This month's puzzles

This month will see our puzzlers reviewing Disney's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 4 in a box set, the 200XXL piece Rabbit Parade, ready for Easter, and for the more advanced, the 500 piece Gorjuss Ruby puzzle. 

CUPCAKE JIGSAW

A very challenging but interesting puzzle with nicely fitting pieces.   It required a lot of patience and a different way of working.   I normally start with the edge pieces so this is what I sorted out first but found, when I tried to find matches, that it was easier to look for certain types of pieces first.

So I looked for the “cherry on top” ones and then the “bobbles”, “chocolate” etc.   Then built up sections round these cakes.   It took a lot of using the picture to work out which particular section I was working on and where it fitted in the overall scheme of things.   However, it was worth persevering, with a great sense of achievement when it was finished.

An enjoyable puzzle to do if you like something that will stretch your mental capacities and ability to find the relevant area of the puzzle that you are working on.

The colouring was very good and faithful to the original, with the gingham cloth peeking through the puzzle to add challenge to the project.

Review by Frances

Calorific Cupcakes!!!

A very entertaining puzzle from start to finish. An unusual subject but a pleasant change. Lots of vibrant colours and no large patches of boring plain areas. Very sturdy pieces which are easy to connect.

A puzzle I would enjoy doing again without remembering where pieces go as a lot of areas are very similar.  Only downside, if you could call it that, was it made me hungry and I ended up going to buy some cakes ;).

Review by Amanda

Loopy Laboratory

As part of the Ravensburger Puzzle Club, we were sent the lovely 200 piece puzzle Loopy Laboratory to review.

This couldn't have arrived at a better time, with the weather as cold as it is, and half term to contend with, I'm always thinking of things we can do to occupy the children, and there is nothing we enjoy more than completing a jigsaw puzzle together.

This Puzzle states it is for ages 8 and above, my 8 year old daughter, and 9 year old son have both managed to complete this alone with very little help, my 4 year old has enjoyed joining in with them and we have completed it together as a family.

The puzzle itself is made up of 200 pieces approximately 2.5cm each, the pieces are all made from strong recycled card, which enables them to fit together really well, and have a fair amount of strength when together. The overall size of the finished jigsaw is 49cm x 36cm

Included in the box is a handy reference sheet, which has some great information about the Artist which is a nice touch, and means that there is another picture to reference as you build this puzzle.

Ravensburger puzzles also come with a guarantee so you will know that the quality will be as good as you expect.  They use a handmade cutting machine to make their pieces which means all pieces are different, so you won't accidentally put the wrong piece in the wrong place. Each piece is printed on a grained paper to ensure a glare free finish really adds to the quality of this puzzle.

The Picture is of a crazy scientist in his library full of little imps and funny looking creatures. The detail is truly wonderful and will keep you looking over and over again, providing a great talking point whilst you are building the puzzle and afterwards as you admire the finished picture.

Review by Sarah from This is Me Sarah Mum of 3 http://tinyurl.com/77y52fn

Puzzling Fun with Octonuats

This month we received the Octonauts 4 in a box Jigsaw set from Ravensburger  for Ben to review! Ben is puzzle mad and this was his first puzzle for the Ravensburger Puzzle club so when it arrived he was very excited!

Jigsaws are a great rainy day activity, and we’ve had a lot of that recently! I think it’s great that Ben is such a big fan of puzzles as they are a fantastic way of developing co-ordination and lateral thinking at a young age!

The box shows images of the four different puzzles which each have a different coloured border. Three of these feature characters from the popular Cbeebies animated show, Captain Barnacles, Peso Penguin and Kwazii Kitten, and the fourth shows the three of them together. Ben couldn’t wait to get into the box and get started!

As usual he tipped the contents into a big pile on the floor with a cheeky grin! Luckily as the edges of each piece were colour co-ordinated it was easy for us to pick out the pieces we wanted for each puzzle. He began with the ‘easiest' one with just 12 pieces, this was also the one that featured Captain Barnacles (his favourite Octonauts character!) Ben found the corner pieces first and was able to complete the whole outer edge without any help from Mummy! After I helped him find out the middle pieces and put them in their own little pile he was able to put them all in place! Declaring ‘Octonauts to the Rescue’ as he completed it he then let me a quick photo before breaking it all up again and moving on to the Green one! We were able to complete all four and he kept them all together to proudly show daddy when he came home fro work!

