Customer Reviews

Melissa & Doug See-Inside Alphabet Peg Puzzle

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

We like Melissa and Doug puzzles, but this one is a little different. The alphabet pieces are easy to maneouvre, like their other puzzles, but the ideas that they chose to represent each letter are sometimes weird/confusing.

A is for apple, B is for basket, C for carrot, D for duck, E for egg (why is the egg blue? My kid thought it was a balloon), F has a picture of a bird, implying 'feather'. Too off-track for my 2 year old.
Other unusual ones: I is for insect. J is for jumprope, Q is for Quail. T for tie, V for vine, Y for yarn.

Why didn't they choose items that weren't so 'obtuse', like F is for foot, I is for ice cream, Q is for quilt, or 'quack' (duck)T is for toes, V is for vaccuum, Y is for yam/yogurt/yellow...why didn't they hire me? ;)

By the time my kid knows these words himself, he will be too old for the manipulative side of the puzzle.

So, you have to be ready to do the puzzle with your young child, if you are practicing words.

Let me start out by saying, I LOVE Melissa and Doug products. If you read my other reviews, you'll see that I LOVE their Chunky Puzzles.

But I DO NOT RECOMMEND this one at all!

1. This is not a good Chunky puzzle. It is much more flimsy and the stickers peel off the pieces.

2. The pieces are NOT shaped like the letter. So more than one letter will fit in more than one spot... Like the O, G, and C will all fit in the same spots.

3. The pictures used to describe the letter are ODD choices... The first time I did the puzzle with my son, it took me a few seconds to figure out what the pieces were supposed to be.

4. These pieces are a lot smaller than most of the Melissa and Doug puzzle pieces.

I was very disappointed with this puzzle and bought the other Melissa and Doug alphabet puzzle to replace this one!

I bought this for my 2 year old who has done other similar puzzles, but this one was almost impossible because the letters are not cut out in the correct shape (more like a cicle/square). So, this is way too difficult for her to do. I put it into storage until she is older. I would not buy this alphabet puzzle, but one that has the letters actually cut out and matching the background.

I purchased this as a Christmas gift for my son (17 mos at the time) and thought maybe it would be a little difficult for him at that time but we gave it a whirl. By the end of January he knew all of the letters and their respective places. We also reinforced "B is for Basket" "H is for House" etc. and he really understands the objects underneath. Now, less than 2 months after starting this, he is starting to show me letters in all the different places we find them, his Car's cup said "DOC HUDSON" and he could tell me where each letter was, along with his Elmo slippers that said Elmo. This puzzle teaches fine motor skills (the pieces aren't the easiest for little ones) and is a lot of fun to learn the letters of the alphabet, I can't speak highly enough of this puzzle.

This puzzle is a little beyond where my daughter is right now with her puzzle skills; but it's super cute and will grow with her for a while! The one thing that threw me is the way it came packaged. The paper insert made it look as if the "X" wasn't made correctly. Like it was missing a layer. I returned the first one I got because of it. When the 2nd one came it was the same so I opened it and realized it was just the packaging so it could show what the X looks like underneath. It is attached so the peg of the X comes up through the piece of packaging. I felt silly when I realized that!

I have an almost 3 year old non-verbal son with autism who loves puzzles. Aside from the autism he also has severe feeding issues. I purchased this puzzle for the sheer fact that he loves puzzles and can pretty much put any puzzle together the first try without mistakes, even ones that I have to really focus on where the piece goes. We recently decided to use this alphabet puzzle to help him eat. Before he was only eating crackers and french fries and refused to allow us to get a spoon anywhere near him. After using this puzzle as bite for bite reinforcement, he is now eating up to 10 different foods. He takes a bite, he gets a puzzle piece. We decided to use an alphabet puzzle because we have 26 pieces to get him to take a bite, instead of the usual 8-10. With each bite we say the name of the letter and the what the picture inside is. Even though the letters are not cut out into the correct shapes, he can put the puzzle together randomly. I realize we are using this puzzle for something other than most people, but it has helped us tremendously. He uses it about 6 times a day. It has had food spilled on it, been wiped down and has held up well. I am going to purchase another to keep at his grandmother's house to avoid having to take it back and forth because we would end up losing some letters.

I recommend this puzzle for children with autism as well as neuro-typical children.

We bought a few of these puzzles, one for our son and the others as gifts. They aren't the highest quality, so I'm not sure how well they are going to hold up. It's not solid wood like I hoped, so I think that after being chewed on a little bit it's going to fall apart. But for the price you can't go wrong. However I won't order another one unless it states that it's solid wood since they hold up the best.

My 3 year old twins got this for Christmas. It is easy for them to put the pieces in my themselves and they recognize most of the letters. They've had a lot of fun playing with this puzzle.

I don't normally post reviews but I was really disappointed with this product. My two year old loves puzzles, and I credit them to helping him learn his shapes and numbers. We have tons of Melissa and Doug puzzles but this one is terrible. The pieces are not cut out in the shape of letters so my son has trouble figuring out where to put them. Plus, the pictures/words associated with the letters are odd choices and not necessarily what you would like (i.e., quail for "Q"--he saw a bird, not a quail, and though "B" for bird). In addition, the letters are not made out of hard, sturdy wood like other puzzles. I had to buy another letter puzzle.

My son loves puzzles. The first times we did it, he wanted to match the colors which doesn't work. Not only is it teaching him the letters, but it's also teaching him words that start with those letters which I love.