Magnetic sticks — 64 chunky pieces

Chunky coloured sticks and balls that pull towards each other and click. Every end joins every other end, so there is no wrong way round and nothing to force — a three-year-old builds a tower on the first attempt, without help and without a diagram.

What it builds

• Magnetism, discovered rather than explained — pieces that attract at a distance and sometimes push away
• Shape and structure: a triangle stands up and a square does not, which is a lesson learned by watching it fall
• Both hands working together, one steadying while the other adds a piece
• Starting over, because a magnetic build comes apart cleanly and can be rebuilt taller

Why we stock it

The well-known magnetic stick sets are built for older children — thin rods and small steel balls, at a scale that suits an eight-year-old's fingers and worries a parent of a toddler. These are the same idea made big. That changes who it is for: a child who cannot yet manage a screw or a small clip can still build something that stands up, and the magnets do the fiddly part. The round bases matter more than they look, since a tall build needs a foot to stay up.

The details

Age

3 and up

Pieces

64

Contents

Sticks, balls and round bases

Scale

Chunky — built for small hands

Joins

Magnetic at both ends, any way round

Material

Moulded plastic, magnets sealed inside

Power

None. No batteries, no sound.

In the box

Sixty-four pieces in the printed carton. Nothing to assemble and no instructions to follow — the box art is the only guide, and most children stop looking at it within a minute.

Care

Wipe them with a barely damp cloth and dry them straight away. Do not soak or wash them — water inside a piece reaches the magnet, and a rusted magnet loses its grip. Keep the set together in one box; a stick with no ball to join is no use to anybody.