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 Disney Pixar Incredibles 2 XXL Puzzle - Review

July 13th sees the long awaited return of The Incredibles to our screen in 'The Incredibles 2'. C and E are massive Disney fans and C especially is excited to go and see it in the cinema. He's going to have to get in line though, I was 12 when the first movie was released and I loved it so I've been waiting a long time for this!

To coincide with the new release, Ravensburger have brought out a new Disney Pixar Incredibles 2 Puzzle! This one is 100 pieces and recommended for children aged 6+. C turns 6 in two months' time so I thought we'd give it a try and see how he got on. He's never done a puzzle of this size before.

Straight away, C was really excited to see the whole family (and Frozone) on the box and spent some time telling me all their names. Once we'd opened out the puzzle and saw all the pieces, it was a bit like "where do we begin?!" especially as a lot of the colours are similar with mostly reds, blues and blacks. 

Due to the amount of pieces, C did need a little helping hand from me but once we had sussed out the edges, he enjoyed looking at the finished image on the box to gauge where the pieces should go and which order the characters were standing.

The whole puzzle took us around 20 minutes to complete, which I thought was perfect and not too long that C would get bored and want to do something else. He was eager to find that feeling of accomplishment once he'd finished. The pieces themselves are perfect, in true Ravensburger fashion, with a great finish and no sharp edges. Doesn't it look fab? We had lots of fun and it's definitely one that we'll go back to a lot.

You can pick up your own Disney Pixar Incredibles 2 Puzzle from Amazon for only £8.99.

(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 My First Puzzles - Review

I was an only child until the age of 10 and as a young child I really enjoyed my own company. I spent most of my time reading or doing puzzles and I think they gave me a great start in life, so I knew I wanted to introduce them to my own children at a young age.

Ravensburger have a range called My First Puzzles which are aimed at children aged 18 months+. There are lots of different themed "My First Puzzles" to choose from (including characters!) and 2 year old E received the Jolly Dinos and On The Farm puzzles. Dinosaurs and farmyard animals are two of E's loves so when they arrived she was dying to get them opened to try.

Each of the My First Puzzles have four different puzzles inside one box; 2 piece, 3 piece, 4 piece and 5 piece so your child can start with the easier one of slotting just two pieces together then progressing onto the more difficult ones.

E can get a bit frustrated when she can't do something by herself and tends to throw a bit of a tantrum. When we first tried these puzzles, the two piece ones were easy as pie to her but she needed a bit more help as we moved on. C, my 4 year old, could do every one of them perfectly so he was more than willing to help her on her way. We explained to her what to look for when matching pieces and she really listened and tried.

Now, E does need a little bit of help but she's picked it up so quickly and I love that she seems to enjoy puzzles as much as I do. She enjoys the brightly coloured pieces and the fact that all of the animals have names (Oink, Moo, Cluck and Baa in the On The Farm puzzle and Steggie, Terry, Trex and Tricia in the Jolly Dinos one). The pieces are completely smooth and a great size for little hands to hold.

The Ravensburger My First Puzzles retail at just £4.99 per puzzle and I would definitely recommend them as a beginners puzzle for little ones.

(We received these items 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.) 

 

Animals Jigsaw & Sticker Book

Every time I look for toys and games suitable for C's age, I always come across jigsaw puzzles. These were never something I'd bought C as I felt that he was maybe a bit too young and wouldn't really understand how to put them together.

Little Tiger Press sent him an Animal Jigsaw & Sticker book by Fhiona Galloway & Jonathan Litton which is brand new - only released on April 6th!

I opened out the jigsaw fully expecting to do most of it but C was really interested in why it was all in pieces. I started him off by finding two edge pieces and putting those together. He loves animals, recognises and can name the majority of them so all I had to do was ask him to find the piece with a certain animal on it, he'd bring it to me then I'd tell him where to put it.

He caught on very quickly and he really surprised me. He had so much fun telling me what all the animals were (especially the ones along the border of the puzzle) and he clapped when we had completed it. He also sat admiring it for a while! The more he's used it, the better he's getting at doing it himself. 

The sticker book I already knew would be a huge hit before I even handed it to C. He loves stickers and I honestly think he'd sit sticking stickers all day if he could.

Again, he loved telling me all of the animals and as he can't read himself yet, I had to tell him what animals he needed to stick on each page. I love that we can remove the stickers and re-use the book. He has thoroughly enjoyed both the jigsaw and the sticker book and I would definitely recommend the set.

The Animals Jigsaw & Sticker Book is recommended for children aged 3-5 but C at 2.5 years only needed slight help with them. You can purchase it from Little Tiger Press for only £6.99.

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