The Magna-Tile Exploration

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Magna-Tiles are the most popular building material in our school-age program. Lego is still popular but is not the first choice. The children use great imagination, creativity, and ingenuity when working with Magna-Tiles. The children never run out of creative ideas with Magna-Tiles, and I delight in seeing each new creation emerge. When children use Magna-Tiles, they often combine it with another material or toy for imaginary play. The children weave Magna-Tiles into forms that seem impossible.

I recently spent one-week watching Magna-Tile construction to find out what makes this material the most popular of all building materials. As children engage in play, I keep a reasonable distance between us, so the children have an opportunity to explore openly and creatively. The following is what I observed.

Day One -The elementary children created structures described as "homes" for large and small plush animals. Another group constructed a garage for their toy cars that featured moving parts, like opening and closing walls and secret spaces to hide cars inside. The car group experimented with different shapes to see what form would move as a door the best. There was experimentation with tile size, and children checked for mobility and function.

Children's work with building materials invites design, function, and Iteration experimentation. What is Iteration? As defined by IDEO, the leader in industrial design. Iteration is the act of repeating something for emphasis or clarity. It is the act of testing for feedback to inspire the next design. The children are working on a human-centered design to create a better car or animal home.

Day Two -There was an extension of the Magna Tile work today. Three younger children used only triangular Magna-Tiles to create spaceships. There was much discussion about space travel and the spaceship's ability to withstand a crash during the work.

Another group of children created a large house for their toy animals and one toy doll. The home featured many rooms of various sizes and secret doors for animals to hide. The three children doing this work focused on their design and Iteration, like those working the previous day.

The children love the versatility of the Magna-tile. They find the different shapes interesting. The potential of the material inspires the children to experiment in their play. Using the same size and shape of tile to explore additional building opportunities was an idea created by the children. Children-led investigations invite other children to explore the potential the material holds.

Day Three -Two children collaborated to create a Magna-Tile hospital and church. They worked on the hospital for a long time but created the main structure fast. Then the topic of the roof came up, and the children changed it many times. They said the roof looked "too much like a church to be a hospital." After a redesign, the children came up with a flatter roof and flared out on the bottom. They shared, "that looks like a hospital roof." Then one of the children said, "We should build a church over here." Then work started on the church building next to the hospital. The children shared that the hospital had a specific design with layers of color. "Look, the top is green, then blue, the red, and orange" and represented the four floors of the hospital building. The final part of the construction featured building a sidewalk that became a road. The children created a parking lot between the hospital and the church for easy access and played with their creations until they went home.

Much of the children's creative work with blocks and other manipulative materials goes unexplained. The children play and create in their world and often have no interest in sharing the story of their play.

Day Four – The children's work with Magna-Tiles changed. Negotiation has become part of the building process. More children are trying to create with Magna tiles, which created a competition to get tiles so children can make their vision. 

One aspect for children working in collaborative spaces is negotiating for access to materials they want to create. It would be wonderful to have an endless supply of materials. When a material becomes popular, skills in sharing, trading, and waiting for an opportunity are a reality in an extensive school-age program.

Day Five - The children's work with Magna-tiles continues to evolve today. The children constructed triangular buildings to hold cars, transformers, and dinosaurs from home. The building construction has evolved. The children have moved away from creating only square and rectangular structures to more complex shapes.

The children used Magna-Tiles to create a structure based only on triangles. The low-sitting form moved in a spiral pattern ending in a half-circle. What caught my eye was the sharp angles and creativity in using only a specific shape to create a structure.

The work continues to expand and evolve as the children take the time and explore the possibilities of Magna tiles. I can't wait to see what the children come up with next. There are always exciting discoveries happening as I observe the children at work.