Ravensburger Paw Patrol Four Large Shaped Puzzles - Review

Both my children love reaching for a jigsaw puzzle when they are feeling a little bored and want something fun to do. We have a huge pile already in our house and they love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with seeing the full image at the end. It helps when it's a fun character that they like! 

Ravensburger very kindly sent E one of their Paw Patrol Four Large Shaped Puzzles sets and she was so excited to get started. Paw Patrol is one of her favourite shows with a special love of Everest and Skye. 

Inside the box you get 52 puzzle pieces in different sizes, depending on what puzzle they are for. One puzzle has 10 pieces, another 12, one 14 and finally one at 16 pieces. 

As E has only just turned four, I gave her a little help. She was able to split the pieces into piles happily, knowing which piece was for which puzzle just by looking at the image on the box. 

In the end, it took her no longer than around 30 minutes to complete all four, letting out a little shriek of excitement and pointing out which characters she could see. Each puzzle depicts a different scene and I liked the addition of words as, now she has started nursery, we are working on letter sounds. All four are full of colour and so pretty to look at. 

The Ravensburger Paw Patrol Four Large Shaped Puzzles retail at £9.99 and is suitable for children aged 3+. You can purchase your own at Amazon.

(We received this item for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

Ravensburger The Gruffalo Shaped Floor Puzzle - Review

"A mouse took a stroll through the deep, dark wood"... I'm sure everyone is familiar with the classic Julia Donaldson book 'The Gruffalo', even if you aren't a parent! It's been one of my children's favourite books since they were babies, followed by The Gruffalo's Child, they love watching the animated shorts and even have a Gruffalo costume. You can imagine their excitement to see that Ravensburger had sent them a Gruffalo puzzle to try out.

The puzzle itself has 24 pieces and is perfect for children aged 3+. My children are 3 and 5 so they were able to do it together with minimal help from me. The pieces are about the size of my palm so great for my daughter at 3 who is just starting out with puzzles but not too easy that my 5 year old got bored.

In true Ravensburger style, the finish of the pieces is fantastic and it's well-made. The fact that the finished article is shaped like the Gruffalo rather than a traditional rectangular puzzle just added to the fun. Both children loved seeing their favourite character come to life with the more pieces that they put together and liked the addition of other characters from the book such as snake, mouse, fox and owl.

My five year old son is a fantastic reader so one of the little details that he specifically liked were the lines from the book on the colourful border around the Gruffalo. He loved being able to read it in full when the puzzle was complete.

The Gruffalo Shaped Floor Puzzle is so much fun, it's bright, colourful and perfect for any little Gruffalo fans - the finished image is like it's been plucked straight out of the book! It retails at £9.99 from all good retailers. 

(We received this item for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

 

Ravensburger Disney Pixar Cars 3 Giant Floor Puzzle - Review

We are massive Disney fans and C especially loves the Cars franchise. Ravensburger have recently brought out a Cars 3 Giant Floor Puzzle to coincide with the third installment being released in cinemas on July 14th. I actually won tickets to a early screening so we have already seen the movie and it is fantastic - just as good as the first two!

When we received the puzzle to try out, C was so excited because as much as he loves Lighning McQueen, he has taken a liking to Jackson Storm and so he was thrilled to see him included on the puzzle too. There are 60 pieces and C can sometimes feel a little thrown in at the deep end when the pieces are small, but because this is classed as a 'giant' floor puzzle, each piece is about the size of his hand and the finished picture is large too.

It is recommended for children aged 4+, C will be 5 in September and this is probably the first puzzle that he's needed minimal help from me with. I gave him prompts such as finding all the pieces with blue and yellow on or "can you find the rest of Lightning McQueen's eyes?" but all in all, he was able to do the majority of it himself and boy, was he proud of himself!

The familiar characters definitely helped and I think they made him enjoy it more. Even though he could see what the puzzle would look like on the box, he couldn't wait to complete it and see it for himself. The puzzle pieces are bright and colourful and it's perfect for any Disney Cars fans!

The Car 3 Giant Floor Puzzle retails at £9.99 and can be purchased from Amazon and all major retailers. You can find out more at the Ravensburger website and you can keep up to date on Twitter.

(We received this puzzle for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

 

Ravensburger Endangered Animals Giant Floor Puzzle - Review

We are a big puzzle loving family. I was an only child for the first ten years of my life and there was nothing I loved more than either reading or doing a puzzle. Luckily, my children have developed that same love.

My four year old son C is becoming a lot more inquisitive since he started preschool. He is constantly asking questions about literally everything and he's really great at remembering everything that he is being taught. When Ravensburger offered us the chance to review their Endangered Animals Giant Floor Puzzle, I jumped at it as I thought it would be great educational resource.

There are 60 puzzle pieces and each piece is quite large, about the size of my hand, meaning that the finished puzzle really does live up to its name of "floor puzzle" by measuring 70x50cm. The puzzle shows 100 endangered animals against a world map so you can see exactly where each animal comes from and can be found. Where animals come from is not something that C has learned much about yet so he was really interested to find out. A lot of the actual animals shown were new to him too. As well as this, it also taught him about different continents and what the names of the oceans are. In typical C fashion, he had a million questions about each animal so I could tell that he was really interested in it.

Although the puzzle is recommended for children aged 4+, he did need a bit of help and proved to be a bit challenging for him. Luckily we had no meltdowns and he let mummy help him out! I love that the animals weren't just confined to one piece as I felt finding the other half or part of the animal helped him put it together.

