Connetix are a wonderful method of engaging your child with puzzle-solving and get children to develop their cognitive and artistic skills. Because children learn best through play Connetix can be a great source. Here are some of the ways you can utilize Connetix to create puzzle games to provide an educational and enjoyable experience.
Fun Games
Mazes
Mazes are a time-proven way for your child to learn solving skills. In either a group or an educational setting, this is a good exercise for a group to learn how to work with one another!
By using the Connetix base plate, or a baking tray, if you’ve never found a base plate for your collection, you can create a colourful maze with your child. You can play with your fingers through the maze as finger-people, make use of small dolls, or even a model car to navigate through. Also, tilting the tray to make a ball roll through. It is important to include gaps in the maze! You can shift the walls around repeatedly to make it more difficult to complete the maze for hours of fun.
Dominoes
Kids love to smash things down. The process of building a dominoes ‘ trail can take some time, which helps build patience and also teaches how to plan. Littler children will be amazed by the chain reaction after knocking just the first tile!
Challenge your child to use the colours of the rainbow in ROYGBIV order or to form a triangle or square to take down. Bring the room to life with a domino trail!
Sticker Puzzles
Make your own puzzles using removable stickers , and placing them on top of the joining point of 2 (or additional) Connetix. You can then take your time cutting across the joint to make puzzle pieces!
Mathematical Puzzles
Numerical Puzzles
It’s hard for us to come up with an abstract mathematical concept that you can’t teach with Connetix. They’re perfect for creating simple mathematical challenges to solve! Factoring? Sure: simply put a number down on a big tile and different numbers onto smaller tiles. Show the child how to put the right tiles into the factor tree.
Multiplication, subtraction and division are all accomplished by using the tiles as objects to move and to remove. However, by writing figures on them with dry-erase markers, you can even tackle the early algebra in the way that helps visually impaired learners!
Sudoku
Sudoku is a popular number-based game that will test your brain, and help develop concentration and mathematics skills. Children enjoy the opportunity to have a common interest with grownups. At the same time, they’ll develop their decision-making skills, logical reasoning, and spatial awareness.
Utilize a dry-erase or chalk marker to write numbers directly onto the tiles. You can also use numbers on stickers, however the marker is even more straightforward to get rid of than ripping off stickers. Using Connetix is much more fun than using just a pencil or paper! (Just make sure to test spot markers before you remove them from the play area after).
Patterns
Eye-pleasing patterns are easy to make when you have patterns and colors that match what Connetix has on offer! Challenge your child or the class to create a flower, a square, or numbers and letters. Connetix provides free printable worksheets so that children can independently tackle the challenges as well.
What better way for kids to learn geometric concepts than using the Connetix Geometry pack! Children can make snowflakes, creatures, and humans out of all sorts of shapes, while learning names of the shapes as they move. Utilizing refrigerators and whiteboards, you can build DIY puzzles by tracing the outline of the shapes and/or encouraging children to classify them and then match the connetix by shapes and colours.
What about 3D shapes? These flexible tiles can create anything from prisms, pyramids to standing robots or even the wall.
Symmetry Puzzles
Symmetry puzzles can be a fantastic method to help children recognize patterns and colours, and is crucial to develop geometric abilities. On a flat surface, you can create half of an image for your children to create a mirror of what was created. For instance,
Through the creation of symmetry puzzles children can learn about organisational skills and discover how shapes work together while they move and tessellate their Connetix to make an mirror reflection of the original pattern that was designed.
The Literacy Program and Word Games
Connetix tiles can be used in a myriad of ways to boost literacy. The kids love it so much better than dull worksheets.
Synonym Recognition and Antonym Recognition
Write synonyms and antonyms down on Connetix tiles. Let children connect them in accordance with your directions. Similarity, or opposites?
Story Time
Children can create stories with the magnetic board and tiles that contain words. Try Mad Libs: write a story on the board and leave space for children to write a noun as well as a verb to the words pile!
Languages Learning Languages
Write down words in Spanish (or the other language your children are working on) as well as the English words on the tiles. Have the children match them up! (Did you know Connetix offers free printable materials with different languages?)
Compound Words
This is a great method to introduce hands-on literacy. As in the Sudoku technique, use dry erase/chalk markers to write the different parts of compound words onto the Connetix. Play with words such as moon, ground light, sea bee, shell, and hive.
This will also be an opportunity to laugh as the kids play with putting Moon and Bee together, as well as other combinations that are fun! Discuss it with your kids what you think: why don’t we have such things as a moonbee a lightbean, or a Hiveshell? What would those things look and act like?
Connetix magnetic tiles are a great source to promote learning through PLAY! For a resource that is magnetic, Connetix are the perfect option to explore puzzle play while also enhancing fine motor and cognitive skills. Have you played with one of the Connetix ball run?
As Steve Jobs said, “creativity is just linking things.” Make sure your children have the equipment they need to let their creativity flow! There are reviews, and Connetix exceeds its reputation time and time. But don’t rely on us for it–try them out yourself and begin playing with them to learn.
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- March 26, 2025 10:55 pm