Is your fridge in need of something new, something fun? Push aside those alphabet letters and weekly dinner schedules to build a magnetic city instead! It’s a great lesson in perspective and a fun way to spark some serious storytelling.

I’ve always wanted to work with magnets, so I decided to design this little village – complete with houses, trees, cars, and even a bus. The beauty of magnets is that you can play with them just about anywhere, or atleast on anything magnetic. Let’s start with the kitchen fridge, why don’t we?!

It’s amazing just how many ways you can arrange your cities, and the millions of stories that are born with each – every story being just a little bit different than the next. The bus is pulling away, don’t forget your lunch. Have fun at the sleepover! Good luck in your soccer game! See how many stories you can dream up? While you’re preparing dinner, your kids are busy becoming architects of their own little worlds.

With different sized houses, cars, and trees, this is a great craft to help to teach kids about visual perspective. When objects are far away, they appear smaller. When they’re close up, they look bigger. Kids will have a blast experimenting with the placement of their magnets.

• Magnetic city printables
• White magnetic sheets (if you want a portable play surface, as shown in the bottom photo, I’d suggest buying some black sheets too.)
• Craft knife or scissors

Step 1
Download your city printables and print onto the white magnet sheets.

Step 2
Use scissors or knife to cut out your city magnets.

Step 3
Start putting together your cities! You can either do this on black magnet sheets (so that you can take your city anywhere) or you can simply do it on your fridge or another permanent magnetic surface.

Magnets are the crafts that keep on giving! Make them one time and you can play with them indefinitely! They’re a fun departure from the traditional craft and will mesmerize kids with their magic powers of attraction. My two little ones are currently busy playing with their magnets, and let me tell you, the house has never been so peaceful :)