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At a glance
Developed and designed in the UK, the popular and successful generic My First Puzzles range is aimed at children aged 18+ months. Based on the principles and themes outlined in the Department of Education's learning and development standard for children aged 0-5. Ravensburger's Fun Day at Playgroup is a 16 piece look and find puzzle which helps children understand their own lives and families. This bright and colourful puzzle shows 2 children enjoying a fun day at playgroup. Surrounded with a border showing items children can find in the main scene this builds on observation and object identification skills.
We spoke to these real parent testers to get their review...
How did this product make your life easier?
Vanessa: What a lovely puzzle! My son loves getting it out and tries to do it by himself, although he’s only two, he’s tried his hardest to do it. Definitely worth buying it, especially as they have so many objects in them, there’s always something to point at, and to practise the words. I'm a happy mum!
Claire: My daughter really enjoys doing puzzles. The design of the Ravensburger 'Fun Day at Playgroup' puzzle (with images to spot within the picture) on the puzzle border makes it easier to engage with my child about the picture once the puzzle is complete. I like to ask my daughter to pick an image on the outside and then spot the image in the picture. We talk about colours and the number of items.
Nicola: My 3.5-year-old son is able to complete most of the puzzle without adult support. He really enjoys finding the pieces. Being able to leave him with this activity allows me to get on with other jobs. it's a great tool to use together to teach him about what he may do at preschool. especially helpful to a child that is about to move nurseries.
Would you recommend this to other parents?
Amy: My 3.5-year-old son is able to complete most of the puzzle without adult support. He really enjoys finding the pieces. Being able to leave him with this activity allows me to get on with other jobs. it's a great tool to use together to teach him about what he may do at preschool. especially helpful to a child that is about to move nurseries.
Sarah: Yes I would! It's a fab puzzle with a matching game and has an educative, engaging and fun design whilst being made from good quality materials with just the right size pieces whilst offering great value for money. The quality of the product is good with good size pieces which are thick and made from FSC materials.
Callie: Keeping a child occupied while you are busy around the house is always a bonus and something I would always pass on to another Mum! Also, the product itself is quite interesting for a toddler. The colours are bright and engaging and seem to keep the child occupied.
Would you choose this product above all others on the market?
Claire: I would recommend the Ravensburger 'Fun Day at Playgroup' puzzle over other puzzles on the market because of the additional learning and discussion points this puzzle presents (through the images to spot) results in better playtime for the cost. I think the size of the puzzle is better than others on the market as a lot of the floor puzzles seem quite small.
Nicola: as a toddler toy this is both educational and fun, helping little ones to develop key motor skills. I think this is a great toy for a toddler. I love using puzzles for quiet time and this is perfect for both quiet time and time to talk about a preschool or a playgroup that's little one may be attending or due to attend
Amy: This product does stand out for me. It's perfect as a first jigsaw with its chunky pieces and I like its bright, fun design. I feel it's very suited to the particular age group with the playgroup image and has lots of familiar pictures for the little ones to grab their imagination, such as a rocket, fire engine etc.
What changes would you make to this product?
Sarah: If I could change one aspect of this product I would like to see the addition of written word labels to the items in the border. This would provide an additional educative aspect to this puzzle for the slightly older preschool child to help identify and recognise early words. This would then I think increase the scope of age range usage of this product.
Callie: The only thing I would change is the size of the jigsaw puzzle. Whether this would be through bigger pieces or by making more pieces. Our two-year-old didn't really struggle to put this together and did it by herself quite a few times, but tends to struggle a bit more with puzzles that have more pieces but are still for her age range.
Claire: If I could change one thing about the I find the Ravensburger 'Fun Day at Playgroup' I would be to change the picture - Personally I prefer the Ravensburger Paddington finding puzzle as I prefer the picture. Another thing I would like to change is the puzzle being in a smaller box - whilst not limited to this particular puzzle, I find puzzle boxes are often a waste of space and finding a way to minimise the space wastage would be beneficial.