Bridging the Age Gap: How Using CONNETIX has Enhanced Playtime and Developed Skills

Not only are CONNETIX an excellent STEAM toy helping children develop their gross and fine motor skills, but they are also a wonderful tool to enhance imaginative play.



Between them, the boys built a train out of the CONNETIX using the two purple car bases, and on this train came toy cars – a car transporter taking the cars to a race! They discussed how the train would need to get to it’s destination, concluding that they needed to build both a track and a station.



Winding the fence tile pieces around my living room as a track, building a structure that would fit the train inside as a station and adding further tiles to the track and working out how to keep the train on the track were all addressed. All the while keeping up a running commentary about what was happening on the train.



An expression of imagination while they worked on their problem-solving and building skills.

Inside each set comes a booklet with ideas to spark what you can build, my eldest child thrives on rules, regulations and following instructions. My youngest child thrives on telling his big brothers exactly what to do.



Cue a team-work effort of the biggest one directing the smallest one as to what shapes were required, a learning episode in itself with square, hexagon, big triangle, small triangle and even right-angle triangle appearing in the vocabulary, the small one picking the colours. And when they realised that they didn’t have enough square tiles to make every single suggestion in the booklet without destroying their hard work, the ten-year-old patiently sat, showed and explained how the four-year-old was able to create the same shape out of two right-angle triangles or two rectangles.



Due to the easy nature of the tiles clicking together with magnets, the four-year-old immediately grasped this concept, as he was able to see the shapes were the same.

The more complex the structure, the grander the idea, it’s inevitable that at some point there is a crash and everything will come toppling down. It was also inevitable that the tantrum would follow.



My four-year-old got it into his head that he wanted to build a bridge, that could carry his cars across. He started building, it fell down, and as predicted the tantrum came. Yet once the tantrum was over, even my four-year-old picked himself up and tried again. And again. And again. Until eventually he had worked out how to move the building of the structure to our solid floor rather than the fluffy rug, had changed his structure to have a base plate, and had added more tiles to hold up the bridge portion.

My eight-year-old came to me with a very specific idea of what he wanted to build, a ramp to rival the hot wheels camp. He had searched through the instruction book but couldn’t find anything that was matching what was in his head.



A search through Google, YouTube and the structure was set.



What followed was an exercise in planning, with a side of maths. Having a list of the tiles that they needed – 36 squares to be precise – we then worked out how to divide this to make it easier to count. Originally, we were counting out the squares in piles of fives, until he established that 36 was actually divisible by six. Checking the maths afterwards by counting up in sixes we had 36 square tiles and he was ready to build.



One ramp later, and he found that he was able to use the purple car base to travel down, yet once he built that up into a truck it was too heavy.

As I mentioned earlier, my eight-year-old has struggled since COVID lockdown in terms of his handwriting. He missed the formative years at school in reception, year one and a portion of year two, where he was in a cycle of blended learning, 50% at home, 50% at school, and at various points full lockdown and online learning. He essentially learned to write during this home-schooling period, and as a child who would rather run, jump, leap and work on gross motor skills, he has found the transition to writing harder than most.



We have always tried to find ways that will engage and interest him while building those muscles up. CONNETIX have started to help do just that. These colourful, manipulative tiles require precision and dexterity to assemble and connect, promoting the development of hand-eye coordination and fine motor control. By grasping and placing the tiles, he has been engaged in a tactile experience that helps strengthen the muscles in his fingers, hands, and wrists. These movements and actions are crucial for refining the motor skills necessary for precise and controlled handwriting.