PicassoTiles 100pc Magnetic Marble Run Set with Racing Track Tiles Funnels Curved Slopes and Steel Balls for Kids STEM Construction Indoor Learning Toy That Promotes Focus and Problem Solving PTG100

My 4 year old great grandchild and I played with the marble run set for nearly two hours on the day the kit arrived. He already had the 100 "classic" set of Picasso tiles. When we discovered it was too difficult for him to attach the chutes to the special tiles, he was easily recruited to build boxes for height and to contain the marble at the end of the run. Hints for building a complex marble run. 1) The chutes don't attach or detach easily to the tiles even for an adult. That is good for the stability of the structure but bad for new designs. To detach the chutes from the tiles, you can use an old hotel key card or an expired credit card to lift up the end and gently pry the chute off the tile. 2) If there are enough of the tiles with the hole in the middle for your design, attach a tile to each end of the chute. Then you just need to rely on the magnets to attach different chutes to each other. Or build several sections with several chutes within the section and both section ends end in a magnet tile. Then you just connect the sections together using the built in magnets rather than having to attach a chute to a tile. This is especially important when building at several elevations. This will allow you to rapidly change the configuration. If you run out of the tiles with the hole in them, first priority for one tile on each end are the small curved chutes and the ones for changes in elevation. For really simple runs, using only ten chutes, you can attach each to two tiles with the hole in them and rapidly change your designs. (There are 21 tiles with the hole in them in the 50 piece set. ) 3) Be sure to build a "corral" for the marble at the end of the run or arrange that the marble will drop into a box. Otherwise you are going to be spending a lot of time searching for the marble which seems to love to roll under the couch. 4) The chutes look and feel flimsy but in actual use they are quite strong. I don't advise it but I actually used a dull butter knife to pry apart a chute and a tile without damage to either. Then I discovered an additional use of a credit card! 5) For height form a tube with two of the longest chutes face to face. The resulting tube is much more sturdy then building boxes to place on each other with the plain magnetic tiles. 6) The long curved green chutes are made to match the height of two magnetic tile boxes of the standard small square tiles in the Picasso set. 7) The small curved chutes fit perfectly within a box made from the standard small square tiles. 8) To involve the younger child in the building process, ask them to help build boxes from plain tiles to support the elevated chutes and to embellish the design by adding on "roofs" and "walls" around the route. Or ask the child which way the marble should go next and build accordingly.

We bought the PicassoTiles Marble Run 100 Piece Magnetic Tiles as a present for our 3.5-year-old son—and I have to admit, he’s not the only one enjoying them! Think modern-day Mouse Trap meets magnets. He already had a set of PicassoTiles and loves building, so this was a great extension. I was initially concerned that the marbles might be too small, but they’re actually larger than traditional marbles, which was a relief. I still would make note of this for younger kids who are prone to putting random things in their mouths. The colors of the tiles are vibrant and fun to mix and match, adding to the overall play experience. The included photo inspiration booklet is a great touch. My son and I have had a lot of fun recreating the pictures, and then adding onto them to make new, more complex structures. It’s a great way to spark creativity and problem-solving. The only downside is that the stacking and attachment process can be a bit challenging for a 3.5-year-old. It’s definitely more of a team effort at this age, but that’s also what makes it a great bonding activity. One thing to note: the clear tube pieces are a little fragile—we did break one early on, so it’s worth being careful when assembling or taking things apart. We enjoyed this set so much that we ended up buying another for our soon-to-be 5 year old nephew’s birthday. If your child enjoys building and imaginative play, this set is a fantastic choice. Highly recommend!

These are excellent toys that kept my toddler occupied for two hours. However, they may be somewhat challenging for younger children to disassemble and reassemble.

This is a fun toy and it works well with our existing Picasso tiles. The price was fine, but I have a couple of issues with it. The first is that the tunnel pieces lock almost too well to the magnetic piece so removing it is almost impossible. The plastic always feels like it will snap. The second and last issue is that once you build, there is no moving it to a different location. Any attempt to move it will result in destruction. Otherwise, my kid spends a significant amount of time entertained by this you and I am thankful for that.

Got this as a Christmas present. Both my 6 and 8 year old love this. It’s fun seeing the different runs they create. It does come with instructions to build several designs. Once you figure out how the piece go together in various configurations and how to build supports you can create some pretty cool setups. Some of the pieces are a little difficult to snap together, so at times they need help but they are figuring it out. It comes with a decent number of pieces to build with. It’s been a great addition to out magnetic tiles.

This is a fun activity for my 5 year old. She loves it and plays with it all the time. There is a learning curve for young kids with how the tubes clip. It can be challenging at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s nice that the clip securely so it doesn’t collapse as easy. Such a fun activity for your little builder

These are way fun. I bought for my 3 year old. I put the squares on both sides of the mvp tubes so he build by himself. It will take an older kid or adult’s time to set up the tubes for a younger child. At first you think you’re going ND to break them when you try to separate the tubes from the squares but none have broken so far. We were gifted another “basic set” from an auntie (who teaches at a preschool)…after I had already bought my son a bigger set. There’s no way I would return them. Now he builds even bigger and can share with another 3 yo. Compatible w magnatiles. Marbles do NOT light up - seemed deceptive to me in the marketing. If you build w/o them doubled up the track will be lighter and can be built higher.

I bought this as a gift for my nearly-5- year-old granddaughter, who has a large set of Magnetiles. To assemble a run, you attach the marble run (gutter-shaped) pieces on either side of the square magnetic tiles with small compressible pins. It's not consistently easy to attach and detach the pieces, even for adults. To make things easier for young children to design their marble runs, you can attach the marble tracks to the square pieces ahead of time and let the child use the magnetic squares to put together a run. I'm hoping the pins on the gutters loosen up over time, to make using this set easier. The gutter pieces are somewhat fragile so breakage is almost inevitable. I'd rate this higher if it was easier to use out of the box. It's great conceptually and if the plastic pieces don't break, the set could be a wonderful long-term toy.