Questions parents ask

The quick answers are on the front page. These are the ones that need a paragraph, and they are mostly the questions that arrive after a box has been on a floor for a while rather than before it is bought.

What actually separates the shelves?

Shape, not quality. The starter boxes are squares and triangles and nothing else, which is everything a first month needs. The dinosaur and castle boxes are the same tiles with pieces added that a plain box does not have, and those pieces are what give a build a plot. The travel tins are a different size on purpose. The craft shelf is not tiles at all.

If you are buying a second box, buy across shelves rather than more of the same. A hundred squares and no dinosaur builds the same house again.

The box says 3 and up. Is that about the pieces or the play?

It is the grading printed on the box, and 26 of our 34 carry 3 and up. Five are graded 4 and up and three at 6 and up. The higher grades are the craft kits, and the reason is the process rather than the parts: a marbling tray is a bath of water and pigment, and that wants hands that can wait.

Below the grading, use your own eyes. A child who still puts things in their mouth is not ready for a floor covered in loose pieces, whatever the box says.

Why do our tiles look different from the ones in the photo?

Ours are translucent, so they read as the bright ones in a mixed pile, and colour and clarity do vary between makers. In a wall built from two brands you will see the seam. Plenty of people like that and use it to tell whose tower is whose.

The magnets feel weaker on one tile than another

Check the orientation before the strength. Magnets turn inside the housing so that any two edges catch, and a magnet that has stopped turning will refuse one way round and hold the other. If a tile refuses both ways round and rattles when you shake it near your ear, a magnet has come loose inside and that tile is finished. It goes in the bin rather than back in the bag.

How long does a set last?

Longer than the interest, usually. The households where these survive for years all do the same two small things: the pieces live in a bag rather than a lidded tub, and once a term somebody tips the pile out and runs a hand over it looking for a parted corner. That check takes two minutes and it is the only maintenance these things need.

Can we wash them?

A damp cloth and nothing else. These are sealed shells with magnets inside, so a sink of water is a bad idea even where the seal is good. The craft kits are the exception and their own instructions cover it.

Do you make anything for a classroom?

Not as a separate line, but the largest boxes are the answer. A class or a party runs out of square bases before it runs out of anything else, so the piece count is the only number that matters. Our biggest sets reach 194 pieces, and the helper hides the small tins once you tell it how many hands there are.

Where does the money go?

Not through this site. Each button opens that box at our retail partner and everything after that happens on their terms, at their checkout. We do not see the order and cannot look one up.