Product Description

Kids love the surprise of watching a colorful sea-horse or parrot mysteriously emerge from the black and white numbered templates. Use any of the 20 fun designs or create your own mosaic masterpieces. The 1/2" magnetic foam cubes are easy to handle, and the large easel can be flipped into either portrait or landscape orientations.

Steven Kay has always been interested in pattern & geometry. Coming from a background in photography, sculpture and design, he first began making transforming toys in 1983. From this interest grew The Orb Factory. Since these early days, Steve has worked to integrate sculpture and geometry, producing a score of fascinating and unusual designs, working with wire, wood, elastic and magnets. Not only do these toys provide hours of engaging exploration, but in many cases these transforming toys are of particular geometrical significance.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7216 in Toys & Games
• Brand: Orb Factory
• Model: 62057
• Released on: 2008-11-06
• Dimensions: 12.75" h x 2.50" w x 17.75" l, 2.84 pounds

Features

• 600 1/2" magnetic foam cubes
• 20 designs
• 12 x 18" magnetic board and easesl stand
• Preschool fun
• No tools required

From the Manufacturer
Kids love the surprise of watching a colorful sea-horse or parrot mysteriously emerge from the black and white numbered templates. Use any of the 20 fun designs or create your own mosaic masterpieces. The 1/2" magnetic foam cubes are easy to handle, and the large easel can be flipped into either portrait or landscape orientations.

Customer Reviews

Wonderful quiet and fun activity
My two children, 3 and 5, love these mosaics. It keeps them occupied for a long time, and they have something beautiful to show everyone when they're finished. I highly recommend it, especially if your child likes to figure things out (e.g. puzzles or mazes).

If you're giving this as a present, you'll want to plan ahead, for the following reasons: 1) The cubes do not come already separated; they are in one block for each color, with the foam already cut but the magnetic backing only perforated. It takes quite a bit of time to carefully break them apart (remember, it's 600 cubes!). 2) The foam cubes had an overwhelming smell of volatile chemicals when we opened the box. This is normal with foam, but you don't want your children breathing it in. Just break the cubes up, arrange them on some trays, and let them outgas for a week or so in a very warm room that no one uses very much. When the smell is almost unnoticeable, they're ready to use.

Also, you can't complete 2 mosaics at the same time with the cubes provided. (The set only comes with one magnetic board, but we had an extra one, and my children of course want to work on these together.) For the mosaics that don't completely fill the paper with cubes, they have been able to just use different colors in some spots, but with most of the designs, even this won't compensate. I am probably going to buy another set since they love these so much.

Also, there are downloads of new designs available on the manufacturer's web site; just click the "Downloads" link on the bottom right corner of the home page. There are currently only 3 designs for the Magnetic Mosaics Kids available, and they are on letter size paper (much smaller than the designs that come with the set). But my kids didn't seem to mind!

Again, I highly recommend this toy. It has great educational and aesthetic value.

simple and fun
This is a great introduction to mosaic building. So far, we haven't had enough time to really play with it due to the large volume of other interesting toys that came at Christmas. The foam squares smell a little funny at first. We bought this one and the next level mosaic kit that comes without templates, but that one seemed less beginner-friendly so we started with this one.

Fun for all ages
This is a very fun toy for kids ages 4-8 but adults and older kids can enjoy this too. The only thing I didn't like was that there aren't many extra pieces and some of the pictures need to use nearly all of one color so be careful not lose any of the pieces. This toy isn't for a child who puts things in their mouths, for they would pose as a choking hazard. There are lots and lots of pictures including with this and it will help children with their colors and numbers. I got this for my twin daugters 6th birthday and they have enjoyed putting together many of the pictures already.