6 Best Mix and Match Magnetic Toys Reviewed
Always something to do for the holidays or rainy day?
Play Choice now has the ultimate activity book collection, with over 60 pages of fun coloring pages and educational puzzles.
What's so nice about it magnetic toys? That you can easily click, mix and match it of course!
The best we've found is this Magnetibook from Janod. A suitcase with magnetic board on which you can combine all kinds of figures. Easy to store and very easy to carry.
In this guide I don't want to talk about magnetic tiles (reviewed here), but about everything toys which is made to mix and match. Let's take a look at the 6 best sets!
Here are the best sets in a quick overview. Then I'll dive deeper into each of these choices.
Overall best mix and match magnetic toys
Great game, especially as it teaches young children about matching and developing creativity and imagination.
Best mix and match magnetic toys for babies
Suitable from 1 year old to discover the magic of magnets in a safe and super fun way while playing with their favorite animals.
Best sensory mix and match toys
They are soft plush building pieces with happy faces that you can match and build in any shape with internal magnets.
Best Paper Magnetic Toys
2 magnetic dress-up dolls and 35 magnetic garments and accessories for over 200 different outfits to mix and match.
Best mix and match magnetic puzzle
I always teach my son to put the right shapes together by looking at the pictures, but with this puzzle you can mix everything together.
Best magnetic combination cars
There are a lot of parts to combine so that makes it a lot of fun. This way you can sort by color, or make a nice and crazy combination.
From toddler to toddler activity book collection
Educational games and coloring pages for 3 to 6 years
Your toddler and preschooler will love this e-book, along with the accompanying printables. He or she can play with it at every stage of development, together with mom and dad.
Buy at Bol.comWhat we discuss in this comprehensive post:
Magnetic mix and match toy buying guide
What do you pay attention to when buying magnetic mix and match toys? Let's take a closer look at that.
Age
With each magnetic toys you have to look carefully at the age. The box states what age it is from toys is appropriate. By this they mean safe.
In any case, you don't want your child to have one magnet swallowed, so under no circumstances should there be small pieces. You also want to check that the magnets couldn't get loose anywhere.
If there are pieces that are too small that you could swallow, it will be toys usually labeled as safe for 4+.
All sets that I have reviewed here are obviously safe for your child.
In addition, you have to look at age to see whether it is actually fun and fits the development level of your child. I have also mentioned this in the reviews.
Magnet
The magnet should be sturdy enough to hold all the pieces together properly. There is nothing more frustrating for a child than that toys which doesn't work well.
Also the quality of the magnet to do what it is supposed to do we rated it on a score from 1 to 5.
Replayability
You don't want them to get tired of the new thing after 5 minutes toys. That's why we also rated replayability on a 5-point scale.
Is it still fun to play with after a few sessions, or have you seen it again after a while? Usually it comes down to whether you can keep making endless creations.
What also plays a role is whether you can easily do it together with others toys can use. For example, you can combine the Smartmax animals for a long time in fantasy play. Djeco's puzzle pieces are not.
Sustainability
Finally, I looked at how long it was toys lasts after heavy use. After all, you don't want that toys breaks quickly, just when you've found their favorite toy :)
Top 6 mix and match magnetic toys reviewed
Janod magnetic book
- Handy travel case
- Magnets stick well
- Still a lot of little pieces that can get lost
- Box shows wear quickly
I love the idea of magnetic scenes to recreate and came across the French brand Janod and their Magnetibooks.
Great game, especially as it teaches young children about matching and developing creativity and imagination.
The game comes in a quality hinged chest, made to look like a book.
Each book contains:
– Maps and magnets (Vehicles Magnetibook has 18 cards and 50 magnets, Crazy face Magnetibook has 12 cards and 67 magnets)
- magnetic scene/background in the box lid
– Box itself has a magnetic closure to keep it closed
The MagnetiBooks are for kids between the ages of 3 and 8, but I say some of them are easy fun from age 2.
There are many different MagnetiBooks to choose from.
You can recreate the pictures on the cards with the magnets or you can get creative and make the craziest things yourself.