I really like this set. The four separate scenes have increasing numbers of pieces to encourage development. The set is aimed at ages 3+ which I think is ideal. Ben is four and after a few plays with this is now able put all of the first two scences together himself and only needs a little bit of Mummy’s help with the other two. The familiar characters keep his attention focused and I was rather surprised at how long he was able to sit and play with these at a time as he can sometimes be easily distracted! The pieces themselves are great quality, really sturdy and fit together smoothly, and the box is robust and ideal for storing the pieces in! Over the last few weeks this has become a firm favourite and is the first jigsaw he will choose from the shelf!

Review by Jen from My Mummys Pennies  http://tinyurl.com/6sp87nr

Octonauts 4 in a Box Jigsaw Puzzle

The boys were recently sent their second puzzle from Ravensburger. This month they were sent The Octonauts 4 in a Box Jigsaw Puzzle! The puzzles include images of four characters including Barnacles, Kwazii and Peso. 

Each puzzle has a different coloured border, this is great as it helps young children with sorting the puzzle pieces. Nathan found the puzzles easy to complete because he could see which pieces belonged to each of the four puzzles. It also helped him to see which way the pieces need to be to complete the puzzle. His favourite character is Peso the penguin so he said he wanted to try this one first. This jigsaw has 20 pieces so one of the bigger puzzles. I thought he would struggle but he really surprised me how well he managed to find all the edge pieces and put them in their places, the only help he needed from me was to find the middle pieces out of the box. As Callum is older than Nathan he had no trouble with any of the puzzles or finding the pieces and was able to complete them really quickly. 

The boys found the puzzles easy to complete as the puzzles only had a few pieces each. The puzzles are 12, 16, 20 and 24 pieces, meaning they are ideal for use within a family with different aged children (such as my own). The finished puzzles are 19 x 14cm when complete.

The puzzles are suitable for children aged 3+ and priced at £5.99, they can be purchased from all good toy shops and retailers. We highly recommend Ravensburger puzzles, they are made from good quality materials and the pieces fit well together even when played with over and over. These are definitely puzzles made to last.

We cant wait to see which puzzle we will be reviewing next month.

Review by Louise at Here comes trouble http://tinyurl.com/7h9zq5a

Loopy Laboratory

January brought the snow...and a new puzzle for us to try out from the Ravensburger Puzzle Club. This month challenge was the 200XXL piece puzzle called Loopy Laboratory. As you can see from the picture, it's quite and intricate design which I thought might make it quite difficult for the girls but, as long as you use the box as a guide, it's actually quite simple because the multitude of colours and details make it easy to spot the different parts on the box.

This was actually a really good puzzle for them to do together because ther are definits, separate sections for them to work on side by side with no squabbling. This is where the Puzzle Store really came into its own again because they could sort the pieces into the different sections so that they both had their own stash of pieces to place.

It's a very busy puzzle with a lot going on, so it's one of those designs that you can do many times and still keep spotting new details each time. Its based on an image from Colin Thompson's book The Last Alchemist and the girls loved the huge amount of detail, pointing out strange creatures and funny objects as they put it together. It was a great way of testing their observation skills too because they had to look really hard at the picture on the box to spot where each piece needed to go.

Quality-wise, its once again absolutely perfect, with no rough edges or badly cut pieces. It stays together really well, even when you need to slide the different sections to the right place. Designed for 8+, it was ideal for 6-year-old Juliette to do with big sister Sophie, aged 10 but she would have found it a bit too difficult by herself

Review by Cheryl from MadHouse Family Reviews http://tinyurl.com/6su38hx

Loopy Laboratory Puzzle 200 pieces

Ravensburger Puzzle Club - Loopy Laboratory Puzzle 200 pieces

As part of the Ravensburger Puzzle Club, we were sent a 200 piece Loopy Laboratory Puzzle to test our skill!

The Loopy Laboratory is suitable for age 8+, and my 9 year old son was delighted to see it! The design is based on an image from Colin Thompson's book The Last Alchemist. It is a very 'busy' picture, which really tests your skill as puzzling! The scene is full of some crazy images, including animals, books, patterns and lots lots more! Included inside the box is a piece of paper with the image on, so you don't have to keep referring to the box. We found this very handy, as there was a couple of us doing it, one could have the box, one could have the sheet!

Using our puzzle store, we came up with a plan of creating the outside of the puzzle and working our way in.

It was then a case of working out colours and matching patterns. Each piece of the puzzle has a linin-finish print, to help prevent glare on the puzzle, especially handy when you are really concentrating to find a piece under the halogen lights!

The whole puzzle took us about 2 hours to complete. It measures a whopping 49.3cms x 36.2cm when completed. Jordan was chuffed to see all his hard work pay off with his completed puzzle, it has been lovingly stored away in his Puzzle Store! It's a brilliant puzzle for someone who likes a challenge! 

Review by Danielle from Blog by baby http://tinyurl.com/7qvhoy2