does anyone else love magnetic building blocks

[callmeriver]

i have really been into magnetic building blocks and i am a bit addicted to it haha. i love building stuff with it, it calms me down when i have a meltdown and it keeps me entertained for hours haha. does anyone else like magnetic building blocks?

also here are some pics of things i made to give you all an idea of what magnetic blocks are

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

OH MY GOSH! I have never played with those, but that looks so amazing. I would love to have a set of those.

 

[Skittlebisquit]

I never had any of those, they are different than other styles I have seen. Do you ever build dioramas?

 

[VictorR]

Neat! I have the ones which are sticks and magnetic balls, but I don't have that many pieces so I just made a cube and a tetrahedron and have them on my desk to play with.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I've never seen anything like them. It looks like you can position them any way you like. But if they're magnetic, wouldn't there be angles where they would repel each other?

 

[Aspychata]

I like the clack sound they make when they connect. They are addictive. Also like the metal balls that have chimes inside of them. You hold them in your hand and roll them around and listen to the chime. I think they are Chinese.

 

[LadyS]

I have some we gave to our son, but admit I probably play more with them than he does

 

[Suzette]

When I was a kid I had this desk fiddly sculpture. It was made of hundreds of little silver diamond shapes on a magnetic base. You could play with it a bit like putty by pulling, twisting, burrowing. I loved that thing!
I would love these too. I agree it looks relaxing.

 

[Nervous Rex]

We have some of those that my son loves to play with. Here's a few things he made recently.

 

[Nervous Rex]

I also have a large collection of buckyballs - they are magnetic spheres that you can buy in sets of 125 or 216:



A big warning: Do NOT buy these if you have small children. Children have died from ingesting these. Any time we have guests with children over, I put these away out of their sight and reach.

Here are a few things I've made with them:



I got a few buckyballs one time, then saw that if I had more, I could build bigger and better things. So now I have a lot.

 

[Nervous Rex]

I also have a large collection (12) of shashibo cubes. Each cube is several solid pieces that are connected at an edge and which stick to each other with magnets. You can make a lot of different shapes with a single shashibo cube:



I got a set of four of them, then saw that if I had more, I could build bigger and better things. So now I have a lot.

 

[Nervous Rex]

I also have a large collection (6) of Ball of Whacks. Each is a set of 30 wedges, all the exact same size and shape. They stick together with magnets and you can make a ton of different things with them:



I got one, then saw that if I had 2, I could make something bigger. Once I had two, I saw that if I had 4 I could make something really cool. Then I found a shape that needs 6 of them. Now I have 6 of them and I'm forbidden from buying any more.

 

[Nervous Rex]

In case you haven't noticed the pattern, I love construction toys. I love taking any simple thing and seeing how much I can make out of it.

When I buy something and play with it for a while, I find a shape or pattern that needs more, so I buy more.

And more.

And more. And I kinda get obsessed with it for a while.

Like, I have about 15 Rubik's Snakes, because I realized that I could make larger shapes with more than one.


Now, when I get an idea and I mumble, "If I had more, I could..." my kids will chide me and tell me, "Daaaaad, you're not allowed to buy any more!"

 

[Nervous Rex]

Here is one Ball of Whacks, 30 pieces in one ball, all pointing inward:


And here are 2 Balls of Whacks - the same ball as above with 30 more pieces pointing outward:


Here are 4 Balls of Whacks, forming a hollow sphere:


And here are 6 Balls of Whacks, forming a hollow "spike ball" (or a "Bowser Ball" if you're into Super Mario):

 

[Nervous Rex]

I've never seen anything like them. It looks like you can position them any way you like. But if they're magnetic, wouldn't there be angles where they would repel each other?

The nicer sets, like Magformers, have cylindrical magnets that can rotate freely. So, however you orient them, the magnets spin to line up and attract.

 

[Nervous Rex]

Neat! I have the ones which are sticks and magnetic balls, but I don't have that many pieces so I just made a cube and a tetrahedron and have them on my desk to play with.

I have a small set of those. They are unmagnetized steel balls and magnetic rods. I've only played with them for a bit, and the magnetic rods break real easily, so I haven't bought any more. I did make some octahedrons connected by tetrahedrons - you can tesselate a 3D volume that way.

 

[Nervous Rex]

I like the clack sound they make when they connect. They are addictive.

The clack sound when they click together is the best. I can sit and squeeze a Ball of Whacks until some pieces are a little out of place, and then let them clack back together - I could do that forever.

Lastly, @callmeriver, I apologize for dominating this thread. The answer is yes - yes there are others who love magnetic toys.