Having an 8 year old son who loves building things I just knew he’d enjoy getting creative with GEOMAG and their range of magnetic construction sets. We’ve recently been sent two different types of GEOMAG sets to try out, offering different challenges and they’ve both been a big hit here.
Both sets are aimed at children aged 5 years and over.
The GEOMAG Mechanics 86 piece set comes with a range of components to construct three different moveable models – 24 non-magnetic metal spheres, 17 metal blue magnetic rods, 1 indicator rod, 1 square panel, 2 tubes, 13 washers, 12 feet for washers, 12 linear bars, 1 square for bearing, 1 cage for bearing, 1 plate and 1 cone as well as clear instructions.
My son couldn’t wait to get started and was soon getting creative with GEOMAG as he tried to put together one of the models.
The plastic components cleverly slot into each other to create the various structures and my son had soon worked out how her needed to put them together.
Gone are the days when my help is needed with anything new that arrives for us to try. I’m just there to offer guidance and advice from afar.
As my son constructed one of the models he soon realised that he really needed to think about weight and balance as he progressed with the build. He also learnt about magnetic forces as he soon realized that the indicator rod (with the red band) could be used to make the magnetic rods move backwards and forwards by identifying the magnetic north and south poles of the rods.
He loved the idea that the steel spheres could be held in place purely by magnetic forces. A little bit of magic whilst learning a bit about science.
My son absolutely loves this set, and the whole idea of creating motion.
He’d soon set aside the instructions and set to work on his own creations. The possibilities with this set are endless and I can see it being used a lot in the years to come.
From a storage point of view I would like to see this set come in an easily resealable main storage box as well as including resealable plastic storage bags for the various components inside. It’s my only criticism of this particular set from a parent’s point of view.
Getting creative with GEOMAG and the 192 piece GEOMAG Panels set offers different build potential, focussing more on structures and shapes than motion. The set comes with 65 green rods, 50 non-magnetic steel spheres, 2 blue platforms and 1 green pentagonal platform as well as 74 blue, light blue and green plastic panels in triangles, squares and pentagons.
With this set the outer box is sealable and plastic storage bag is also resealable. The majority of the rods and steel spheres are stored in three polystyrene boxes. The lids of these boxes are a little tight and my son needed me to open them, and I couldn’t do it without breaking bits of each lid off in the process. But the lids do still fit back on, keeping everything secure once construction time is over.
I can see this set going down really well in the classroom at school, as children are able to make 2D models of shapes ranging from triangles and pentagons, right through to 3D models of octahedrons and dodecahedrons. This is a set that will really come into play with my son as he moves through Key Stage Two I think.
You can make shapes with or without using the shaped panels. There is a certain amount of patience required with these builds to ensure the shapes stay in place.
My son has certainly found this set slightly more challenging but he has enjoyed playing with the polarities and trying to put together shapes he’s been learning about at school. The plates are good for holding shapes together so you can move them more easily.
You can also use the snap in panels to help with construction.
There is a bit of a knack to getting these in place, and the various shapes will work on manual dexterity, but you can make some great structures using them.
My son definitely needed a bit more help with the larger shape constructions but he loved the finished pieces. The GEOMAG Panels set is very clever and as I’ve said, before, I can really see this set coming in to play as my son moves up into higher KS2.
Getting creative with GEOMAG has endless possibilities and these sets will be used over and over again I’m sure in the next few years. The sets certainly tick all the boxes with regards to STEM learning and I’m going to be talking to my son’s teacher to see if she’d like to borrow the GEOMAG Panels set for the Year 3/4 class to try out after the holidays.
The GEOMAG range is available in Smyths and The Entertainer and I’ve also included my Amazon Affiliate links below for your reference. To view the whole range then I can recommend looking at the GEOMAG website and their Youtube channel.
disclosure: we received the items mentioned in exchange for an honest review
I’m thrilled to be able to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a GEOMAG Panels 192 piece set worth £90.00. Just complete the Gleam form below for your chance to win! Good luck.
Terms and conditions:
(Please note that all entries will be checked against comments for validation).
Only the first step of this form is mandatory, all other steps are optional. Only one entry per person is allowed.
This giveaway is for UK residents only.
Once a winner is randomly picked, I will check if the winner has done what was requested and I will contact them, if they do not reply within one week, the prize will be allocated to another person.
The giveaway will close on 9th April 2018 at midnight.
Don’t forget to visit my Giveaways page for more great prizes on offer!
I think my Godson would enjoy playing with this. I’m not sure which shapes he would make, maybe ones he has learnt at school. My daughter would help him.
My son would enjoy making little boxes her could put things into.
