Back at the beginning of the month when the power went out, we received a little something fun to make the outage slightly less boring: a Tech 4 Kids Magna Color. Of course, Magna Color is fun even when the power is on, but when you’re really starting to go nuts and rationing the gas for the generator, it’s even more fantastic.
If you haven’t heard of this fun design studio for kids before, it’s basically a whole new way to color by using magic dots. Now, I admit, at first I thought “oh geez, the little metal dots will be everywhere within a day and then we won’t be able to play with it anymore.” But that’s totally not the case.
How Magna Color Works (and more importantly, how you WON’T lose the pieces)
The Magna Color comes with the basic play board, a ton of different colored magic dots (I didn’t count them, sorry), “pens” for each color, and some fun 3D pictures to “color.” Each colored dot is a different size, and that’s really important. Basically, you dump all the dots on the play surface, use the slider thing to push them up to the top and under the lip. They fall into the back. When you shake the play surface, they each fall into their own color’s slot. This is actually pretty fun!
Once all the dots are in their own chamber, just ope the pen “gate” and shake the dots into the pens. From there, you can either use one of the fun templates to create a cool 3D picture by placing the magic dots on the colored dot guides, or you can make your own creation. I made this one for Jacob:
When you’re done, just use the slider to push them back in and start all over again! Both Jacob and I had a lot of fun playing with the Magna Color. Let me tell you, I was incredibly grumpy those 8 days, so the fact that it amused me means it had to be pretty awesome!
I love it because kids can really be creative with it. The magic dots hold pretty strong to the magnetic surface and don’t just fall off. So far, I haven’t found any floating around the house and they all seem to still be there. The only thing I wish is that they came with more of each color. You can buy other colors too, there are chambers in the back all ready and waiting for them.
Check out the video below to learn more:
Important note: A small quantity of product shipped this past summer included malfunctioning pens. As a company dedicated to high quality product, Tech 4 Kids, the manufacturers of Magna Color, would like anyone with malfunctioning pens to contact them at the following email: [email protected] for a set of free replacement pens and dots. Magna Color can be purchased at Toys “R” Us, Walmart, Kohl’s, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Walgreens, and many more retailers!
