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By Mom Unplugged, August 14, 2009 7:33 pm

So you don’t think a four piece puzzle could ever present a challenge? Then you have obviously never played Safari Undercover by Educational Insights.

A recent happy find before our last big trip, Safari Undercover is a wonderful logic game! The goal of the game is simple: use the four differently shaped pieces to mask out certain wild animals while leaving others exposed according to the challenges illustrated in the booklet.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? The challenges are organized from “Starter” to “Master” and most of them really require a lot of thought, even for an adult!

The “Starter” level has hints to get you started if you need them. After that you are on your own. Each puzzle has only one answer and the solutions are included in the booklet.

What I like best about the game is that it has only four fairly large pieces and a booklet (not much to lose). The pieces and booklet store neatly in a drawer under the game’s top. Perfect for travel.

We played it for hours on the airplane and I was as eager for a turn as my kids were!

The game is also available with pirates.

The recommended age is 7 to 9 years, but I say 7 to 99 years!

PS: This is not a paid review (none of my reviews ever are). I am simply sharing my thoughts about a game that I bought myself and like.

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By Mom Unplugged, March 18, 2008 9:03 pm

Since my 2 year-old is obsessed with puzzles at the moment, I am always on the look-out for fun, educational, high quality puzzles that she might be able to do. A recent surfing expedition revealed these totally cool layered, life-cycle puzzles. They are made of wood and feature five separate puzzle pictures to complete. The mini-puzzles fit on top of one another in layers to show the life cycle of a butterfly (or frog, or duck).

The recommended age is 4 and up. As much as I’d like to claim that my genius 2 year-old could do these, she probably could not without assistance. The big photo makes it look deceptively easy, but there are actually thirty pieces, five puzzles, and five layers. Her older brother and sister might enjoy them though. Hmm…we’ll see. (It’s times like this that I really wish I homeschooled so that I’d have an excuse to buy these slightly pricey but really amazing-looking puzzles!)

These Beleduc puzzles are made in China of birch wood and meet or exceed “Specifications of European (EN-71) and American (ASTM) Toy Safety Standards:”

This butterfly puzzle is also made of wood, but the description offers less information (it costs less too):

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By Mom Unplugged, November 14, 2007 8:19 pm

This is one that I don’t have yet, but that I am planning on buying for my almost 2 year-old for Christmas.

I like these wooden cube puzzles and we have had several of them, but usually the pictures are simply paper that is glued on to the block (including one that was a Melissa & Doug, I was very disappointed). Trust me, that never lasts long. Selecta doesn’t glue the image on, they use some sort of a transfer that doesn’t seem like it will ever come off (we have a few Selecta games with images on wooden tiles so I know how they do it and that it lasts).

Do the math, and you will find that these four cubes can make six different cute pictures. If you want to see them all, then click on the Amazon link.

Plus…Selecta toys are made in Germany. Need I say more?

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By Mom Unplugged, October 29, 2007 5:45 pm

I recently found these sturdy cardboard puzzles at Cosco and they are really great!

Each puzzle represents a continent. At the moment the manufacturer, A Broader View, only makes four (North America, South America, Africa, and Europe) but I believe that more may be in the works. Cosco had them bundled in packs of two, so we ended up buying all four and I am so glad we did!

One of my pet peeves with some geographic puzzles is that often the pieces are cut out in such a way as to bear no relationship to the actual shape of a state or a country. Why? Wouldn’t it be much more useful and educational to follow the natural boundaries?

These puzzle pieces do follow the natural shape of each country or state (except in the case of very small countries and states). This makes total sense to me!

Capitals are labeled, as are other major cities, large bodies of water and even lat / long.

It would be nicer if these were made of wood rather than cardboard, but at least the cardboard is quite sturdy, and feels like it will last a long time. One word of advice though: the first time it is unwrapped, an adult should remove the pieces since they are stuck in there pretty hard.

If you can’t get to Cosco (or they don’t have them any more), then you can get North and South America from Amazon (links below). It seems that as of right now, Europe and Africa are out of stock. Hopefully they will return eventually.

You also can find all of them, plus some interesting-sounding global puzzles (a future post!) at the manufacturer’s store: Geography Zone. Otherwise, search online to check for other stores and pricing. It seems to vary between $7.00 and $10.00.

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By Mom Unplugged, September 19, 2007 6:04 pm

This is a simple, classic wooden toy that teaches the concepts of size, shape, color, and sequence! I first saw one of these in my children’s Montessori classroom and was pleased to be able to find one to have at home too.

The idea is simple. There are four sets of five blocks. Each set is a different color and shape. The wooden board has a hole for each block. Children must arrange the blocks in the rows of holes sequence from shortest to tallest.

As with all good toys, children can actually play with this multiple ways. Sometimes they simply like to use the twenty colorful shapes as building blocks, other times they sequence them on the board as they are “supposed” to do.

Here’s another idea: Put the blocks in a bag and have your child (by touch alone) pull out all the triangular shaped ones for example. Or just put in one set and have your child try to pull them out from smallest to largest!

This block board is very durable since is ours is now on child number three without so much as a chip in the paint. At $8.99, I personally think the price is great for such a long lasting and educational wooden toy.