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Product Description
From the Manufacturer
It's truly a FRESH START for puzzles! This hand-painted, playfully styled puzzle is like nothing you've seen before! The thick, chunky wooden puzzle pieces fit neatly into their spots on the colorful board and also stand up for additional pretend play. Full-color pictures beneath each piece.
Product Description
Melissa & Doug Farm Wooden Chunky Puzzle
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
78 of 79 people found the following review helpful
By T. Walker
Format:Toy|Amazon Verified Purchase
Durability:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Educational:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Fun:
1.0 out of 5 stars
When I ordered this puzzle the product description said "wood" and "hand painted", the customer reviews also raved about these features. When I got the puzzle I was very disappointed to find that the puzzle pieces are MDF board, not wood or even plywood, and the puzzle board was MDF and plywood. Additionally they were not painted at all but had paper stickers that immediately started tearing off.
71 of 72 people found the following review helpful
Format:Toy
Durability:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Educational:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This toy is fun. The farm animals are super cute. It's a great concept for a 'first' puzzle, with it's bright fun animals and easy-match puzzle board. It is certainly educational, and when I bought it I felt pretty good about my kids playing with it.
I bought this puzzle expecting it to be precisely what was advertised: A wooden puzzle. Naive to the world of children's toys, I took that description at face value. 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, another story is revealed. 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. 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 plywood) puzzles out there. They cost 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.
I bought this puzzle expecting it to be precisely what was advertised: A wooden puzzle. Naive to the world of children's toys, I took that description at face value. 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, another story is revealed. 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. 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 plywood) puzzles out there. They cost 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.
43 of 43 people found the following review helpful
By M. Lindsay
Format:Toy
Durability:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Educational:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun:
2.0 out of 5 stars
I bought one of these puzzles (Sea Life) a few years ago, and it was a beautiful puzzle. The puzzle pieces were completely painted and smooth. I have seen all the puzzles in this style at libraries and church nurseries and they have all been beautiful. Until now. Melissa and Doug have changed the style of this puzzle. I bought two (Farm and Vehicles) today expecting them to be nice like my old one. The pieces are no longer painted. They have stickers on top of scratchy particle board (i.e. jagged bottom edges and dusty stuff falling all over). The cow use to have defined, carved ears and now it is just a smooth top with a sticker that looks like it was cut wrong. What's more, I got this today, opened it 1 hour ago, and the stickers are already peeling off. My toddler hasn't even put these in his mouth yet--and I won't let him as chunks of the "wood" will come off into his mouth if he did and the stickers would probably disintegrate. I have written the company to let them know that this new idea is a bad one. Don't buy unless they change it back.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loves it
I got my daughter this puzzle for Christmas 2012. She loves the puzzle and often runs to her Melissa and Doug puzzles first thing when she wakes up in the morning. Read more
Published 17 days ago by marzelline
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun for little fingers
This toy is fun for toddlers and teaches coordination, matching, animal kinds, etc. he puzzle pieces are sturdy and durable and I do not have to worry about splinters from wood, or... Read more
Published 23 days ago by sally butcher
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two year old loves this
Not only does our two year old love this puzzle, but she often plays with the pieces. They are so sturdy that they withstand a LOT of abuse. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Reni
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun puzzle
Maybe not as good as the farm puzzle that makes the animal noises when you take out or put in the pieces, but great for learning anyway.
Published 2 months ago by DLoSF
2.0 out of 5 stars
my son loves it and i did too...until we realized what it was made...
My son has loved this puzzle since he was 6 months old. I was excited to give it to him at Christmas. Read more
Published 2 months ago by DIY Mom
4.0 out of 5 stars
Confused by the other reviews
I purchased this set for my daughter here on amazon last year, and again today in a big box store for my niece's birthday and both sets are solid wood with painted on images. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Megz
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
Melissa and Doug chunky puzzles are always a hit in our house. My son loves this puzzle and has learned to make the farm animal sounds.
Published 2 months ago by SL
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love It
These are great quality for a great price. My 18 month old daughter loves it. Two thumbs up for Melissa and Doug products!
Published 2 months ago by Whito
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Learning Tool!
This is a great learning tool for our grandson, age 20 months! He has learned the names of the animals, as well as the way to work a puzzle. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mary L. Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nice for toddlers
These puzzles are nice for toddlers! They have knobs on top for easy gripping and the puzzles themselves are nice and thick!
Published 3 months ago by A. McConnell
