My children had enjoyed playing with magnetic tiles for some time, but we had small sets, which led to arguments as they both wanted the few big tiles we had. However, they loved magnetic tiles, and they could play together for hours, and it was time to expand our collection and the size of our builds. After a lot of research, I fell in love with the Connetix pastel tiles (they are dreamy) and decided to go big! Santa brought us the Connetix Mega Pack in pastel colors, and it has been one of the best decisions of the year. I’d love to share with you some of the things we’ve been able to do with it!
In this post:
- About Connetix
- What are Connetix tiles?
- Contents of the pastel Connetix Mega Pack
- Why we enjoy playing with Connetix
- All the things we’ve done with Connetix Mega Pack (so far)
- How to clean
- Where to buy them?
- One of our best toy decisions
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About Connetix
Connetix is an Australian-based company officially launched in 2019 by two families who met when their children started attending primary school together. They saw that their little ones enjoyed playing, and they learned when playing with magnetic tiles. For this reason, they decided to create their own strong and safe version while offering clearer refractions than the tiles that existed in the market.
The two minds behind the business are Brea & Dave.
“Brea is an experienced primary school and Masters qualified early-childhood teacher and mother to three young children. She has a passion for learning through play and a love of open-ended quality toys that grow WITH your children! “
“Dave is a businessman with a strong financial and entrepreneurial background. After spending five years working in Engineering offices as a mechanical designer, Dave has extensive experience with manufacturing and shipping products. He understands what it takes to bring a quality product to market. Dave has two young children who enjoy playing with their Connetix wherever they go (yes, they take a travel pack out for dinner!).”
What are Connetix tiles?
Connetix tiles are magnetic tiles made using non-toxic ABS plastic BPA, Lead, and Phthalate free. They are see-through and allow light to come through beautifully and magically. This also allows playing with colors, shadows, and projections to capture your child’s attention.
All tiles are also sealed and riveted for extra safety, and our unique beveled design allows Connetix to be strong while creating beautiful clear refractions. Inside the tiles, you have strong magnets (the strongest we’ve found), which would enable for monumental structures.
The tiles have a unique bevel design that helps reduce scratching, as their surface is not entirely flat.
Contents of the pastel Connetix Mega Pack
The Pastel Mega Pack is the giant pack that Connetix has.
The pastel version has 10 pieces less than the Rainbow Mega Pack. It comes with 202 pieces in 8 earth pastel tones that are simply beautiful to play with. The pack includes:
- 16 x Large squares
- 48 x Small squares
- 32 x Equilateral triangles
- 32 x Right angle triangles
- 32 x Isosceles triangles
- 8 x Large hexagons
- 8 x Window square pieces
- 8 x Hollow square pieces (door frames)
- 8 x Rectangles
- 8 x Fences
- 2 x cars
- Idea Booklet
Why we enjoy playing with Connetix
The Connetix tiles are a fabulous open-ended toy that invites children (and grown-ups) to create whatever their imaginations can come up with. There are many reasons why we love the tiles, but mainly because they encourage:
- cognitive development
- spatial awareness
- patterns
- symmetry
- colors
- hand-eye coordination
- problem-solving
- fine and gross motos skills
- build knowledge around scientific and mathematical concepts
- 2D and 3D shapes
- counting and quantities
- geometry
- cause and effect
- stability and weight
- perseverance
- self-esteem
It is a fantastic STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) resource that is great for children to interact with. However, what I love most is that they learn through play without even realizing it. As they say, “When learning and play, connect.”
All the things that we’ve done with Connetix Mega Pack (so far)
The possibilities with this fantastic toy are endless. Our first instinct was to make some buildings and trees, but you will see that you can do much more. The set comes with a booklet filled with ideas my children love to browse and helps them decide on their next creation.
After replicating and seeing possibilities, they started creating their original builds, and as a mother, I can assure you it is lovely to sit back and watch.
Buildings & houses
These are always fun to make. From little houses and igloos to tall buildings, towers, and huge slides. My children adore making castles or structures where their toys can live in, and where they can park their vehicles. This is what they are always drawn to do, and it is fascinating to watch what they can build from their imagination.
Patterns & flat designs
I love creating mandalas, patterns, and flat designs with all the tiles. Playing with colors and geometric shapes is just fascinating. Although my children will not do this on their own if they are not prompted, once they join in I see they really enjoy it as well (and they learn without even realizing it).
