26.11.2014

This is yet another high quality Melissa and Doug product that I have purchased and they are fast becoming (if not already) a very firm household favourite of ours. I was only introduced to them recently and since then have amassed quite a collection of their toys, creative products such as bead sets and dress up's for my little ones and I have actually chosen their products over ELC ones since discovering them as I actually personally consider them to be of a higher quality.I love Melissa and Doug toys as they are primarily made from wood and often hand painted too and this chunky puzzle is brilliant for little hands.I have bought this one along with others from the range such as the safari and farm ones and have also bought some extras as stocking fillers for Christmas too. It is advertised as being suitable for 2 years plus but my baby daughter quite happily plays with this set alongside her brother although I do on occasion have to stop her trying to eat and chew the pieces!This puzzle has 7 pieces (Pterodactyl, Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Brontosaurus, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus and Parasaurolophus) and each piece is chunky and perfect for little hands. As they are chunky pieces as opposed to the thinner pieces you normally find in peg type puzzles, they also stand on their own and so are brilliant for pretend play too. My son and I have been playing with these as both a puzzle and animal set and we have been doing the animal sounds that go along with them where we can well roaring mostly for this set! Under each piece when you take it out of the board is the same picture to help your little one locate where to put the pieces back into the puzzle board. Both the pieces and board have been beautifully painted with lots of bright colours to grab your little ones attention. The pieces are solid wood as is the puzzle board piece and as I have gushed about already are completed to a really high quality. The board itself measures 30.5cm by 23cm by 1cm thick and the puzzle pieces stick out of the board a further 1cm each.I may sound like a bit of a fan of M&D products and to some extent I am as when I purchase these for my young son and baby daughter I know from past experience I will not be let down and so far I haven't. I can honestly not recommend Melissa & Doug products enough from their wooden toys to their dress up outfits. In fact M&D are now becoming very popular with family and friends too since they have seen some of the toys etc that we have from them and the extremely high quality of them. I think if you haven't discovered Melissa and Doug products already then you will be very pleasantly surprised when and if you get your first M&D piece and as I have said above I honestly can't recommend their toys etc enough.

26.2.2012

My son is 26 months. He has a couple of peg puzzles that he got when he was younger, but he doesn't play with them much. Earlier this week, he received a chunky jungle puzzle from Tesco from a neighbour and really enjoyed completing it, pointing out the different animals and telling us what noises they make etc., so I decided to buy him a few more puzzles. He usually loves things that go, so I chose the Melissa & Doug chunky vehicles puzzle. It arrived really quickly - I've ordered 4 things and this is the only one that has arrived so far (we have Amazon Prime, but only placed the order on Friday evening and it arrived first thing Saturday morning,

11.9.2014

I bought this for my son last Christmas, he was 18 months old at the time. He is now gone 2 years old.The puzzle is very good quality, it's very sturdy and chunky, made from wood. It's very bright and colourful, the animals stand out clearly from the background. I like that the background is a farm scene, instead of just plain brown wood like many other puzzles.The puzzle pieces are nice and chunky, making the easy to lift out and place into the puzzle. They don't have those little wooden handles that most puzzles have but that is a positive in my opinion as that's one less choking hazard.The pieces are also chunky enough to stand upright and use as animals figures to play with,

26.2.2017

I was a little apprehensive about the purchase as I'd seen quite a review for Melissa and Doug wooden puzzles that stated that they were of disappointing quality.However, I can confirm that the item I received was proper wood. The details were painted on (not a sticker as some reviewers had) and it did not tip sawdust everywhere when we opened the packing.My 18 month old loves it. The pieces are just the right size for her hand. The picture appears in the cut out of the main board, and it is easier for her to identify where each piece should go back, although she's not yet able to put them in correctly. The pieces are chunky enough to stand on edge, so she quite happily plays 'farm' with them,

30.11.2014

My son was 19 months when I bought this because he loves counting but I found that most toys/ books tv programmes only go up to the number 10. He loves number and puzzles and absolutely LOVES this puzzle. He very quickly worked out where the numbers go and fitted them with no problem. It is much larger than I expected and the numbers are chunky which is perfect for little fingers. They also feel very good quality. Liked it so much that I bought it for a friend's daughter's birthday and she was over the moon!My son just turned two and he can count to 20. Not saying that it's just down to the puzzle but it certainly helped. He also recognises the numbers as opposed to just being able to recite them,

3.1.2019

I am not a big fan of all Melissa and Doug toys (some of their jigsaws are just cheap ply with a paper picture stuck on but they really seem to plug the whole 'its wood so it must be great quality' story). But I do really love this wooden chunky range of puzzles. What I especially love is that, as well as being a great puzzle, the pieces can stand up and be used as stand alone animal toys. The pieces have a nice finish on all sides so make great little toys that my toddler loves and walks around the house with. We also have the farm animals one, which I prefer as for his age of just 18 months it's more of a talking point with all the farm animal names and noises than with the dinosaurs which all go rahhh!!!