My son would enjoy making little cube boxes to stack and keep things in!
I’m not sure if I’m honest but would be fun watching to see what they create
my little Grandson would enjoy these, he would like making hexagonal shapes
Mechanics set – GREAT for lucas to learn and help his maths by gaining confidence in a subject he struggles with
all sorts my nephews would be over the moon
knowing my son he probably try to make jewellery!! x
I think he would enjoy making a rocket shape, he is really into space at the minute
He would make something spherical.
I think my little boy’s imagination would run wild with this and he’d probably be making space ships out of this.
Car shapes as my little boy loves cars x
I love things like this! Used to play Knex all the time as a kid. We love making cars and spaceships for the toys to ride round in.
My son loves creating cubes, he really enjoys building things
My grandson would love making different shapes.
we make animal shapes and attempted a dodecahedron
my grandson would make a sports car, has he is car made
My niece would like this and just make what shapes she wants to
i think she would like to make some kind of rocket or ship x
probably a football shape hes so football nuts!
I think they will make masks and spectacles, the pieces look just right for that, to incorporate into their dressing up games.
What shapres will your children enjoy making most with this set and why?
as my grandson is very creative he will enjoy experimenting with a whole range of shapes
I think my grandson would try to make a sphere!
My nephew would like to make spaceships like he does with his lego.
my son would try to make anything he possibly can. He loves these sorts of toys…..
Anything that vaguely resembles transport or spaceships would be fun to make.
My son would probably enjoy making cube shapes so he can then stack them
My son would make something that looks like a rollercoaster shape or a Titanic ship
My boy would probably make a car shape because he’s car mad.
I think i would have as much fun as mu grandson with this. we would build a rocket
Triangles it’s his favourite shape
Animal shapes as they love animals.
Spaceship!
My twinnes would love to create orbs. Looks endless hours of fun and imagination.
I don’t have any children but would love to win this prize to donate to charity, to go to Romania.
My son would probably make a cube, a big one! He likes to make cubes with knex as he finds them easy to put together
My sons would love this, they love making little houses at the minute
My grandson would love building a tower and a spaceship
My daughter would love to make some cars.
I think he’d most like making circular shapes as he loves things that rotate.
my son is space obsessed, so I think he would try to make a rocket shape or planet
pops would probably try making little houses for shopkins
I would love to win this for my nephew as he loves this sort of thing and I think he would love trying o make vehicles from them
My son would no doubt try to make rockets & space ships
Dodecahedron, just because he likes saying it
My son would probably enjoy making cubes
They would probably make square shapes so it looked like little houses for other toys
Space ships and Rockets – basically they are obsessed with everything that is out of this world
It will be Pyramids if my little fella has his way…he’s obsessed with them.
I think they would try to make a caste or a big tower.
I’d imagine she would just make cubes. Thats what she does with Lego, and then pretends the cube is a little house.
My daughter would make all sort of shapes
My nephew likes to draw spaceships and rockets
i’ve no idea! he likes to surprise me. he used to like making the big brother house out of lego
Stars I think as my girls love stars
definitely houses
Cubes, I think. Anything that stacks!
I think mine will just build random shapes
Pyramid shapes
Pyramid shapes as they will be fun to make
Pyramids and octagons because he is fascinated by them.
Every shape plus a few more, they love building and construction toys
Pyramids because they look so much fun and look like a challenge too for my little niece
Probably balls or spheres, circular things as they can roll and throw them
Cubes and pyramids
My son will probably try and make a train with it. They’re his favourite.
my girls love building rectangles and cubes for their cars.
I think my son would just enjoy experimenting and making all kinds of different shapes.
i think my nephew would try and make alsorts dont know what he would make first
I think my daughter would use them to spell words, she is in reception year at school and learning to read. Thanks for a great giveaway!
a cube because it’s easy.
With my nephew it would be anything that slightly resembles a car
Matthew would enjoy making cubes to put his cars in
spaceships
My grandson would make a variety of small shapes then use them for fantasy adventures!
Cubes so they can store things in them
i’m not really too sure what he would make
I am not sure it depends on what they are doing but I am sure they will have lots of fun inventing shapes x
Probably simple box shapes to start with then might get more confident to do other shapes the more he plays with it.
dodecahedron I think would be fun for him
My boys would love to make pyramids
My daughter would make an octagon as she just learn that at school.
I would give this to my Niece and Nephew, and I think they would enjoy making their Minecraft creations real, and then playing with them, such a creative toy I love it!
