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View Full Version : Favorite Puzzles for a 2.5 year old



10-23-2009, 12:05 PM
DD1 just started showing a strong interest in puzzles. She really loves the Djeco geant puzzle set I bought her from Lakeshore (6 animals ranging in size from 4 pieces to 9 pieces). She'll take them apart and do them over and over, but won't attempt her brothers 24 piece M & D space set yet. She just gets mad at me for getting it out and won't start. Any recommended puzzles for beginners that your kids really loved? I'm looking on Moolka and drooling over the Djeco and Chelona puzzles. Are these worth the $ or should I stick with M&D for this age.

I'm also looking at peg puzzles for my littlest one. Any recommendations? I really like the simplicity of this shapes puzzle from Kid O.

http://moolka.com/jzv/prod/23069/Kid+O/Toys/Puzzles/Peg+Puzzles/Recognizing+Shapes+Peg+Puzzle?p=YzE9Mjk4Jm0xMj03Nj g=

Thank you,

Christine W
mom to J (4), K (2) and S (6 months)

vonfirmath
10-23-2009, 12:42 PM
Peg puzzles: Find puzzles with larger pegs and few "sharp" corners -- the shape puzzles are nice because many of the pieces fit in a location in more than one way. The criticial skill to learn here for kids is turning the piece to make it fit. But they don't have the fine motor skill to turn it "just a little" so the puzzle needs to be forgiving!

A problem I found with a lot of peg puzzles is that the "round" pieces had just enough bumps, etc. that it was very difficult to figure out how they went into the space. (his favorite peg puzzle was the Melissa & Doug one with 8 different shapes and pictures underneath)

My son is just coming out of the Peg Puzzle, having mastered them completely. I wouldn't even attempt 24 pieces with him after seeing how he struggles with the 12-piece Melissa & Doug puzzles. So we'll keep plodding aloong on the 12-piece puzzles to teach him how to use "tab and hole" type puzzles. And use puzzles like CHelona's airplane tray puzzle to give him something "easy" to balance the difficulty.

(those Melissa & Doug 12-piece puzzles in a box are a GREAT deal though. Amazon.com has them $10 for 4 puzzles. I got them at Tuesday morning for $7)

ett
10-23-2009, 04:57 PM
I wouldn't spend a lot of money on peg puzzles. You can get them for pretty cheap at Marshall/TJ Maxx/Tuesday Morning and they got fairly limited play in our household. Melissa and Doug has a puzzle like the one you linked on Moolka.

DS2 really liked these 9 piece Mudpuppy puzzles.
http://www.galison.com/Two-Sided-Puzzles-C83.aspx

vonfirmath
10-23-2009, 05:19 PM
We found 3 peg puzzles to be ideal for 1 child. I didn't want to clean up more than that and as you added more, it became more and more difficult for him to find the puzzle he wanted without making a huge mess. (ie dumping every puzzle out) (we had 7. Two never came out of the plastic wrap as I realized this problem)

lpl47
10-27-2009, 04:15 PM
My daughter got into puzzles around that age, too. She really liked the Melissa and Doug Scramble Puzzles - they are 9 pieces and have a 3-D aspect. Then she got into the puzzles in a box and the Animal Cube Puzzle. It took a while before she could do the larger floor puzzles though.

kristac
10-27-2009, 05:46 PM
I'm pondering these Galt puzzles after seeing them at a friend's house. I like that the animals were animal shaped. Probably will wait until DS is 3 to try them though.

http://www.amazon.com/Galt-Giant-36-Floor-Puzzle/dp/B00009W9K1/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1256679831&sr=1-3

brittone2
10-27-2009, 08:51 PM
DD will be 3 in December and is way more into puzzles than DS was at her age. She likes the 24ish piece Melissa and Doug puzzles that are in a frame. They are getting a bit too easy (were perfect a few months ago though) but she's moving toward the 48 piece ones that are similar.

We also have some 24-25ish piece M&D floor puzzles that she likes.

I'm not sure DS would have been able to do either of those at the same age though.