Magnetic constructors glowing in the dark: types, advantages and subtleties of choice
The magnetic designer, despite its publicity, may not be as interesting for the child as the manufacturers want to present. Whatever one may say, the likelihood of handicrafts made of magnetic parts is very lacking, because children, having first encountered Lego and its analogues, usually very quickly forget about some kind of magnets. Therefore, companies that produce magnetic designers, have to invent all sorts of tricks to interest the kids, and one of the best solutions to the problem is to release sets that glow in the dark.
Why magnetic, why glowing?
There are a lot of types of designers 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 as the desire of the parents to ensure a more rapid development of their child. Indeed, any magnetic constructor is very conducive to this, since it “promotes” a number of useful skills and abilities.
- Magnetic constructor develops the ability to count. Even at school, they start learning the account by offering the children to count not abstract, but quite specific things - figures, cubes, sticks. Working with such a designer will be an excellent preparation for the first lessons of mathematics.
- These products help to improve creative thinking and design skills. To collect a specific crafts, it is worth to start to decide how to do this - to make up in your own mind an algorithm for future actions. If in small sets designed to collect specific crafts, there may be detailed instructions, then large sets are usually completely devoid of it - the kid will have to come up with the very idea for the implementation and the ways of translating the plan.
- Constructor develops possession of hands.. Although assembling the details of a magnetic constructor seems like an extremely simple manipulation, you should not forget that this toy was created mainly for preschoolers. In children of this age, the neural connections are not yet sufficiently developed, and it is the practice with the magnets that will help them to acquire accuracy of movements faster.
As for the illuminated magnetic constructors, they are chosen simply because they look prettier and therefore are more popular with children. Due to the fluorescent glow, the craft from very primitive parts seems more interesting, and therefore the designer 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 may differ somewhat and create a well-recognized image.
Sticks and balls
The simplest concept is a set of thin long sticks, interconnected by balls. It is unlikely that it will be possible to assemble something really difficult from such details, but it opens a huge space for experiments with three-dimensional geometric figures. The majority of popular brands, including Bornimago (a whole series of luminous Glow sets), and Geomag (a series of inexpensive and very high-quality designers, also called Glow), and Kribly Boo (just one set, but very voluminous) address the details of this form.
Geometric figures
Such a designer is most often called "Magformers" because he became famous thanks to the company Magformers. The concept here looks fundamentally different: the parts are interconnected directly, and at the same time they do not look like separate sticks and balls, but as ready-made geometric figures - 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 allows you to assemble rather complex handicrafts that are far from trivial geometry.
The original product is quite expensive (at least several thousand rubles), but managed to become famous, having lit up even in popular animated series: it was shown in its episodes "Fixiki" and "Smeshariki". As a result, a huge number of Chinese fakes at lower prices were drawn up, among which Mag Building or 3D Xinbida can be distinguished for the better.
Thematic sets
The company SmartMax has presented so far a very rare kind of luminous magnetic designers, which consist of fairly believable parts from which you can assemble, for example, a car or a plane.
Such a toy finally looks plausible, but its magic is highly dependent on the presence of batteries, since here the manufacturer has refused to use fluorescent materials.
How to choose?
It would seem that the choice of luminous magnetic designers is not so great, but here you can make a mistake with the choice. To avoid this, pay attention to some obvious things:
- a child to whom a designer of any type is bought should have at least a little to get involved in designing, but even in this case, those sets from which one can collect interesting things for the child — cars for a boy, fabulous castles for girls — will be of increased success;
- since the choice fell on the luminous structure, it is necessary to make sure that its radiance is noticeable even at dusk, because otherwise it would be possible to buy an ordinary set, if the kid 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 different speeds, but at least approximately focus on what is written is worth it;
- in order not to be afraid for the safety of your child, the sets should be bought only from trusted vendors and only well-known manufacturers, while not ashamed to demand quality certificates, since the number of fakes only grows every year;
- very often, the indicator of the quality of the magnetic luminous designer is its price, so it is usually recommended not to spare money and to buy even 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 designer is also the strength of the magnets, because it depends on her how well the assembled craft will hold and whether it is even possible to use it as a separate toy.
Incredible size discounts on "original products of a well-known manufacturer" and sale on the Internet on an unknown site - this is almost a guaranteed offer to buy a fake, which in quality will surely yield to the original.
About what can be done from the magnetic constructor, see below.