Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)My now 17m old son has been playing with this little puzzle for about a month now. We noticed that he had been getting into these type of chunky knob puzzles at our local library. I went searching for chunky knob puzzles that were interesting and safe for my little super-teether to play with. I specifically wanted an early learner's puzzle: Puzzles with a few large puzzle pieces, large jumbo knobs, bright colors, with the pictures underneath to guide where and how the puzzle piece should be oriented and placed.
As background, I originally thought I'd be buying the leading brand's puzzles (they're very popular and cute) but the reviews I found pointed out that the pieces themselves tend to be made of MDF (something like sawdust and glue) and not really the "wood" they claimed to be. This concerned me because my son attempts to eat-dissolve everything (teething). I went to an actual retail store to check it out myself, and I wasn't impressed with what I saw in the way of this well known brand (honestly, I know it's popular and I totally wanted to buy it, it's just the teething...)
The Puzzle: So I started looking around and ended up finding this puzzle by Small World Toys (the packaging indicates that it is under the "Ryan's Room" label which I believe is a line of toys under Small World Toys). The puzzle itself is triangular, 9.5" on each side, and has a very polished and smooth, sanded face - I'm surprised at how smooth it seems. I choose this particular puzzle because I wanted a puzzle with a vehicles theme and I liked the primary colors color palette. I have to say that the colors are gorgeous, the reds, blues and yellows are so vibrant. As a note, the packaging indicates that this puzzle is considered what the company calls a Level 1 for "Awareness" (ie. The child is developing his/her awareness of this type of problem solving) . The manufacturer's recommended age is 1-2 years, which I believe is going to be very accurate for us. They have a total of four levels of puzzles, and this is the first level.
Puzzle Pieces: The packaging doesn't say what the puzzle pieces are made from, and I couldn't find it on their website, but based on my experience with the Educo large knob puzzles, the puzzle pieces here look very similar, so I'd say it's something like a high quality birch plywood. They are certainly not any high percentage of MDF. The pictures seem to be printed on in some way, they are not stickers. It has three large puzzle pieces which are: yellow car, 3.75" x 2.5"; multi colored train, 3"x3.25"; and red plane, 4"x3.5". Adding to our fun factor, the puzzle pieces resemble other toys that he has: The car looks like the medium-sized Viking cars (loved), the plane looks like the medium-sized Viking planes (highly loved), and the train looks like the Tolo toys Train (loves to try to destroy...). (On a totally separate note, Viking and Tolo toys are totally great, cute and indestructible....)
My son is the usual amount of toddler rough on things, but not super-rough. These pieces are still in good shape. I'll update if we experience any issue with them, at this point I would say that they are durable.
Knob ends are large: The large wooden knob ends end in a round bulb that is almost the size of a nickle. They extend 1-1/8" above the height of the puzzle piece, quite a bit more than the height of a quarter. I'm definitely happy with the peg size, they ended up larger than I expected, much larger than my local library has for their puzzles.
Made in: China, for those who are interested.
I have to say that of the three jumbo knob puzzles I've purchased so far (also reviewed), that I like this one the best, due to the primary colors and the fact that the pictures also resemble some toys that he has already. It's hard to tell which my son recommends, he's a very enthusiastic young toddler, let's just say they all get played with daily... I highly recommend this puzzle.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Small World Toys Puzzibilities Level 1 ( Vehicles Triangle) 6
Discover different ways to travel with this puzzle. Large knobs help little hands develop motor skills. Bright, contrasting colors stimulate visual differentiation. Limited pieces encourage success and builds confidence. Familiar objects capture interest and encourage speech.
Click here for more information about Small World Toys Puzzibilities Level 1 ( Vehicles Triangle) 6
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