For some reason my daughter always makes a toilet.
my sons would most like the mechanics set they love to figure out how things work xx
My son would love this and would love to make all sorts of spaceships with the pieces
I’m are we would make some sort of rectangle wagon or train, they are the current favourite
A rocket or spaceship I think!
My sons ADHD makes him very creative so he’d probably not make any conventional shaped and just rock his own thing 🙂 He loves making spaceships so he’ll probably make those
he is obsessed with vehicles so will try those.
Any thing that looks like a space ship
Whatever the mood takes them, they are quite tricky to predict
Cube type shapes as my daughter is very interested in those x
My son would enjoy making a football 3d structure
These look like fantastic sets. I think my girl would love them. I think she would make a spaceship as she has been learning a lot about space at school lately x
I think my daughter would make pyramid shapes
Because shes doing the Egyptians at scholl and is a bit obsessed with pyramids
My son would love to have this – he enjoys making boxes to keep things in like his trains.
I can imagine my son trying to combine pyramids and cubes to make rockets or spaceships
My little ones love making rockets and houses!
Cars and vehicles, my boy loves making those x
My son Noah has ASD and his favourite shape to make with everything is cubes so I think he would make lots of cubes
My youngest would properly try and make a big square or rectangle tower
Anything to do with space, rockets etc
My nephew would love this.I’m not sure what shapes he would make but would enjoy watching him create
I think my stepson would like making pyramid shapes as he has been learning about them at school
probably some sort of tower
Definitely something space related, like a rocket!
My daughter would do something with triangles & pyramids – as she tells me they are the strongest shapes!
We would love to build pyramids and triangles love geomagnets they are very therapeutic to play
my son likes to push himself and be quite inventive so he`ll probably try to makes shapes that may have circles or spheres in them
My Grandson is Space mad, so i would imagine he would make shapes for space
i think my son would make some shapes like cars trains etc
my nephew would be fascinated to learn about the magnetic systems and he would absolutely love this
I think cubes would be a favourite here because they can fill them with their other toys or make a tower with them.
I think my twin boys would enjoy making all kinds of shapes with this
My boys would love to make any shapes that you give them the instructions to. They love to copy the ideas . Amazing giveaway fingers crossed
I think my son would make several shapes like cube, pyramid etc to build a tower.
Little space aged dens for action figures
Probably something in the shape of a dinosaur.
star moon or rocket shapes 🙂
Something that looks like a droid from Star wars or a Tardis I am sure!
All sorts of different shapes to be honest
My son loves making houses with lego at the moment, he would probably make squares and rectangles lol!
My girls would love to make boxes with these to keep their shopkins and other little toys in.
He’ll love to make cubes for the first time and lots of box shapes
I’m sure my grandson would try and make some sort of fort
my daughter would love to make little trinket and treasure boxes
Squares/ cubes. I think they would try and make Robots out of this set as they love them
My son would probably enjoy making houses with this set x
Grandson is into pirates at the moment, so if it was possible he would make something related to this
any shape she can my daughter loves anything like this she would probably make little boxes
my sonwould make animals
I’m not sure what shapes she would make. Probably something for her dolls to use.
Ooh definitely cubes so they can make buildings
My great-niece would probably make pyramids. She is fascinated with the Egyptian pyramids.
Both my kids would love these sets , they are always building and creating. My son is currently learning a lot about hexagons and octogans , so he has been drawing and using them in lots of different things at the moment.
Pyramids as just done ancient Egypt as school project
I’m not sure
I think my daughter would probably enjoy making little houses and buildings with these the most.
I’m not really sure but my little girl love bed being hands on and building things
I think my son would make a rocket
My son has a small set of these and he loves making sphere shapes as there are so many different combinations they keep him quiet for hours.
I am not really sure what shapes she would make, but I know my little sister would love this
Spaceships xxx
my daughter would probably start with a cube then a house and a wheel would come I guess
rocket
My son loves shapes – all different kinds. Pyramids are his favorite.
He would make all sorts of shapes I think. Pyramids and star shapes would be a favourite
He loves rocket shapes and he is always making them with his Lego! I think he would really love this.
My son would try & build dinosaurs with this!
Towers are always popular
mine would try making all sorts of weird and wonderful shapes!
They would enjoy making spheres because this could lead to greater building possibilities than traditional building blocks
Would have to be triangles or pyramids
We would definitely be trying to make some kind of Minecraft like creation with these.
I think my daughter would love making the squares and turning them into boxes .x
M son would love these, They look awesome. I imagine he would build as complicated shape as he could such as a dodecahedron..
My daughter would make diamonds and gem shapes because she likes to collect gem stones at the moment.