Animals
Aren’t these gorgeous? The inspiration book from Connetix is filled with wonderful creatures and creations that you can recreate. Or just go off-script and create your fascinating creatures. They might not be easy to accomplish the first time, but once you’ve made them, they are just wonderful to look at.
Games
Create your games and game boards with the tiles. My son loves playing football, creating a field with fences around and 2 goals. It is also fun to play Tic-Tac-Toe. You could create a chess board, but you wouldn’t have enough of the same color as the box to actually create a full chess board. You could combine colors and have red and pink be one side, and the two greens are the other. Just an idea we have not tried yet.
Small world play
Creating small worlds is a fantastic way to develop their imagination and role-playing. Placing characters, having them go on adventures, and interact with each other is a fabulous way to understand the world and how it works. Build ships on an arctic scene, create an Arctic base with polar bears, and build tunnels and scenery around a race track or stations and tunnels for your trains. Anything is possible and the fun is just endless.
Ring & ball runs
Ball runs are so much fun! You can pair this set with the Ball Run extension which is so much fun, but, as you can see, you do not need it to create ball runs and ring runs. You just need to get creative with what you have and build ramps and tracks that will make the balls and rings go.
Color sorting
You can create boxes to sort objects of different colors. It is fantastic for that time when they are matching colors and learning their names. Here I took some Grapat mandala loose parts, put them together in a basket and asked him to sort them out. He did a pretty good job 😉
ABCs
It is also a fabulous way to learn letters and form words. Either make the letters combining tiles (you can use the printables on the Connetix website – link here) or write letters with erasable markers on the tiles and play word games.
Rockets, boats & vehicles
Where would you like to go? You can build, rockets, cars, trains, ships, submarines, trucks,… anything with or without wheels, that can take you far away in your imagination.
Pretend food or plates
We love to pretend we are eating ice creams, pizzas, ice lollies, or cake! We also make plates with the hexagons, glasses with squares, and pretend play and have picnics with them. Isn’t it fun? Yum!
Robots
Hello Mr. Robot! This is just one robot, the possibilities are endless.
Light walls
Building walls with the tiles and watching how the light goes through them and makes colored shadows and refractions is simply magical. You can build your own rainbow and it is so interesting for them to see and learn from.
Maze
We love this fun activity. Create a maze on a tray, place it on a cusion, and tilt the tray to get the ball from the beginning to the end. It takes practice and skill, and can keep them entertained for quite some time.
How to clean the tiles
As the tiles have magnets inside, do not submerge them in water. Instead, use a damp cloth and clean the surfaces. If you have written on them or used playdough on them, just gently wipe until they are clean and let them air dry or dry them with a dry towel.
Where do we store them?
We originally had them in the original box (at least for 6 weeks) until I decided to give them a more permanent position, and I bought this cart from IKEA, which we love. They now follow us around the house. (They are pretty heavy altogether, so this simplifies mobility). Now we play all around – living room, bedroom, kitchen – you name it!
Where you can buy the Connetix Mega Pack
There are many toyshops around the world where you can find it, but I personally bought mine directly from their website. Unfortunately, we were getting it for Christmas, and in late November 2021, it was out of stock everywhere. Except on their website. The delivery was also rapid (I believe they said 5 days, and it was delivered in 3 days – so I was delighted).
You can find the link here if you’d like to buy the Pastel Mega Pack directly from their website.
If you’d prefer to buy from Amazon, you can also find Connetix tiles here.
One of our best toy decisions was buying the Connetix Mega Pack
When we decided to buy this pack, we were unaware of how much we would play with it. Of course, we hoped our children would, but their response has been over anything we imagined. There have been many weeks when they have played daily.
Their inventions and creations have been fantastic. My son created a football field, my daughter made a hotel for her dolls, and I replicated a fish. The possibilities are endless, and we have so much fun that we need to share it. It is one of the few toys my children (ages 6 & 3 and girl & boy) enjoy playing with together. And this is priceless.
We love the Connetix pastels as they are just so beautiful to look at, and the magnets are the strongest of the magnetic tiles we’ve tried. So I highly recommend them. We’ve expanded with other sets (the ball run and the base plates), which are fabulous. But I’ll share these some other time 😉 (we still need to play more with them).
I hope you have found these ideas helpful. And if you’d like to see how we play, feel free to check us out on Instagram for more ideas.
Happy playing!
P.S. If you liked this article, you might want to check more about Connetix or other open-ended toys that we love. I hope they can be helpful.