SmartMax My First Safari Animals
- Nice soft animals, big and easy to grab for the little ones
- Magnets click easily but a little one can also get them loose
- Some magnetic bars repel each other and that can be frustrating
This is a set with 12 animal bodies (each animal consists of 2 body parts) and 6 rods. The magnetic You can place rods between the animal bodies to create the animal.
The bodies click into place with the magnet and are quite sturdy, but can also be easily removed again, even by a toddler.
You can make six different Safari animals with the set of 18 parts (more safari here toys) to create.
Or come up with your own animal by combining parts of different animals for crazy combinations!
At a slightly later age, the animals are probably also allowed to participate in fantasy games so that they are still useful and they do not grow out of it too quickly.
They are made of a kind of rubber-like plastic that feels very pleasant to the touch. It is material that you see in many baby toys.
It is therefore also fine for your baby to put them in their mouth. That has happened to us regularly. They keep their shape well, can get wet (drool) and don't even have a scratch on them.
Manhattan Toy Magnetic Cactus Garden
- Soft and cute
- Great for babies because they are nice and soft
- Not much to mix with
Sometimes you come toys that immediately puts a smile on your face. Then I think: How did they come up with this again?!?
But in addition to being very cute, it is also fun.
They are soft plush building pieces with cheerful faces that you can match in any shape. With internal magnets the individual pieces are held together.
It's only 9 pieces so that's not that much. It is especially fun to build something funny and put it in the nursery.
They were also used a lot with us to have some nice decoration for other fantasy games, such as with the Playmobil farm. The story immediately takes place in the desert!
Ultimately there is like mix and match toys not much to do with it, but a nice addition to the toys collection.
Petit collage Dress up
- Lots of fun combinations to make
- Sturdy travel box with magnetic closure
- Dolls are very fragile
Petit Collage has developed a cute dress up game with fashionable clothing options. There are different sets available, but I think I like the fox and bear set the best.
There are 2 magnetic dress-up dolls with 2 wooden stands and 35 magnetic garments and accessories. It may not sound like much, but that's over 200 different outfits to mix and match.
It is fun from children from 3 years old to about 6 years old.
The dolls are not very sturdy, so I think 3 years is still quite young. In frustration, they will probably break at some point.
Children aged 4 seem to like this set best. I would recommend that younger children only play lying down and not use the stand so there is less chance of tearing the dolls.
Just like the Magnetibook from Janod, it comes in a travel box with magnetic closure so you can easily take it with you.
Djeco Mixanimo
- Click together nicely for a good puzzle feeling
- Cute animals
- Because of the flat pieces they can't really compete in other games
This might be your child's first mix and match puzzle experience because it is suitable from 2 years old.
I always teach my son to put the right shapes together by looking at the pictures, but with this puzzle you can mix everything together.
A lovely wooden one magnet animal puzzle for the enterprising toddler. With 24 magnetic pieces you can make 6 “real” animals, but also a lot of mixing and matching.
Each puzzle piece has special notches to facilitate assembly, each animal has a unique color to facilitate identification.
Popular Playthings Mix or Match 21 Piece Set
- A lot of cars in a set
- Wheels drive well
- Feels cheap
- Not very educational
There are a lot of parts to combine so that makes it a lot of fun. This way you can sort by color, or make a nice and crazy combination.
This is the kind toys something children enjoy playing with, but which I, as a parent, find less so.
It feels a bit cheap and it's really just cars.
Although they say on the website that it is educational and stimulates fine motor skills and thinking, that is not really what is happening with it. toys happens.
At least, every one toys is essentially good for fine motor skills.
There are indeed 21 parts, but the combinations are somewhat limited. Many parts are a front or back and only a few center pieces.
It is a set where they have a lot of fun playing and the cars also drive quite well.
Conclusion
There are a lot of sets to mix and match. I hope your child will enjoy one of these for a long time to come toys sets.
Read more: rated the best magnetic toys, 12 sets that are popular now
Always something to do for the holidays or rainy day?
Play Choice now has the ultimate activity book collection, with over 60 pages of fun coloring pages and educational puzzles.
Joost Nusselder, the founder of Speelkeuze.nl is a content marketer, father and loves trying out new toys. As a child he came into contact with everything related to games when his mother started the Tinnen Soldaat in Ede. Now he and his team create helpful blog articles to help loyal readers with fun play ideas.