I think my son would build cubed boxes to put his Lego figures in
My son loves to build and I think he would love to build a building using triangles
Squsres so they can make houses
Probably trying to make house / building shapes to put their play figures in!
My nephew would love constructing lots of different shapes with these
My grandson loves playing with Geomag he builds lots of things from them his favourites are trains and boats. This is an amazing set which I’m sure he’d love.
My little boy would probably ask mummy and daddy to help him make a dinosaur, he’s obsessed!!
I bet my niece would try and make a house whilst my nephew would build something Star Wars related. x
My 8 year old daughter loves to build, she would probably attempt to make a stable for her toy horses
My son would probably create a house shape or space ship for his ooshies and grossery gang to go in.
My kids love making pyramids
my son would make a rocket from cubes and pyramids
Our little ones are pretty creative so I think they would have a go at all kinds of shapes. Triangles seem the easiest so I think they would start with them, but coming out with words like rhombus at 7 (youngest) I can imagine them really getting inventive.
My son is obsessed with 3D shapes he’d love these! I think he’d make triangles and pyramids x
My nephew would make buildings from the cubes. Thanks for the competition.
My son loves shapes so he would try and make lots of different ones
He is particularly into hexagons at the moment.
I think my little one would enjoy building lots of cubes!
My kiddies would love making balls and odd shapes. Looks like hours of entertainment.
My two would try to make some little creatures (cats, dogs, rabbits)
They are animal mad
My son would probably make some sort of bridge construction for his toy soldiers to walk on.
I think our little Thomas would attempt to build a skyscraper! He’s loves designing and building!!
Cubes and boxs
my son would lie making boxes to put things into 🙂
I think my grandson would love making garages and car parks for his collection of toy cars . Thanks for the chance to be your lucky winner
Probably he’ll enjoy making big ‘robot’ shapes and monsters.
Not sure maybe cubes, but its exactly the kind of thing my son would love.
My daughter would probably try and make houses out of it so cubes an triangles
my daughter would make spaceships
she love space at the minute after leaning about it for school project
My oldest has a thing for bins so I imagine he would make some sort of a bin shaped thing and my youngest would probably try and make a house. Nice giveaway! These were on my list of things to get for Xmas but other stuff got bought instead
A box / cube would be the thing they would make.
My son would probably try and make a space ship 🙂
I think they would make diamond pyramids as easy to do
I think that my granddaughter would love making boxes, cubes and triangles.
My youngest has hyper mobility and really struggles with Lego etc and hopefully this would be easy and fun for him! I think he’d like to build a house or a spaceships!
circle shapes so she can use it like a ball
My son would probably try and make bridges with these
She’s really into planets at the moment, so I would think that’s the shape she would try to make
H would probably try to make a star – im not sure she would succeed but i think she would try 😀
cubes most likely
probably he would make cubes and stack them into a towers first, but then will experiment all sorts of shapes
little cube boxes
Definately hexagons his learning about these at school at the moment along with other shapes so its very topical
My son would be trying to make dinosaurs, I’m sure!
I think mine would try and makes houses out of it
My son would probably want to make every shape. I think dinosaurs would be very high as would octagons! He loves those at the minute
Rectangles and possibly bridges and cars !
My granddaughter would make homes for her little figures and probably little baskets to carry them around in
Any shapes resembling tractors and moving farm equipment!
Knowing my daughter, she would try to make a unicorn somehow lol
I think Jake would enjoy trying to make a ball shape, he could hide things inside and pretend it was like a surprise egg – another of his loves
The 4 year old some kind of jail for his spiderman and batman baddies, the 7 year old a football going by his current obsession
My daughter would probably try to make flowers and hearts
My daughter Sheriah would make squares because she would make a house
I’m sure my daughters would love playing about with the magnets. My youngest has been telling me all about polarities as she’s learnt about it at school. I think they’d like trying to make a bridge or a tower.
my sons love building and they would probably make a load of cubes to form minecraft items
My daughter would try and copy whatever is on the box, she’s constantly copying at the moment,
cars and house shapes mainly
My autistic nephews and niece would love this, but as for shapes, they love to create unique things, so I’m not sure on specific shapes.
My boys have made geodesic domes and eco houses for an engineering project at school recently, I’m sure they’d love to try and recreate them with these Geomag panels if possible
I imagine with my nephew it would be a pyramid, it’s always a pyramid.
My son would love to make a pyramid, he has become quite intrigued with them lately.
My daughter would love making different shapes
My kids will build towers – they love to build towers – and then my 2 year old loves to go and knock them over when the others aren’t looking!
my daughter is learning about 3d shapes so im sure she would use it to further her knowledge
we would build spaceships
My niece would make cube boxes x