Mudpuppy Jumbo Puzzle The Very Hungry Caterpillar

(Mudpuppy $14.99 each)

Bring home a storybook favorite, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, that preschoolers will like taking apart and putting together, again and again. Or for kids who are fascinated with Safari Animals, choose a colorful jumbo puzzle. These two 25-piece puzzles assemble into huge 22” big square images. The big sturdy pieces are challenging for beginners, who will need some strategies for following the image on the box the first few times. Both of these are somewhat harder since there is no decorative frame, so kids may need help the first or second time through. One good thing about children’s puzzles is that kids enjoy doing them more than once and their interest is held by the challenges that they gradually master. At that point, they are ready to move on to a new puzzle. These are marked 2 and up, but we think they are a better choice for 3s and 4s.