The puzzle comes with a numbered data sheet where you could learn the real names of the animals. C knew quite a few such as chimpanzee and polar bear but the more obsure ones like humphead wrasse and Russian desman were completely new to him. One of my favourite things about this puzzle is that the Equator, Arctic and Antarctic circles and tropics of cancer and capricorn are included. These were of much interest to C at the moment but as he learns more about the world, he'll understand them better.

I think this puzzle is absolutely fantastic in terms of educational value plus it makes learning fun! The finished puzzle is wonderfully bright, colourful and inviting and the illustrations are perfect for young children. In typical Ravensburger fashion, the pieces are cut and smoothed which make them great for little hands.

The Ravensburger Endangered Animals Giant Floor Puzzle retails at £9.99. You can find out more at the Ravensburger website or you can keep up to date on Twitter. 

(We received this item for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

 

Ravensburger Bing Bunny 4 in a Box Jigsaw Puzzles - Review

CBeebies is always on in the background when we're home and Bing is definitely one of my kids top three TV shows. Every time the opening credits roll, I hear a chorus of "Bing's on!" then their eyes don't come off the TV until it's over.

When C was offered the chance to review Ravensburger's Bing Bunny themed 4 in a box puzzles I knew I had to say yes. I definitely think he would disown me as a mother if I said no and he found out.

When the puzzle arrived and I opened it out of the packaging, both children were excited at seeing their favourite characters Bing, Flop, Pando, Amma, Padget, Sula, Coco and Charlie on the outer box. The puzzles are recommended for children aged 3 years + so for reviewing purposes I did them with C first but over the past few weeks E has had a go but, of course, can't quite work them out just yet. 

As I mentioned before, there are four puzzles included in the box. Each puzzle has a different amount of pieces - 12, 16, 20 and 24. When completed, the puzzles are all the same size so the individual jigsaw pieces get smaller as the amount of them increases. I wanted to start C off with the easiest puzzle - the 12 piece - to see how he got on before gradually progressing. 

As I imagined, he had no problems whatsoever. He does own jigsaws and enjoys doing them so this was no different. Except the fact that he was a bit more excited by the characters. As we did the rest of the puzzles he did need more help (understandable as he's just shy of 4 years old) but I know he'll be whizzing through them in no time. 

Both children loved the bright, recognisable images on the finished puzzles and gave cheers when they were completed. I love how each puzzle has a different coloured border. It really helped C understand which pieces go together as I don't think that he would be able to tell solely by size at this age. The jigsaw pieces themselves were very well-made and perfectly finished. C has no trouble holding them and slotting them into place. He has asked to do them quite a lot over the past few weeks and I definitely think I'll be picking up more character puzzles for him to have a go at.
The Bing Bunny 4 in a box puzzle retails at around £5.99 from all good toy and bookshops. You can find out more at the Ravensburger website and keep up to date on their YouTube and Twitter accounts.

(We received this item for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.) 

 

Win a Wasgij Only Fools & Horses Puzzle

When I was little I loved being in my own company, reading or doing puzzles - I still do now! Loving books and jigsaws and using their brains is definitely something that I want to teach my children.

Hobbycraft stock a huge range of jigsaw puzzles that are suitable for all ages so you are bound to find something no matter what age you are buying for.

We've teamed up to offer you the chance to win the fantastic Wasgij Only Fools and Horses 2 x 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles worth £20.00!

Wasjig (that's 'jigsaw' backwards, you know!) brings a whole concept to jigsaw puzzles. Using the picture on the front of the box, you need to use your imagination to construct what the picture will look like after a sequence of events occur.

The box contains two brilliant 1000 piece puzzles featuring the hilarious Only Fools & Horses characters. You'll do the first puzzle by following the image on the box but as this is Del Boy and Rodney, they will definitely get into some sort of predicament! But what could it be? You'll need to work out the second puzzle to find out by using your clues and imagination.

This is such a great puzzle to gift or to challenge yourself. Who doesn't love Only Fools & Horses!?

To be in with a chance of winning, just fill in the Rafflecopter widget below. This giveaway will run from February 26th until 11th March and it is open to UK residents only. Good luck! 

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Win competitions at ThePrizeFinder.com

Jumbo Games Planes Giant Foam Floor Puzzle - Review

Jumbo Games are a company that sell a wide range of toys, games and puzzles. Last month, they added a new item to their pre-school selection - Giant Foam Floor Puzzles. They come in lots of different characters such as Jake & The Neverland Pirates, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Minnie Mouse, Planes and Doc McStuffins.

C was lucky enough to be sent one of their Planes puzzles to try out. The puzzle is aimed at children aged 3+. Although C will only be 2 next month, he took to it really well. There are only 9 pieces so it's easy enough for your child to work out which piece goes where. The puzzle pieces are made from high quality EVA so that they maintain their original shape. This is great as C tends to bend and throw things about.

When completed, the puzzle is 89x89cm which, I think, is a perfect size (we only have a small living and C's bedroom is only little too!) but if you buy any of the other puzzle characters, you can join them all together! I think C will be wanting the Mickey and Jake ones too! He loved seeing the finished image and ended up mainly using it as a playmat when he had completed it.

All in all, this is a great quality product and has seemed to withstand my sons forceful playing, shall we say!

You can purchase your own Giant Foam Floor Puzzle from Amazon for £14.99.

(Disclaimer: We received this puzzle free of charge in exchange for an open and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)