24.4.2017

A good chunky puzzle which my son loves. Lovely bright colours and the peices are a great size for little hands. I like that all the legs aren't cut out individually as it's easier for my son who is 13 months to get into the slots without a leg or tail getting caught like some of his other jigsaws. I'm sure his skills will level up soon though :) The animals are also nice to play with by themselves, they're really cute and he likes to stand them up, bash them around and try to make the animal noises. Slight niggle is that the paint on the board scratches quite easily so it's got a few marks from heavy handed use whilst trying his hardest to get the peices in, but it's not too bad.

13.1.2011

I got my 21 month old daughter this puzzle for Christmas, and have been really pleased with it. The puzzle itself is handmade from wood, and consists of 8 different shapes of varying bright colours with the corresponding colour/shape on the puzzle board for the shape to slot into. My daughter started playing with this puzzle on Christmas Day and now, 3 weeks later she has more or less learnt all of the shapes (although she does get square and rectangle mixed up!). Great start! I specifically bought this puzzle to teach her shapes, so it has worked well so far. The only colour she recognises at the moment is green,

21.10.2011

This puzzle consists of a strong plywood board with painted cut out areas and then a set of painted wooden figures that sit in the cut outs.My daughter loves this toy in a number of ways because she- enjoys finishing the puzzle itself- enjoys making the animal noises- uses the pieces as stand alone toys- like just putting the animals in and out of a box- points to the animals when I name them ("Where is the ...?") or alternatively points to an animal and has me name it / make the noise.We also use this puzzle as a practice board for baby signing. "What is the sign for a ...?"I've now bought the wild animals version and she practices a Rod Hull style Emu whenever we talk about the Ostrich.

14.2.2016

My two year old son loves this. It's a lovely chunky puzzle that is just the right size for his little fingers. It was a great way to introduce him to jigsaws so he could understand what he was meant to do when he moved onto more traditional puzzles. As a puzzle it probably has a limited life, but the pieces themselves then come into their own as little dinosaur toys. They are nicely made and painted in bright colours, and the different dinosaurs are clearly recognisable. The fact they stand up on their own means they can be used as figures in games that encourage him to use his imagination. Two great little toys for the price of one!

21.4.2011

Bought this for my 18 month old son for Christmas as I was trying to develop a dinosaurs theme. It's a lovely looking jigsaw and as pointed out by some other reviewers its easy to get the pieces in place at the cutouts on the board are slightly larger than the actual jigsaw pieces. I have been suprised at how easily the edges of the pieces have been damaged, its looks rather worn and has really not had that much use. My son is far more interested in his traditional style Thomas the Tank jigsaws and unfortunately I think this might be the sort of thing that looks really appealing to adults but is less interesting to little ones!

15.2.2021

Wanted a puzzle for my 1yo. He is interested in baby puzzles with the little handle on each piece but is still too young to really understand what to do with them. Read in the reviews that the dinosaurs doubled up as figures to play with, so decided to try it thinking we might get more play out of them. Has been a big hit! He likes to pick up the different dinosaurs, roar and throw them down again; so far they have been fine to be bashed around and have been in his mouth but no signs of paint coming off so no worries there either. Would definitely recommend, I think he will get lots of play out of these!

27.12.2010

I bought this for my 11 month old for Christmas, she loves it. The pieces are chunky and bright and the pictures from each picture are also printed on the board making it easy to match and meaning that the board always shows a complete picture. My little girl takes each piece out and examines it before giving it to a nearby adult so they can be impressed too! She has only managed to fit one piece back and I think that was a fluke! I imagine that when she has the jigsaw sussed it will still be played with as an imaginative play set. The animals are lovely and I will be buying more from this range.

4.2.2012

As a primary school teacher I want to make sure my children learn the basics before they start school. This jigsaw is perfect for teaching your child the names of the shapes. I say to my son, 'find me the oval', 'find me the rectangle' and so forth. We have only done this jigsaw about 5 times and already he has learned the names of these shapes. The shapes themselves are chunky wooden pieces and the bright colours make this jigsaw more interesting to complete. I really like it and have purchased the numbers, colours and alphabet jigsaws from the same range. They are all fab!

9.2.2020

Lovely chunky puzzle for little hands.Range of vibrant safari animals and opportunities to learn many different words and colours.They are chunky enough that they can stand on end and use in interactive play.We're big fans of these (this was our 3rd in the collection) and much prefer them to the peg style jigsaws. It's easier for child to rotate the puzzle piece into the correct slot at the right orientation when they arent restricted with one tiny handle!Our girls enjoyed these from very young, but boy only got into them as a late toddler.

Melissa & Doug Farm Chunky Puzzle - Reviews

Info

Analysis