If you’re wondering how to dry magna tiles after your kid just took a bin of them into the bathtub, they’re just wet. Not ruined.
It’s not recommended to submerge Magna Tiles but those unusually expensive magnets aren’t a lost cause if they get wet.
If you want to buy more tiles, I’d recommend Picasso Tiles or PlayMags as they’re about half the price of Magna Tiles and are almost exactly the same. (There are other brands that work with magna tiles, too.)
More instructions below on the drying methods.
How to Dry Magna Tiles
Tilt the tiles up and air dry
The progress is slow if you’re watching it happen, but the best method is to leave the tiles standing up against something and let them air dry. Each tile has a side with a seam. It’s a small sliver of space that’s just because of enough to fit your finger nail into.
Leave the side with the seam tilted towards the ground so the water can more easily drip out. The tiles should be dry within about 90 minutes to two hours.
Leave the tiles in the sun
Even better than just leaving the tiles standing up is leaving them standing up in the direct sun. I wouldn’t leave them on steaming hot pavement, but they’ll be in fine shape as long as it’s not absurdly hot to the point where they’ll melt.
The sunlight’s heat should be enough to expand the tile slightly and make the logged water dry out more easily. I left tiles out in the sun and the water was gone within about an hour.
Put the tiles in rice
I’d only try the rice method if you’ve tried the air drying method or are worried there’s going to be a last bit of moisture left inside. It’s probably more work than necessary and will take a good amount of rice (remember, don’t use flavored rice – that won’t work) if you have a lot of wet tiles.
Shake water out of corners
When the tiles break it’s often at the corners. If the tile does have a corner chipped off then you can typically get most of the water out by tilting it that direction and shaking it out.
You might need to stick to the air drying method depending on how much water is logged inside and if they’re new tiles.
How Not to Dry Magna Tiles
Blow dry
I tried this and it isn’t the worst option. But only bother if you only have a handful of tiles to dry and want to dry them quick. But you can also damage the tile if you let it get too hot.
Be careful not to hold the dryer too close, but one option is to lean the tile up against something and hold a blow dryer about 8-12 inches away from the them. It will heat up the plastic and get more of the water to drain out through the bottom.
I held the blow dryer about 6 inches from a tile. Within 30 seconds, the plastic on the tile got too hot and quickly started to bend. And it didn’t bend back into place as you might expect.
You can see in the above picture the tile is now warped and doesn’t hold as tight or flush to another tile because of the bend in the plastic.
Don’t put them in the oven
I can’t think of a better way to melt the living daylights out of the tiles and make them never useable again.
I was able to melt a tile by putting too much blow dryer heat on it. You’re going to end up with soupy plastic interspersed with some magnetis if you put your tiles in the oven.
Don’t put them in the dryer
Same thing as the oven. I wouldn’t let magna tiles anywhere near the dryer. There’s no way to check easily how the drying progress is going.
You’re more likely to have the tiles get too hot and start to melt. And those darn tiles aren’t cheap so don’t go deforming them.
In Summary
If you find a magna tile drying method that’s easier and faster than leaving the tiles tilted up in the sun, please email me! I want to hear about it at gooddadhelp@gmail.com.
And if you’re still deciding on if you need more tiles, you see how many magna tiles you really need.
Good Dad Help (and this page specifically) includes affiliate links as part of the Amazon Affiliates Program and we may earn a small commission if you purchase through this page. (No cost to you of course. It it does help us buy a few more tiles ourselves!)
