PIXIO Sweet - 60 Magnetic Blocks - Small Magnet Tiles Alternative for Kids 8-12 Years & Adults - Multicolor

Not a great value. I gave to my daughter, and she cried from disappointed when she opened the box, and realized how few blocks there actually were. Now I have to buy her ice cream. Box is about 12 times the size of the actual amount of blocks you get. Feel a bit cheap, especially given the cost.

PIXIOs are a way to bring pixel art to life, with tiny magnetic cubes. You might have seen magnetic blocks for kids that have become rather ubiquitous. PIXIOs are just like that, but much smaller and more precise. Each of these tiny cubes are close to the size if you had a 1x1 thin Lego piece, and put two of those together. They are made of premium plastic and have magnets on the sides to coordinate them into perfectly aligned shapes. The magnets have polarized orientations, so you have to sometimes flip a cube into a couple orientations in order to find the "correct" side to use when you are building a sheet or a taller structure. They are durable, but due to their small size and the fact that there are magnets inside, I wouldn't recommend these for kids under 5 years old. Absolutely keep them away from kids 3 and under. Given the price and the small precision of the pieces, these are best for kids 7 and up, and honestly, I think these things are sort of targeted at teens and adults. This 60-piece set includes 20 cubes of three different colors: yellow, turquoise, and pink. The pink seems to be a more rare color in the PIXIO sets, so you do get that unique color here. Just be aware that 60 cubes really isn't that much to work with. You can build the little structures and characters seen in the product photos, but not much beyond that. If you really want to have fun with PIXIOs you need to commit to buying a critical mass of them, like at least 200 cubes...if not closer to 400 or 500. So the set is good, especially if you are looking for pink blocks, but be aware you are paying a premium price for these things and this set alone is going to have limited fun value by itself. It's much better served when you combine it with a couple other PIXIO sets.

These are tiny magnetic blocks that can be used to create pixel-type structures and creatures. When I was purchasing, I thought these would be kind of like the larger magnetic blocks currently available for children but better for travel since they are so small. I was wrong. The main difference is that the magnets inside these blocks are fixed towards a particular magnet orientation. What this means in practice is that three sides of the block will attach smoothly to a particular other block side, and three will not, whereas the large magnetic blocks and magnetic tiles have magnets that rotate or double magnets to try to make it possible to connect any two sides. For creative building, it's annoying to have to continually reposition the cubes until they find the right magnetic orientation for each side. However, for fidgeting, it's actually a very satisfying process. The second issue is just the general size of these. As shown in the product listing, they are quite tiny. I would not introduce these to children as little as 6 -- especially given the "candy" coloring of this particular set. Swallowing a magnet can be deadly to a child and I just really would not want to risk that for my child or another child they may be playing with. I would not feel comfortable giving this to a kid under 10 or a kid with regular contact with younger kids (e.g., younger siblings). Originally, I purchased these for my child, but I think I will instead have them live in my office at work as a fidget toy. The bottom line is that I don't think these are a good "alternative to magnetic tiles" as advertised and instead may be buckyballs might be a better parallel product. With that in mind, I would say that at full price, this item may not provide sufficient value compared to alternative magnetic fidgets.

These magnetic cubes provide a colorful and creative toy. However, the cubes are tiny — 8 mm (5/16 inch) on a side — and are definitely not suitable for very young children, who might be prone to swallow or lose them. To illustrate a simple thing that can be done with these cubes, I spelled out the word HELLO using 50 of the 60 supplied blocks. See the corresponding attached photograph. The magnetic strength of the cubes is more than adequate to hold them together — and in fact I needed to keep my photographed ‘HELLO’ letters separated enough that they would not undesirably merge with each other. This set might be useful to take along on a trip — say in a pocket or other small container — though the content of that container should not have anything that could be harmed by the magnetic fields of the blocks — including mechanical (balance-wheel) watches and potentially some electronics. When the 60 blocks are joined together to form a rectangular prism, the resulting prism is quite small. See the photograph of this prism (and the accompanying instruction leaflet) relative to the size of the cube-shaped product container — 3.2 inches on a side — is enormous by comparison. The cubes and the instruction booklet consist of the entire contents of the container. A little well in the top of the container holds the magnetic blocks, and the rest of the container is essentially empty! I cannot judge how expensive it is to manufacture these 60 blocks, given that each cube contains a magnet — not a less-costly magnetically-inert piece of metal or plastic. However, the $35 price for this set on Amazon seems just a tad high to me.

Likes: Bright colors, comes with idea booklet, would travel well due to compact size. Age range listed accurately on description as for kids 6+. Dislikes: The cubes are teeny tiny. That's why I included the spoon in photos for size reference. I was picturing these being used as a children's building toy, but once I saw them in person might be better suited as a fidget. Small size makes them difficult to build with easily. Price ($35) seems high for what you get.