The most common question people asked is “Do Magna Tiles work with Picasso Tiles?” It’s good you asked because I will be answering this question right now.
Do Magna Tiles work with Picasso Tiles?
Have you ever wondered how Picasso Tiles and Magna Tiles compare to each other, if they are compatible, or if you can use them together?
One of the top toys for preschoolers for decades, magnet tiles have captivated children ages 4 and up.
We’re talking about building creations out of brightly colored magnetic pieces, from simple frames and shapes to a colorful city skyline.
And, what do we love? To watch kids spend an afternoon in creative discovery, creating and recreating various designs for their own amusement.
Expanding your child’s magnetic tile collection
You might be considering expanding your child’s magnetic tile collection by purchasing Magna-Tiles. Naturally, you want to make sure that any new tiles are compatible with their existing set.
Magna-Tiles and Picasso Tiles have similar features: they both have magnets embedded into the edges of plastic tiles so that the pieces snap together, allowing children to build various structures and creations.
The main difference between the two brands is that Magna-Tiles are more expensive than Picasso Tiles, and are available in a wider variety of shapes and sizes (though Picasso Tiles come in a 100 piece value set while Magna-Tiles do not).
Additionally, Magna-Tiles are translucent while Picasso Tiles are opaque.
However, while they may share similarities, the two brands were not designed to work together – each was created as its own unique product line.
That said, Magna-Tiles can be used with other products from the same brand because they all use Magnatile’s proprietary design.
Unfortunately, this means that it is unlikely that you can use your child’s existing Picasso Tile toys with any new Magna-Tile purchases without them being incompatible.
Picasso Tiles are a less expensive alternative to Magna-Tiles.
If you’re looking for the price of Magna-Tiles but are worried about the cost, you’ll be pleased to know that there’s a less expensive option available: Picasso Tiles.
These building tiles are generally 25-50% less expensive than Magna-Tiles and come in a set of 100 pieces, compared to Magna-Tiles’ set of 32.
The squares on Picasso Tiles are 5cm (2″) instead of 3cm (1.18″), which means they’ll take up more space, but their attractive packaging makes them ideal as gifts for any occasion.
Picasso Tiles in different shapes
Picasso Tiles come in many shapes, including squares and triangles. You can also purchase rectangular and rhombus-shaped tiles.
However, Picasso Tiles do not come in hexagonal or triangular prism shapes, like Magna Tiles do.
Translucent
While the Maxi Tiles and Magna Tiles are both translucent, the Picasso Tiles in this set aren’t. This means that they won’t let in as much light or create as luminous a look when used with LED strips or tiles.
However, they can still be used for basic structures, including walls and partitions. Also, unlike their translucent counterparts, these Picasso Tiles have other colors besides clear. In addition to white and black, there are red and yellow pieces.
The vivid colors make the blocks more fun to use for artistic creations like cars and animals (see example images below).
Shape compatibility – Triangle tiles
The smaller triangle tiles in the Picasso Tiles set won’t connect to most triangle tiles from other sets – only to themselves. The same holds true for squares: the smaller square tiles in this set only fit together with other small squares.
If you’re considering getting a Picasso Tiles set, the best thing to do is make sure your child has lots of room to experiment with all of their options!
If they want to try connecting the larger triangles and squares that come with both Magna-Tiles and Picasso Tiles sets, make sure they have plenty of space so they can spread out their sets and play as much as possible.
Shape compatibility – Square tiles
One of the most common questions we get about Magna Tiles is whether or not they’re compatible with other magnetic tiles like Picasso Tiles.
This question makes sense, especially if you already have some magnetic tiles and don’t want to purchase a whole new set. The short answer? No, there aren’t any compatibility issues with mixing squares together.
The long answer is that when you mix different brands of magnetic tiles together, your children can build larger structures than would be possible with just one brand alone.
For example, when you combine two sets of Magna Tiles and Picasso Tiles (which are roughly the same size), kids can build more elaborate structures than ever before!
That being said, each brand’s square shapes may be situated differently within their respective pieces.
For example, while a Picasso Tile’s square shape is positioned in the center of its plastic piece, a Magna Tile’s square shape sits off to one side in order to make room for its magnets.
This means that when you connect these two different kinds of tiles together, your kids will notice small variations in how they fit together – but it won’t affect how well they stay connected to each other or what kinds of structures your children are able to build with them.
Shape compatibility – Small Square and Large Square tiles
You can mix Magna Tiles and Picasso Tiles with other brands’ magnetic tile sets. However, keep in mind that the magnets of each brand’s square shapes may be situated differently.
Because of this, there are some building restrictions when using different square shapes together.
For example, the square shape from a Picasso Tiles set will fit inside any larger squares from other sets but not outside them because its magnets are located on the edges rather than in the center.
Position of magnets in squares
However, you should note that the magnets in squares from different brands may be situated differently.
In Magna-Tiles, the corner magnets are placed on the interior of each square, and they’re 2mm x 4mm. Meanwhile, Picasso Tiles squares have magnets that are 0.5mm x 1mm placed along the edges of each square.
While this may not seem like a big difference to you at first glance, it does mean that Picasso Tiles aren’t as strong as other magnetic tiles.
This is partially because the smaller surface area of Picasso Tile magnets allows for less repulsion or attraction between tiles than with brands such as Magna-Tiles.
However, it’s also because the brand uses weaker magnets than some other companies do – namely Magna-Tiles and Imagination Generation brands like Super Magnet Lab sets (which come in a variety of shapes).
If you want stronger magnets and more stability in your magnetic tiles creations, investing in another brand could be wise (but more expensive).
Purchasing a new set of tiles
If you do decide to purchase a new set of tiles, make sure to read reviews of the brand you’re interested in buying to find out how well-made they are, if they function properly and if they’re compatible with your current set.
The magnets may be positioned differently than the others, or their quality may not be as good – and neither option is what you want!
Contacting the manufacturer is another method of finding out this information. You can always give them a call or shoot them an email asking about compatibility.
With some exceptions, Picasso Tiles can work with other brands such as Maxi and Magna tiles.
- The nature of the connection is different. Picasso Tiles have magnets on all sides, while some other brands have them only on the edges. This can cause problems when you try to connect tiles with different styles, depending on where they’re placed.
- The build quality is not always consistent across all brands. We’ve seen reports from several customers who say that cheaper magnet tiles are flimsier and feel less sturdy than higher-priced products, even if they look identical in the product photo. For example, there are a number of cheap plastic toys that use magnets to connect together – but these tend to fall apart easily and generally aren’t suited for older kids or more complex building projects.
Conclusion
If you decide to go with a brand other than Picasso Tiles, be sure to do your research first and make sure it’s compatible with your child’s existing collection.
If you don’t want to deal with figuring out which pieces work together, we recommend sticking with Picasso Tiles since they’re designed specifically for this purpose and we think you’ll notice a difference in quality as well!
