Winnie the Pooh

On July 14, 2017July 14, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

A puzzle from Bogota, Columbia. 😮 I’m telling you, you never know what interesting things you can find at thrift stores! My mom is a black belt thrift store explorer! 🛒

This is the first foam puzzle for kids that I’ve seen, and it’s quite large at 16.5 x 27 inches (68 x 42 cm). The pieces feel soft in your hands and they can also be cleaned easily, which is nice for a puzzle made for young children. There is no age range shown on the box, but this is a nice puzzle for younger children – non toxic, easy to handle, and large pieces.

The puzzle of Pooh Bear himself is adorable, and the little additional items around him are fun as well, most of them are only 2 pieces. Excellent thrift store find, and I can’t wait to give it to my grandson, he’s going to love this one!

Winnie the Pooh was one of my favorites as a child, we had a soundtrack to Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree that mom used to play for us in the car. The voice of Sterling Holloway as Pooh, all the silly songs, the “wise” owl and poor nervous Piglet – I loved it! Pooh’s sweet, naive face and the jars of “hunny” in this puzzle make me smile. Silly old bear. Ah, nostalgia!

Polar Bear Plunge

On July 11, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Another fun kid’s puzzle, and the first I’ve done from Sunsout. I thought it was very good quality! With the temperatures around here lately it was nice to think about a brisk plunge into chilly water to escape this oppressive heat. 🙂

The pieces were extremely sturdy and a good size for kids and they fit together very well. For some reason it looks like the puzzle didn’t lay flat in the picture, but it did. I’m not a photographer, I just do the best I can. The image reproduction was nice and crisp, with beautiful colors. The box is very large for only a 63 piece puzzle, though it’s been my experience that most Sunsout boxes are larger than the norm. All around a very nice kid’s puzzle!

I’m enjoying assembling all these thrift store kid’s puzzles. It’s fun to put one together in only a few minutes, and I’m enjoying checking out the quality of so many different brands. I think all kids should do jigsaw puzzles, it’s a great activity for your brain! Mom finds so many amazing puzzles at the thrift stores, it’s a cost-effective way of trying out different brands – or for keeping up with the demands of a child who loves puzzles!

Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs

On July 4, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Cute puzzle – thrift store purchase – and all of the pieces were there. That’s always a plus. 🙂

I haven’t really given any “bad” reviews on kids puzzles before that I can remember, but this one wasn’t great. As you can see the completed puzzle doesn’t lie flat and the pieces were extremely thin. I haven’t really gotten any Mega Puzzles that have been this lacking before, and I’m hoping this was a fluke. I haven’t done any adult puzzles from this company so I don’t have much to compare it to.

Puzzles don’t always have to be cream of the crop quality-wise (I’d love it if they were though 😉 ). I was having a bad day and resting in bed – and even though the quality is less than optimal it was an enjoyable distraction for a few minutes. The image is cute and any kid who is a fan of the Ice Age movies will enjoy this puzzle.

Day at the Zoo

On July 1, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This kid’s puzzle from Dowdle was excellent quality. I enjoy Dowdle’s artwork and this was the first kid’s puzzle of his that I’ve done.

The pieces were thick and sturdy, which is super important in a kid’s puzzle, they’re not always gentle. There were a nice variety of piece shapes and the pieces fit together very well. I love it when a company puts effort and quality in a puzzle for kids, and from this puzzle I would say Dowdle definitely does!

There’s lots of discover when you’re assembling this puzzle, the monkeys are up to their usual monkey business, the penguins are roaming around with the patrons, and the bears are trying to feed cotton candy to the big cats. 😮 This is a great puzzle for kids and thankfully all the pieces were here so I can give this one to my grandson for him to enjoy.

Mom’s gone a bit crazy with the kid’s puzzles lately since she was helping my grandson with puzzles on “puzzle assembly day”. She saw how good he was at assembling puzzles and now she’s determined to find him as many as she can. There will probably be a few more kid’s puzzles than usual on the blog, there’s so many more to assemble every time she comes home from the thrift store! 😁

Disney Panorama of Friends

On June 25, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Another cool thrift store find, a new company to try out, and a super fun image for Disney fans. Three for the price of one!

When we assembled the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle last week I wanted to bring a kid’s puzzle or two for children to work on if they were bored. Turns out it was a great idea, because adults and children alike were working on the puzzles – maybe I inspired someone! This puzzle was the one everyone was helping with; the bright colors, familiar characters, and excellent quality made it the favorite of the day. (Besides the big kahuna of course) 😉

I was impressed with the quality of this puzzle. The pieces were extremely sturdy and fit together well, the image reproduction was bright without being over the top, and the finished puzzle lies flat and is seamless. Excellent quality for a children’s puzzle!

If you read this blog regularly you know I don’t really talk about the boxes puzzles come in unless they were awful or really cool. The box this puzzle came in was not good at all. It was slightly curved which isn’t a problem, but was made of thin cardboard and the attached top had 2 places where it was to be opened. Not the best idea for a kids puzzle if you ask me, the one we bought was ripped on the top. I prefer a box that has a separate bottom and a top so that you don’t have to damage the box to open it and it makes it a little more difficult to lose a piece. The box wasn’t ideal for a children’s puzzle, and especially one that was such good quality – the puzzle will last, but what about the box?

Box issues aside, this was an excellent puzzle. I looked on their website and Cardinal Games has a good catalog of children’s puzzles and even some adult puzzles in 300, 500, and 1000 pieces. I’m interested to see what the quality of the adult puzzles is like, perhaps my black belt thrift store shopper will be able to find one for us to try. 😎🛒