A magnetic tile set for the grandparents' house

Buy for the range, not the child

A home set is bought for one child at one stage. A grandparents' set will be used by a four-year-old this year and a two-year-old next year, probably at the same time, and possibly by a nine-year-old cousin at Christmas.

That argues for a plain geometric assortment rather than anything themed or age-specific. Squares and triangles are the pieces every age uses; a dinosaur box is for one child for one year.

How many pieces

Forty to sixty is generous for a visit. It is enough for two children to build simultaneously without negotiation, and it fits in a container that can be carried in one hand.

There is no advantage to a large set here. Visits are short, the floor is usually a living room rather than a playroom, and a hundred pieces mostly means a longer tidy-up in a house where the tidy-up matters more.

Storage that suits a house without children

The home rule is an open tray at floor level. The grandparents' rule is the opposite: something that closes, looks acceptable in a living room, and lives somewhere a child can be shown once and then fetch themselves.

A lidded basket beside an armchair works well. So does a drawer in a side table. The requirement is that a child can reach it without an adult standing up, because a set that requires a request gets used once per visit.

If there is a toddler in the family

Standard tiles are graded from three, and a grandparents' house tends to be exactly where a four-year-old and an eighteen-month-old end up on the same rug. A STICK-O set alongside solves this: the younger child has something graded for them, and the older one is not asked to stop building.

It is also worth a quick look at the floor after a session in a house that is not childproofed — under armchairs and along skirting boards, where a single tile can sit unnoticed for weeks.

The practical case for keeping a set there

Children who arrive to a familiar toy settle faster, and a construction set is one of the few things that occupies a child properly in a room designed for adults. It is quiet, it does not need a screen, and it works for a visitor of almost any age. A 30-piece collection plus a lidded basket is the whole solution.