Customer Reviews

Melissa & Doug Dinosaur Chunky Puzzle

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is from all external appearances a great little puzzle. It's certainly a great concept for a 'first' puzzle, with it's bright fun aesthetically-appealing dinosaurs and easy-match puzzle board. It is certainly educational, and when I bought it I felt pretty good about my kids playing with it.

We own the older style - painted 'wooden' pieces. When I think wooden, I think solid wood, which is what these pieces appear to be. They have a nice heavy feel to them, and when thoroughly coated in paint, considering the false advertising, you'd really have no reason to expect otherwise.

Enter time and a little rough tossing around of the puzzle pieces, and as the paint begins to chip away - the dinosaur puzzle was the worst of the three chunky puzzles we own in terms of rapid paint loss. As the paint wears away, it becomes apparent that these puzzle pieces are nothing but pressed paper-like sawdust material. When revealed beneath the chipped-off paint, this dry, dusty substance easily flakes off where it can get into little mouths and become part of the general household dust.

Okay, so Melissa and Doug fudged a little on their description, which was prominently displayed on the packaging for our puzzle. What might have been wood once upon a time is now thinly pressed layers of sawdust and resin, but it was wood in a previous life, and that still counts, right? It's intentionally deceptive marketing, but does any of that really matter in the practical sense?

I think it does.

Medium density fiberboard (MDF) is nasty stuff. Containing a higher resin-to-wood ration than any other pressed wood product, MDF emits VOCs for at least a few months after manufacture and emits urea formaldehyde for the duration of its life. I doubt there have been any studies on using pressed wood for a child's toy that may be mouthed and is nonetheless handled frequently and in close proximity to their faces during day-to-day play. There have been studies suggesting urea formaldehyde is a suspected carcinogen; others show that incidences of leukemia and lymphoma increase through prolonged exposure of VOCs in the indoor environment.

Bottom line, most MDF is not something you want in your home in any form, and it's probably not the best thing to make a child's toy out of. There are ways to manufacture MDF which use resins that do not contain formaldehyde which are supposed to be environmentally friendly. I contacted Melissa and Doug to find out if they use these formaldehyde-free resins in their MDF. They've got really friendly customer service, but no one available could provide me with that information. I was told they'd get back to me. I'm still waiting.

In the meantime, I think I'll just stick with the old adage: You get what you pay for.

I think the important part is knowing what you're getting when you decide to purchase it and not being led falsely into believing you're paying for superior materials when you're really just buying a few adorable cubes or formaldehyde-imbued garbage coated thickly in conveniently concealing paint. Had this been disclosed in the description, I'd have no gripe with this puzzle. I also would not have purchased it to begin with.

There are solid wood (and somewhat safer plywood) puzzles out there - though not ones with dinosaurs that I've been able to find, which is a shame, because I no longer want my kids playing with this puzzle.

A higher quality puzzle costs anywhere from 2 to 3 times as much as a Melissa and Doug 'wooden' puzzle (sometimes more), but most have the added bonus of not being made in China; a small detail of Melissa and Doug's toys that has always sent a red flag of sorts up for me.

This product is ok as long as your kid is extremely gentle with toys. My son isn't, and the puzzle reflects that - lots of the edges/paint have chipped off. Good for calm children!

When my daughter was a baby, we bought her the jungle animals puzzle and loved, loved it. They were painted all the way around and so smooth. These, however, have the color on the front only and have rough, chipboard-like sides exposed. I was sad, I have to admit. But, it's still cute.

Warning! This puzzle does not fit in standard puzzle racks! Also small children who like to put things in their mouths will make short work of the edges and the pictures will start to wear off. Two years and up.

I was very dissapointed in this puzzle!! The quality is NOT "good" as in the description, but very POOR!! My one year old son received it yesterday as a birthday gift and my inital excitement over this very colorful and pretty seeming puzzle turned into mere dissapointment: in a matter of only 5 minutes a piece of the ply wood (the puzzle is made of) came off one of the pieces! My son could have swallowed it, if I would have not noticed. The puzzle is definately chunky and heavy, however it is deceiving as on a second look you will see that the wood is not very durable. Today, not even 24 hours later, the dinosaur sticker on each piece are coming off and it will be just a matter of days -if at all- until this puzzle is completely unusable. Just found half of the sticker in my sons mouth... I can't even imagine a, even more active 2 year old using the puzzle, as this is the age group the puzzle is actually advertised for. Frankly the value is a poor one too no matter as what a "good deal" it is advertised at. 10 bucks is too much in my opinion if the puzzle does not even last 24 hours. I really expected something else!
Very dissapointing for a on the first look nice seeming, "hand crafted" puzzle.

I was so excited to get this puzzle for my little ones. Unfortunately, the item description is misleading. The puzzle looks nice (before the kids get to it) and the chunky pieces were a perfect size! However, this puzzle is NOT hand painted. The puzzle pieces are just faced with a sticker, that easily comes off (in pieces!). That is not the quality I was expecting, especially from Melissa and Doug. I've had the puzzle for 2 months now, and 2 or 3 of the pieces have the stickers mostly peeled off.

The beautiful thing about the Melissa & Doug puzzles is that they double as play blocks. We bought this for a friend's one year old boy and he loves playing with the dinosaurs and making ROAR noises for them.

The only down side is that the paint does chip on the corners. It says non-toxic on the package so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

My 21 month old loves and has loved these melissa and doug chunky puzzles for some time they are very durable.

The puzzle was very nice and sturdy; however, the puzzle was a little to easy for my 2 year old grandson.

I purchased this puzzle to go with the stuffed dinosaur i purchased for my nephew for his birthday. This is the perfect beginner puzzle. The pieces are simple enough for a young child starting puzzles and the bright colors are great to keep his/her interest. It made like all the previous Melissa and Doug puzzles i have purchased for my own children, very sturdy. It will last and i can't wait to give it to him.