Doc McStuffins

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Doc McStuffins – Cardinal – 135 pieces

This puzzle was lots of fun! Mom and I assembled it together and we both found it very interesting. There are 3 puzzles in one box, 3 different sizes of pieces; you can assemble them one at a time, or do them all and make a panoramic puzzle.

The piece counts are 24, 48, and 63 pieces. They were a good thickness, sturdy, and fit together nicely. It’s a shame there was a piece missing because this was a very nice puzzle; Cardinal does a good job with kid’s puzzles in my opinion.

I liked the irregular border on these puzzles and that the different piece sizes make it an excellent puzzle to work on with someone else. If you’ve got a child who likes Doc McStuffins, I would definitely recommend this puzzle. 🙂

Scooby Doo

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Scooby-Doo! – Pressman Toys – 24 pieces

This was a bright and easy puzzle by Pressman Toys. The pieces are thick and extremely sturdy and you can see that they fit together very well. I’ve done several puzzles by Pressman Toys lately and am impressed by the quality of their puzzles for children.

There’s not much you can say about a puzzle with only 24 pieces – but I’ll do my best. If you really look at every piece, there’s something easy to find that will help you locate the adjacent piece. This is essential in a puzzle for very young children, and helps them gain confidence in their puzzling abilities. This is a great puzzle for younger kids and I’m happy it’s going to end up where children can enjoy it.

We’ve recently added a school for children with developmental disabilities to the places we donate our puzzles. So the adult puzzles are being donated to the local senior center, and the kids puzzles to the school. If it isn’t something we’re absolutely in love with and will definitely do again, it goes out the door.

We have too many puzzles yet to do, and too little space to be hoarding them all. It makes me happy to think that we’ve brightened someone else’s day with the gift of a puzzle – and don’t we all need a little happiness?

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book One

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book One by Jeff Kinney – Pressman Toys – 200 pieces

This was a challenging 200 piece puzzle; the line drawings along with the black and white palette made it pretty difficult. I enjoyed the challenge, but had to check the box lid more often than I normally do.

The quality of this puzzle was good, the pieces were thick and sturdy and fit together well. The only issue I had was that the finished puzzle didn’t lie flat. You can see in the picture above that the tabs seem to stick up. I’m not sure what the cause of that might be, but it was odd. We found two of these Wimpy Kid puzzles at the thrift store, so I’m curious to see if the second puzzle has this same issue. I’ve been impressed with the other puzzles by Pressman Toys that I’ve assembled, so I’m interested to see if I find this problem with other puzzles they’ve produced.

I thought this would be a quick assembly being only 200 pieces, but I had to work at it a bit more than I assumed I would have to. That’s not a bad thing, I enjoy being challenged and I’m always trying to exercise my brain to keep sharp. It doesn’t always work, but I keep on trying. 😉

 

Prehistoric Cave

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Prehistoric Cave by Michael Digiorgio – Great American Puzzle Factory – 100 pieces

**This is a guest review – Stacey’s daughter here**

Hurricane Irma has us holed up in the house, waiting impatiently for her to pass through. While the men have spent the time watching movies, the ladies have been working on different puzzles. While my mother and grandmother are working on a 2000 piece puzzle, I asked for a smaller one to complete. Out of the two 100 pieces that she currently had, I chose this one for the colors and subject. Who doesn’t like dinosaurs?

This puzzle was enjoyable and only took around 30 minutes to complete. The pieces were sturdy, well constructed and fit together well. With it being a circular puzzle, there are random cuts throughout which kept me guessing whether I needed one or two pieces in certain areas.  The only downside I could see was that they were very glossy, which required you to assemble the puzzle at a slight angle to be able to really see the images on the pieces. The colors were both bright and muted; the dinosaurs themselves were very vivid, while the scenery was calm and cooling. I would most definitely purchase this brand again!

Dinosaurs

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Dinosaurs – International Playthings – 50 pieces

Very nice quality puzzle from International Playthings. Unfortunately it was missing a piece; I was a little bummed out because the quality was really quite good and I was hoping to pass this one on. Those are the chances we take buying used. 🙂

I’d love to find more of these puzzles, they’re excellent quality children’s puzzles with very nice image reproduction. I’ll set my thrift store guru on the task, I’m sure she won’t disappoint! On your mark, get set………shop!! 🛒🛒