- WonderMaze
- Museum Tour, $40
No offense to alphabet magnets, but every now and then, don't you wish your fridge offered something more visually interesting? This science toy's snap-together magnetic pieces will turn it (or any other large metal surface) into an interactive art installation. Kids can arrange the brightly hued plastic chutes and boxes in any configuration they like, connecting ramps and bumpers to chambers filled with pegs and spinning gears. (They can even turn the construction into a group game by taking turns adding pieces.) When they drop a marble into the resulting contraption—likely to resemble a hamster Habitrail designed by Rube Goldberg—its journey down to the cup at the exit is oddly mesmerizing. Then they can take it apart and craft a new labyrinth, or place two side by side for some marble races. Creativity blossoms, while a thing or two are learned about gravity and momentum.—Ages 3 and up
