turned into details, see the photo below.

See video instructions below:

Magnetic constructor Magformers

Magformers rightfully occupies a leading position among the toys that you buy for a child and play yourself :). Fun, well-made and great for toddler play - that's what you need to know about Magformers!

Sold as sets, which include various geometric shapes, and individually. There are kits for children from one year old, who introduce colors and simple geometric shapes, and for older children - robots, controlled cars, and so on. Additional details (wheels, gears) make your imagination run wild!

Neodymium magnets are inserted into the edges of the Magformers elements (they do not have polarity), which means that all elements are easily connected to each other.

The process of creating objects is unusual and funny: a blank is laid out on the table and floor and .... with a sharp movement, the central element stretches up! All parts are attracted to each other and a three-dimensional figure is assembled. Watch the video! Such a game develops logical, creative and spatial thinking at the same time.

You can buy on Ebay, Amazon, and Aliexpress.

The constructor is interesting for both boys and girls, and the older the child, the more pleasure he is guaranteed. You can offer Magformers to a baby from 6-9 months old, when he becomes interested in taking two objects and knocking them against each other, shove one into the other.

The main disadvantage of Magformers is astronomical! price.

Examples of design solutions:

Magnetic constructor Bornimago

Consists of metal balls and magnetic sticks, which easily turn into a variety of shapes. If you bring the stick closer to the ball, they become magnetized and form a fairly strong connection. And to connect two sticks, you need to consider the polarity of the magnets. It is this feature that makes the constructor an order of magnitude more interesting in terms of studying the basics of magnetism.

The main sets are intended for children aged 6+ due to the presence of small parts (balls a little more than 1 cm in diameter).

What is very important - the balls in the Bornimago constructors are NOT magnetic, so the horror stories associated with swallowing magnetic balls are inappropriate here. But of course, you need to watch the child!

But for kids, you can choose your own option - there are Bornimago Giga , in which the balls and sticks are so large that even an adult cannot swallow them (the sticks are 7-13 cm, and the balls are from 4 cm in diameter). Children from one year old can play with such designers.

Bornimago is a purely Chinese manufacturer, but the quality of the parts is very high. Alas, there is also a drawback: only sticks and balls are in Bornimago sets. You can not buy other elements for a variety of games.

Smartmax constructor

There is an analogue - the Smartmax magnetic construction kit, which significantly benefits due to the rich set of kits and the possibility of buying additional elements + all kits fit together. But it costs much more than Bornimago Giga.

Magnetic constructor Art Fantasy (Art-fantasy) from Genii Creation

Art Fantasy, unlike other designers presented here, is wooden with implanted magnets. Details are very diverse - round, rectangular, square, triangular with curved and straight edges. They can be connected from the sides, diagonally, creating amazing three-dimensional compositions. Any object can be easily transformed into another.

Genii Creation is the first to develop non-polarized magnets that give kids the freedom to express their creativity through the building process. Art-fantasy will help you learn the basics of geometry, the concept of symmetry and three-dimensionality of space.