Our method
Encouraging your child's creativity from the very beginning is essential for their personality development. People who have been encouraged and strengthened in their creativity from pre-school age have a decisive advantage. In the future, it will be much easier for them to develop and use their wealth of ideas and intelligence.
In order to promote the creativity of one's own child, regardless of whether it is a boy or a girl, at the earliest possible age, there are some very useful toys for at home and on the road. These include the so-called magic board. For our product comparison, we have compared different models and worked out the most important aspects.
Contents
Summary
- Magic boards are generally only suitable for children aged 2 and over, as parts that can be swallowed pose a particular danger for younger children.
- There are basically 3 types of magic boards. A distinction is made between the classic Etch-A-Sketch, a Magna-Doodle and a didactic version.
- There are 3 different uses for a magic board. Your child can use its magic board to learn arithmetic, practise letters or become creative itself.
The Best Magic Board: Our Choices
Buying and evaluation criteria for magic boards
In order to find the perfect magic board, we have worked out some buying criteria that you should consider when buying. These criteria should make it easier to compare the individual models so that you can make an objective and informed choice.
The criteria that help you to compare the magic boards with each other include:
In detail, the following is important to know about the listed buying criteria:
Size
Magic boards are available in many different sizes. However, you should distinguish between the following. A regular magic board is small and handy. This means that your child can always take their magic board with them and is not tied to one place. This can also significantly promote your child's creativity, as it can come up with new ideas due to the varying environment.
However, if you want to offer your child more space for creativity, a very large magic board is more suitable. This is called a "whiteboard". This is then bound to a specific location, which means that your child cannot take his or her magic board everywhere with him or her.
Colours
When buying a magic board, it is important to pay attention to the colour in two respects. On the one hand, a magic board can enable your child to learn the colours quickly. If this is your intention, a magic board that allows colourful painting is naturally more suitable for you.
On the other hand, colours also have a stimulating effect on your child and can have a great influence on them. Accordingly, it is important to distinguish between the effects of different colours, as children are particularly receptive to them. Shades of red, orange and yellow have a warming and stimulating effect on children. The green of nature, on the other hand, has a healing and relaxing effect. Furthermore, the blue of the sky and the night has a calming, cooling and refreshing effect.
Age group
Magic boards are usually designed for children aged 2 or 3 years and older. If your child is younger, it is important to choose a magic board without parts that can be swallowed. Therefore, there are magic boards that are especially suitable for smaller children due to their shape and design.
Material
Basically, most magic boards are made of plastic nowadays. If you want to consciously avoid this material, you should go for wooden versions. Why are wood and plastic particularly suitable for a magic board? The reason is that these two materials are very useful for children's toys.
Children tend to put things in their mouths or even swallow them. Wood and plastic are accordingly resilient, but pose no danger to your child. These two materials are therefore particularly suitable for your child's magic board.
Intended use
In the end, you should also pay attention to what you want your child to do with a magic board. Is it important to you that they get their first insights into the world of mathematics? Then a magic board with numbers is highly recommended.
If, on the other hand, you want your child to learn some language skills, then a magic board with letters is recommended. Or would you rather give your child room for creativity? Then the classic, blank magic board is probably the best option for you.
Guide: Frequently asked questions about the magic board answered in detail
What is a magic board?
By definition, a magic board is a kind of drawing board to which a special pen is usually attached or enclosed. This pen is used to draw or write on the surface of the board by means of mechanical pressure or magnetism.
If you want to erase the drawn material, the magic board offers you the possibility to remove everything, often by means of a slider. This enables a writing experience without material consumption. Accordingly, the magic board can be called a resource-saving paper substitute.
What types of magic boards are there?
Magic boards can be divided into 3 different types. The classic Etch-A-Sketch does not have a crayon. Here, drawings are only created using 2 wheels in the frame of the magic board. One wheel moves the lines in a vertical direction, while the other wheel moves the lines in a horizontal direction. Among other things, this promotes your child's motor coordination. In addition, this variant offers a certain degree of safety for younger children, as there are no parts that can be swallowed.
The Magna-Doodle is probably the most common type of magic board. With this variant, you need a magnetic pen to write on the surface. They also usually include a set of stamps that the children can use on the board. The Magna-Doodle is therefore more suitable for children of pre-school and primary school age.
The didactic variant is a special type of Magna-Doodle. The special feature of this variant is that it specifically supports your child in learning numbers. For example, erasable multiplication tables can be created for your child. This means that completely free and creative processes are possibly excluded on this variant. The didactic version is therefore particularly suitable for children of primary school age.
What does a magic board cost?
| Price range | Available products |
|---|---|
| Low-priced (5 - 15 €) | Simple magic board (usually only magic board and pen included) |
| Medium-priced (15 - 30 €) | Normal magic board (usually magic board, pen and stamp set included) |
| High-priced (from 30 €) | Complex magic board (usually magic board, pen, stamp set and special functions, e.g. colour and shape learning, included) |
Our ranking shows that high-quality magic boards are already available from a medium price range, which have a sufficient and partly already an extensive product supplement.
Are magic boards also available for left-handers?
Is the digital magic board a good alternative to the analogue magic board?
The digital magic board is partly unsuitable for children. This is because children are mainly concerned with free personality development, creativity and learning rudimentary basic skills. The digital magic board, however, is more oriented towards the needs of adults.
Accordingly, digital magic boards are rather graphic boards that work according to the same basic principle as analogue magic boards, but are much more sophisticated and sensitive than children's toys. However, for those who want to give their child an insight into the digital modern age, the digital magic board is a real alternative.
Conclusion
Magic boards are still very useful for developing your child's personality. Thanks to their simple functionality, your child can freely express himself on the board according to his wishes.
When buying such a magic board, you should always keep in mind how your child will use it or what your child should do with it. Important points are the size of the board, the colours used on the board, the age group, the material the magic board is made of, but also the intended use is an important purchase criterion.
If you want to teach your child the advantages of our digital world at a very early age, you can buy a digital magic board. However, whether this is really beneficial for the child's development must be considered on an individual basis.
(Cover photo: Tim Arterbury/ Unsplash)
