Melissa & Doug Fishbowl Jumbo Knob Wooden Puzzle,Multi

Perfect for my son and his OT therapy. His teacher recommended this for at home and he loves it. Highly recommend.

Perfect for my 16 month old and sturdy

This is perfect for the little one just learning - the knob makes it easy for the little fingers.

The puzzle is made of laminates of some sort. There are four layers visible on the puzzle pieces; two seem to be a particle board and two remind me of a hardboard -- Im not qualified to say what those layers actually are. The hardboard is homogenous and lacks any prominent grain direction, but seems a lot more dense than the particle board. -- The puzzle board itself contains the same four layers and has a fifth layer of the hardboard for the back. The wood look comes from a paper coating, not even a veneer. The knobs themselves are solid wood. A drop from toddler height, damaged the corner of the puzzle board. Chewing will quickly remove the paper layers and pictures. (Please note that there are concerns about the safety of the resins in particle board etc. I was not aware of the concerns when I bought this and other Melissa and Doug products and I am not able to comment on whether or not I agree with the safety concerns at this time, or whether Melissa and Doug uses the types of resins that are in question. However, I will be sticking to real solid wooden toys while my children are still in the chewing age, and I wish that someone had pointed out the concerns before I invested in many Melissa and Doug products.) For the very young, a simple shape puzzle is more appropriate. Infants and toddlers must learn several skills that we take for granted. They need to develop the coordination to put a circle in a hole, then do it by holding a peg. They need to develop the ability to recognize differences in shape; basic, simple differences like the difference between a circle and a square are much easier to comprehend than the difference between a turtle shape and a fish shape. Then they need to learn how to rotate and translate a complex shape to fit into a hole... and to know when they nearly have it. For several months my son would remove the pieces, put them into a basket or cart and refused to use the puzzle board. When he did try putting them in, hed push the pieces randomly and almost never succeeded, which is why he didnt like playing that way. Even when he could recognize that the turtle piece went into the turtle hole, he rarely could align it to fit, which did not reinforce his ability to recognize differences and similarities in shape. At 16m old we bought him a more basic puzzle with a circle, triangle and square; its perfect for his ability level. And his ability to do the jumbo knob puzzles from Melissa and Doug has improved slightly; I think he now recognizes that he has the piece in the right vicinity and that it wont help to try it everywhere.

My girl is still teething and within seconds of her putting it in her mouth, it started to break apart. So I wouldn’t suggest it for a teething kiddo. BUT it’s still a great product that I’ve put aside until she’s over the mouth phase.

When the puzzle arrived it was slightly damaged. I contacted customer service and they replied almost immediately. Im glad we got it straightened out because the puzzle my 1 year old really likes it.

Great thickness

Wonderful learning puzzle for the young mind just getting started. Challenges them to find the right space. With the knob it gives them something to hold on to and keeps them from getting frustrated to soon..

This is a fairly easy and fun puzzle for a sixteen month old to play. He is able to pull the pieces out and replace them. The cut on the pieces are a little tight, so it makes it more difficult for him to actually get the puzzle piece back in its slot. The fish is especially tight on our puzzle. The knobs are a good size and easy for him to grasp. The colors are bright and the puzzle certainly catches his attention. I bought this puzzle while it was on 50% at Amazon otherwise I might have tried a different subject matter (maybe the dog, cat, and bird) so the items would be familiar to him. As it was on sale, I thought it would be a good opportunity to see the quality of the puzzle and how much he would play with it. He is more than willing to play with it, so really the quality is the only question. The puzzle is made of some sort of plywood that seems to incorporate MDF. The pieces of the puzzle rub against the side as you put them back in place and leave a residue of what looks like fine-grade sawdust. I am hoping that as time goes by, the rubbing with result in an easier to remove and replace puzzle piece. The picture is printed on some sort of paper that is laminated to the top of the puzzle. Because of this, it will probably only be a matter of time before my grandson starts gnawing at the pieces and possibly causing the picture to start to separate. I wish that the picture had been printed directly onto the wood instead of paper. The quality issues are the reason I dropped the puzzle one star. They are not so extreme that I would return the puzzle and I may buy one or two more in the line. It will keep me from investing heavily in these puzzles. I will continue to be on the lookout of well made puzzles for the grandkids.

Really nice puzzle. Just what I was looking for!