Magnet Grab

What’s more fun than playing with a giant magnet? They are practically magic for a toddler!

I cannot be the only one who was fascinated by magnets as a kid. I could play with them for hours. I loved testing to see what was magnetic and what wasn’t, and letting the magnets bounce off each other. In related news, I was a very odd child but I digress…

Sam and I have been playing with these large(ish) magnets since he was about 22 months old. It only took a quick mini “lesson” to show him that some things stick to the magnets and some things don’t for him to be totally hooked into these.

For this activity, I made a random collection of items that I knew were magnetic and mixed them with items that I knew weren’t. Fun for Mommy because I definitely guessed wrong many times… we’re all learning together apparently. Anyways, for added fun and to make things really crazy around here (hold onto your hats), I put everything in a magnetic pie pan. I know, so wild. So crazy. It’s just a real party over here sometimes.

Sam sat with the pie plate of items for about 15 minutes and carefully looked for items that were “maymetic” (his word and I love it). It’s a fun little sorting activity with science roots and it definitely has mass appeal because the 4 and 6 year old neighbor kids were just as interested in this set up as Sam was.

PS: we got these magnets at the local hardware store and having them has been fantastic. I highly recommend getting a big magnet or two – they are a toddler attention span life saver.