A connection unit includes: a body having peripheral edges; magnets, at least one of which being disposed on each side of the peripheral edges of the body; and electrode terminals, at least three of which being disposed on the each side of the peripheral edges of the body. An outer surface of the body has a curved surface. The electrode terminals are disposed along the curved surface or the surface having the polygonal cross section of the outer surface. The electrode terminals disposed on the peripheral edges of the body have either: one positive electrode terminal and two negative electrode terminals, or one negative electrode terminal and two positive electrode terminals.

A parts library apparatus of predesigned freestanding three dimensional box like forms representing modest room sized units, each complete with a floor, walls and a roof of a particular shape and pitch and further categorised as either room units with full height walls and lower pitched roofs, or loft units with higher pitched roofs and some short wall or no wall sides, together with three types of unit assembly defined as non-core, core, or a combination of both, so that by selecting a kit of parts containing at least one type of unit from the parts library, a user can assemble them in accordance with at least one of the three types of unit assembly to form at least one model building and building design which can be easily reconfigured to produce many alternative design options.

A magnetic building set and method for teaching numeracy and spelling is disclosed. An example magnetic building set includes a plurality of trays that receive a plurality of unit markers implemented in various manipulative exercises and games that teach numeracy, elementary arithmetic, story arithmetic problems, geometric shapes, and spelling. The magnetic building set enables a user to build a plurality of geometric shapes, structures, and other constructions. Trays can be provided to represent a plurality of numeric quantities. A tray and marker assembly representing a specific numeric quantity can be manipulated as a whole, while the unit markers contained therein are visible to the student and can be viewed, manipulated, arranged and counted individually. Students are instructed to manipulate the trays and markers in various exercises in order to learn counting, number composition and decomposition, subitizing of quantities, arithmetic operations, place value, story arithmetic problems, geometric shapes, and spelling.

A smart block can include a plurality of displays and configurable magnet components to selectively attract or repel other smart blocks. The smart block can include proximity sensors to identify a surface of another smart block close to the smart block to determine if the smart blocks are correctly oriented based on an application or game associated with the operation of the smart blocks. A plurality of smart blocks can be configured to display a portion of a picture (as a puzzle), such that when the smart blocks are oriented correctly they collectively display the complete picture. The smart blocks can be used in conjunction with a smart mat that is configured to move the smart blocks in response to commands received from a remote computing device. The smart blocks and the smart mat can facilitate interactivity with other, remote users, such as between a caregiver and a child.

An electronic toy comprising: a sensor for detecting movement of the electronic toy; a reader for detecting markers in a proximity of the electronic toy; a user-interface for providing a user-perceptible output; a processing unit configured to control the user-interface responsive to a detected movement and a detected marker.

The plastic toy building block is provided with electrical contacts to determine its position. The block has a basic body having recesses extending from top to bottom in its interior. In these are each inserted, combined into packets, several discrete elastically resilient conductor wires clamped between plastic strips. Elastically resilient conductor wires protrude downward into the recess. Contact points protrude from the plastic strips at the top. Several electrical cables are led from each nub to the underside of a nub plate to discrete contact points. Except for the nub surfaces, the nub plate can be covered by a cover plate and hereafter can be placed with the nub plate on the basic body of the toy building block. The lower contact points on the film then make electrical contact with the upper stubs and thus with contact points of the conductor wires.

A construction toy is disclosed. The construction toy comprises at least one prismatic or cylindrical housing with a closed end and an open end, with two or more connection means located on an external surface between the open end and closed end. The construction toy may further comprise an ornamental component, stickers, a motion activated illumination arrangement resulting in numerous modes of play of the construction toy. Multiple housings of the construction toy act as building blocks. The construction toy acts as a means to collect, display and store numerous ornamental components. The construction toy can be customised with stickers which can be revealed and hidden using a motion activated illumination arrangement comprising an infrared sensor and UV light.

A transformable modular toy element is provided. The transformable modular toy element is for use in a toy construction system comprising a plurality of modular toy elements. The transformable modular toy element comprises a body portion and a head portion. The body portion comprises one or more coupling members, the one or more coupling members being adapted for releasably coupling the body portion with modular toy elements of the toy construction system. The head portion is attached to the body portion. The head portion comprises a cavity for receiving the body portion therein. The body portion is moveable with respect to the head portion between a retracted position where the body portion is retracted into the cavity, whereby the transformable modular toy element has a first shape, and a deployed position where the body portion is in the axial direction deployed from the cavity, whereby the transformable modular toy element has a second shape. The transformable modular toy element further comprises first locking means adapted to lock the body portion in the deployed position.

A building set includes a tray having a first row and a second row, each having a plurality of marker positions. The example building set also includes a plurality of markers configured for interchangeably fitting with the marker positions on the tray. A connection mechanism has a first connection on a first side of the markers, a second connection on a second side of the markers, and a third connection at each of the marker positions. The third connection interchangeably mates with the first connection and the second connection of the plurality of markers. The connection mechanism is at least one of hook-and-loop and magnetic, and may be biased toward one side of the markers to aid in subtraction. The tray and markers are configurable in various exercises and games to teach at least one of numeracy, arithmetic, and spelling.

An interconnectable construction element has a body section, a first socket coupled to a first end of the body section, and a magnetic ball. The first socket has a recess in communication with an opening. The opening extends from a first lateral side of the first socket at least to a distal end thereof. The magnetic ball is individually rotatably receivable into the recess of the first socket for forming a magnetic connection with another interconnectable construction element having another magnetic ball.