Upcoming reviews

The next set of puzzles and games our club members will be reviewing will be Disney's Jake and the Never land Pirates Giant Floor Puzzle, Labyrinth board game and for the more advanced, 3D Puzzle Big Ben.

For more details on these products please visit the Ravensburger website

Ravensburger Bin Weevils Jigsaw Puzzle review

The Madhouse Mini-testers always get excited when we receive a new puzzle to review from the Ravensburger Puzzle Club and this month's was no exception. As soon as they laid eyes on the 100XL-piece Bin Weevils Jigsaw Puzzle, they started pointing out funny creatures on the box and asked if we could put it together straight away.

3-year-old Pierre was given the task of sorting out the edge pieces.

While 8-year-old Juliette was chief assembler.

The puzzle is absolutely packed with bright colours and interesting characters so it's quite an easy puzzle to put together because it's easy to locate the different pieces on the picture on the box.

As with all the Ravensburger puzzles that we've reviewed, the pieces are precisely cut and slot together really securely so it's easy to slide the different sections around to put them into the right position without them breaking apart.

Juliette was really pleased to manage to put it together all by herself and loved spotting all the weird and wacky creatures on the finished puzzle. It's another fab design sure to delight any little puzzle fans.

star rating : 5/5

RRP : £7.99

Review by Cheryl at Madhouse family reviews

RAVENSBURGER PUZZLE – WHAT IF?

Not a huge fan of cartoon style jigsaws but this was quite fun.   The slight clue on the box lid was quite good as it gave a beginning of what Jim might look like.   I started with the grass to be able to set what might be next up the puzzle.   Clothing was a good clue as was the paddling pool.

The pieces were well cut and fitted together well.   The colouring is also bright and cheerful.   I have lent it to a friend who is into similar puzzles so thought she might like to try her hand at this one and she didn’t even want a copy of my photo!

Review by Frances

Available from Amazon

WHAT IF? puzzle review

Those wonderful folks at Ravensburger managed to help this 53 year old grey-haired mum to convince the family that she has not quite lost the plot yet!  They very kindly gave me a What If? puzzle to complete and, amid much scorn and merriment at home, I did.  In actual fact, I completed it in just over 3 days last week, while I was on leave for the Easter break, much to the complete amazement of my family.  Needless to say that there wasn’t a lot else done around the house during that time, other than ensuring that the kids and hubby were fed as normal!

I must admit that the idea of completing a puzzle which is nothing like the one on the box lid is quite daunting at first, but once I had got my head around the fact that the puzzle was portraying the completely opposite scenario to the illustration, it became a bit easier.  For instance, I imagined that, instead of being on a cruise ship, the family would still be at home.  Instead of eating quality lobster and drinking fine Champagne, they would in all probability be eating from the BBQ and drinking cans of beer. 

To be fair, it wasn’t quite that simplistic but it was a brilliant challenge to do this puzzle because you simply couldn’t refer to the box lid.  The clever use of colours and patterns to contrast between the different characters and things in the puzzle helped me to distinguish the different parts of it fairly quickly.  And, of course, using the Ravensburger Puzzleboard to help me sort the pieces and build individual sections of the puzzle up first helped make it that bit easier.

Once the idea has ‘clicked’, it is just a matter of the usual game of patience and skill - finding where, in several rows of the puzzle, one individual piece of grass, sky or brick wall should be, but I love a challenge and What If? certainly provided one for me.  Another superb, quality jigsaw puzzle from Ravensburger - wonder if they’ve got any more? 

Review by Viv

Available at Amazon

Doc McStuffin's Giant Floor Puzzle

Elizabeth was very happy last week when the post man turned up with another puzzle from Ravensburger and she couldnt wait to see who would be on the box this time. Being part of the Ravensburger puzzle club has been really good for the girls puzzle skills and it wasnt something they were ever really that interested in before hand.

Seeing Doc McStuffins smiling back at her from the box was perfect for her and she refused to listen to me when I said she couldnt take the puzzle to the hospital with her for her check up.

Mind you it did keep her occupied and we soon had a crowd of young children, boys and girls wanting to have a go on the puzzle. 

The colours and cut of the pieces was fantastic and it was perfect for this age of children to me putting together. The Doc McStuffin characters are a sure fire hit and I am sure there will be lots more licensed products coming out soon. I really want to see what the new game that Ravensburger have made is like. Called Doc's Medicine bag game it sounds as though it will be brilliant.

You can buy the Doc McStuffins Giant floor Puzzles from Amazon.

Review by Laura at Tired Mummy of Two

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Puzzle

 

We have been working with the Ravensburger Puzzle club for quite some time now and every month we look forward to see what the next puzzle will be. Little Bird was not disappointed this month when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles puzzle arrived at the end of last week.

This Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Puzzle is cut into 200 sturdy pieces and measures 36 x 49cm when complete and is designed for children aged 8 years old +. Little Bird is 4 years old now and completed this puzzle with a little bit of help from me in about 45 minutes. He is very good at puzzles and he was chuffed to bit when he completed his first 200 piece puzzle.

This puzzle is great for children because there are lots of bits with bright colours,making it easier for you to work the pictures out. This puzzle contains the four main characters Leonardo,Donatello,Michelangelo and Raphael then it has two of the baddies but I am not sure of their names. Little Bird made some names up for them which made me laugh.

This puzzle is made of strong,sturdy card and the pieces fit together really well and do not lift up and pop out like some puzzles we have done in the past. We think that Ravensburger make the best puzzle,you can not beat their quality.

Review by Donna at Mummy Bird

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES JIGSAW

Yesterday when K came home from school and baby J was having his nap I decided it was time to have mummy and big boy time. I had seen him eyeing up this jigsaw a few times since we received it so figured that he would enjoy us putting it together! And he so did!

First we seperated the pieces into straight and into wobbly in our puzzle store 

Then we pieced all of the outside together.. and 2 hours later with  a patient mummy and a extremely excited 5 year old..

We finished 

The puzzle is aimed at 8 years+ and Ky is 5, but he is so good with jigsaws and he loved every minute of it. The puzzle consists of 200 nicely sized pieces. He really enjoyed doing it, and I really enjoyed spending that special time with my son.

This review was written as part of the Ravensburger Puzzle club, in which we were sent the puzzle for the purpose of this review. It is massively cool though right!? 

Review by Hannah at A New Addition to ...