We’ve been enjoying playing with Gravitrax this summer, a new STEM toy from Ravensburger. Gravitrax allows you to create different tracks, experimenting with gravity, magnetism, and kinetic energy. You can read our review of the starter packs here but we’ve also been trying out some of the expansion packs, which you can buy to help build your tracks even larger and to add more variety allowing you to create more complex tracks.
The expansion packs are…
- Expansion Building
- Expansion Hammer
- Expansion Magnetic Cannon
The Expansion building set is a mixture of pieces, which you can use in conjunction with the starter set just to give you more of each variety and allow for bigger tracks. With three children playing together, having this expansion pack is a good idea for us and just prevents any pieces running out when they are putting together their ideas for tracks.
This set contains 25 extra pieces, specifically…
2 Base Plates, 1 Transparent Level, 8 Large Height Tiles, 4 Small Height Tiles, 2 Switches, 1 3-in-1 tile, 1 Vortex, 1 Finish Line, 4 Basic Tiles, inserts for basic tiles: 2 Catchers, 1 Freefall, 1 Splash, 1 Landing
The other two expansion sets are smaller and contain one feature each to add to your track, both of which are great for experimenting with launching the spheres, and they both work well in conjunction with each other, or can be used alone.
This is the hammer on the left, and the magnetic cannon on the right. The hammer make a great starter for the tracks, but can be built into the middle of tracks too, and the cannon gives an amazing effect making the spheres shoot out extremely fast, due to the magnetic force.
The boys had a lot of fun using these two pieces together in their new track. They love setting up races between the different coloured spheres to see which one will win, and which direction they will go.
Gravitrax is a brilliant toy, which is different to anything else we’ve come across. It encourages creativity and experimentation, and really appeals to my boys (ages 7-10). With my eldest approaching the teen years, he doesn’t play with so many toys these days – the boys are often either outside playing football, or on consoles, but this really is a good toy to get them all playing, building, experimenting and learning together – all while having fun.
The expansion packs are a worthwhile addition to help build up your collection especially if you do have a larger family playing together, or want to build tracks in a large space.
Visit the Ravensburger website to see all of the Gravitrax expansions that are available.
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
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