It’s hard to see in this picture, but this puzzle is missing a piece. Can you spot where it is?
When I started assembling each one from this big box of kids puzzles, every one I grabbed was complete, and I had high hopes that every one would be all there. Unfortunately my wish wasn’t granted and I had to send three of them to the recycling bin, including this one.
I assembled this puzzle with the educational side up, I usually do. I find them much more interesting and I love seeing what there is to learn about the subject of the puzzle.
I enjoyed the explanation of how a steam engine works, and it was interesting to see how trains have changed over the years. Just because this puzzle is only 24 pieces and geared towards children doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it or even learn something from it.
I really need to get my butt out of the house and get to the thrift store. Who knows what other wonderful treasures are waiting there for me to find?
This is a “Family Puzzle”, it has 3 different sizes of pieces so that the entire family can help assemble it. To be honest I’ve never assembled one with the family, I’ve always done them either alone or with mom. I’m such a puzzle fanatic that I enjoy puzzles for all ages, and a family puzzle has all of them in one box – perfect!
Majestic Puzzles is a new brand for me, and I was impressed with the quality. The pieces were thick and fit together very well. It’s randomly cut so there are a nice variety of shapes and it made for an interesting and challenging assembly. The image reproduction is beautiful with clean lines and bright colors and no blurring or fuzziness. All in all it’s a great quality puzzle.
I sorted the pieces by shape and then assembled it the same way, starting with the largest pieces.
It’s odd to have all the kids pieces around the edge. Most of the family puzzles I’ve worked have them all on one side. If you truly want the family to work together it seems more ideal to have big pieces on the left (for example), medium pieces in the middle and smallest pieces on the right. If the whole family tried to work on this one it would be difficult for those working on the smaller pieces to connect them to anything until the kids had finished the outside.
I sorted by size, but obviously I didn’t get all the pieces in their correct piles, there are a few holes. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference between a smaller medium sized piece and a larger small piece. (I hope that made sense) 😉
I enjoyed this puzzle much more than I anticipated, the image was challenging and beautiful – a lovely combination. Jungle scenes aren’t usually images I would choose, but the different piece sizes made it more interesting and the beautiful reproduction and great fit made it quite fun. If you come across a family puzzle by Majestic I would definitely recommend giving it a try.
This is one of the last few kids puzzles from the box of 20, and one of the last complete ones too. I found this box at one of our local thrift stores while mom and I were shopping many, many months ago and I’ve been parsing them out here and there.
I find the educational side more entertaining than the picturesque side, I love the facts and lists they have. On the back of this puzzle were all the species pictured above and a map of Africa showing where they are found
I’m a bit sad these puzzles are coming to an end; I’ve enjoyed assembling them all, and learning and re-learning all sorts of things. I may have to get myself back to the thrift stores and find out what other fun puzzles I can get my hands on!
General Store by Michael Matherly – FX Schmid – 300 pieces
I found this at mom’s house while going through her things. I liked the artwork very much, and at 300 pieces knew it wouldn’t take long to assemble. How bummed was I when I figured out there were missing pieces? Not terribly, but still it was disappointing.
FX Schmid has excellent quality; thick pieces, nice fit, and gorgeous image reproduction. We only find this brand at the thrift stores, so I’m not sure if they’re even still being produced. This particular puzzle seemed quite old, though the box was still in pretty good shape.
I enjoyed this assembly very much, but I was a little upset that the adorable dog on the front porch was missing! 😥
Beaches of South Walton – Blue Crab Designs – 1000 pieces
Interesting puzzle from a company I’ve never heard of before. I couldn’t find anything online about them either; they may not be in business still, I’m not sure.
Unfortunately it had a terribly mushy fit, but otherwise I found the quality of the pieces quite good. They were thick and had a good hand feel. The image seemed a little blurry, but I believe that was the nature of the artwork.
Apparently Bow Wow Meow is a pet supply store in South Walton; I just loved the name, very cute. 😉
The map portion of this puzzle was one of the most fun sections to assemble, although surprisingly I found the green section quite entertaining as well.
Overall the mushy fit was disappointing and did not make for a great first impression. I had high hopes for this puzzle because the chipboard used was very good, but the fit of the pieces made for a sometimes frustrating assembly.
My Jigsaw Journal 