Customer Reviews

Melissa & Doug On the Go (Vehicles) Jigsaw (12 pc)

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

 

 

Another great product from Melissa and Doug. This, and the similar Melissa & Doug Construction Wooden Chunky Puzzle, were my 21-month-old son's first jigsaw puzzles, and he loved them on sight! Because these puzzles are made of thick, sturdy wood, there are some not-completely-smooth edges. No biggie -- I gave them a little buffing with very fine sandpaper and they were fine.

He worked with the puzzle, with a little help from Mom & Dad, until he had literally memorized it and could put it together lightning-fast. Now, at 24 months, he enjoys putting his puzzles together wood-side-up, too, so we're really getting our money's worth with this thing.

One thing to note is that, after much love and enjoyment, the paper is starting to wear at the edges. And my son actually managed to tear some of it off one of the puzzles in a moment of toddler curiosity. However, contact cement pasted the paper back on and all is well again.

The recommended age is 3+, but I think kids much younger than that can enjoy starting to learn how to work jigsaw puzzles. The look of pride when they figure out how to put them together is priceless!

We just bought this for our son who is almost 2.5 years old. He likes putting the pieces together, but the quality is very poor. Almost as soon as we took the plastic wrap off the paper (which is what the picture is printed on) started to peel away from the wood pieces without any encouragement from him. By the time he had finished playing we had probably put white glue on about half of the pieces to keep the paper from peeling off entirely.

The first time my son used this puzzle, he was having trouble taking the pieces apart. He asked for my help, but even I couldn't take the puzzle pieces apart without tearing the applied paper picture. That said, my son loves the illustration, and frequently works on this puzzle. Much of the image has torn away in the last couple of months, and wood has splintered on the underside. Pretty flimsy stuff.

These are great wood puzzles. To make them a little more user friendly, a light sanding around the edge helped the pieces flow into one another more seamlessly. Great quality however, and the best test is the kid test....it passed!

For a child just learning to fit jigsaw pieces together, this puzzle is barely acceptable. They designed the puzzle to have a captivating image, the piece sizes are good, the interlocks are okay but not great (several times my child puts two pieces together successfully that are not meant to go together -- as a "first jigsaw puzzle" they should have been more careful to make the various interlocks more unique.)

The reason I really give it a lower rating is that they clearly never thought to examine how the puzzle's "cuts" interact with the image. In some places, the cut separates (nicely) the red car in two, so a child can use the colors on the pieces as a guide to how they match up. But that's not the case for so many of the cuts of the puzzle! Too many cuts just happen to fall between two different colored areas, or a cut will just barely "skim" one color or another (enough for the parent to notice, but not the child). So the result is unnecessary frustration, and depending on the nature of your child, it could mean a LOT of frustration. Didn't have to be. Now, I normally wouldn't make this argument for a jigsaw puzzle... but when you're designing an image intended for a first-learning jigsaw puzzle, it is disappointing that the designers made such errors. They never thought to create a prototype, look at where the cuts would be placed, and say to themselves "this cut here isn't good, let's re-draw this part of the image over so it's clearer to the child what's going on..."

After several months of play, I've seen no physical / manufacturing problems; a child takes it apart by literally trying to rip it, or throw it, and the pieces so far have withstood that twisting & pounding. The images have stayed on the pieces. Still, I'd try not to get it wet.

Overall, I'm actually disappointed. But, given what's out there, I think this is probably still about as good a "first true jigsaw puzzle" as one might expect to find.

We started puzzles when my son was about 1 and 1/2 and we enjoy the Melissa & Doug ones because for smaller hands they are definitely much easier to handle, plus they are pleasing to the eye. For parents, this puzzle is a joy to put away because of the wooden backing that the puzzle fits into and they will appreciate the quality and durability of it. My son is 2 now and this puzzle was cake for him so I think it is time to move on to their 24 piece ones.

My son is 2 and he love it, I amazed how fast he doing it. This kind of puzzle is just perfect for his age

Here is the timeline of this product:
After first two plays, little wood pieces started chipping off;
In about two weeks, the pictures started peeling off;
In about one month, layered wood started falling apart.

Will I still buy puzzles from this company? Maybe, no one else selling small puzzle set for toddlers. What choice do I have? But I do pray to God that somebody will be making a better product soon and drive Melissa & Doug out of business.

This puzzle, like all Melissa and Doug products, is very well made, safe and has a good design that is not too frustrating for little kids to solve. My little guy took about half an hour to do it the first time, but now really enjoys racing through it. Once he gets good at a M&D puzzle, we mix up several puzzles to make it more challenging.

You won't go wrong with any M&D puzzle, but be sure and check the number of pieces. Kids should start with a 12 piece puzzle, but it is too easy for kids with some puzzle experience, while the 24 and 48 piece puzzles provide a bit more of a challenge.

This is the first "real" puzzle my grandson has tried. He quickly figured out how to do it all by himself!! Now he does it over and over. Absolutely loves it.