PUZZLED.

Advantages: Gets kids away from the television into interaction with others.
Disadvantages: Fiddly and time consuming, but can be fun.

...Jigsaw puzzles used to be boring. The pictures were limited to little houses in the country, or seascapes, although over the years, what happened is that companies found that the idea of slotting little pieces of cardboard together with popular. What was not popular was the small range of pictures on the jigsaws, which was something that was easy to put right. I have been doing jigsaws for years, not as much as my mother in law or mother, though in order to capture the imagination of people like me that want something more of a challenge than a simple puzzle, the range that is available now is astounding. Let's take the basic jigsaw. The basic jigsaw puzzle is still a super idea for elderly people whose sight is still good. My mother in law loves doing them, and the range available on sites like Alljigsawpuzzles.com is amazing...

thingywhatsit 01.01.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Jigsaw Puzzles For Children

Puzzling

Advantages: fun, exercises the mind, varying difficulty levels
Disadvantages: not available everywhere

...In recent years, I think mainly due to a disasterous tsunami of the giant wave variety, tsunami puzzles seem to have undergone a name change. The puzzles I once thought were called tsunami can now be found in WH Smiths in monthly puzzle magazines, calling themselve hanjie. These are my favourite form of logic problem, and I've tried many. What you have is a grid. On each row and each column are a series of numbers, for example 5 7 or 1 1 8. A row labelled 5 7 will have some unknown number of white squares, then 5 coloured squares, then at least one white square, then 7 coloured squares, ending with an unknown number of white squares. Similarly, a column labelled 1 1 8 will have a single coloured square, then another, then eight coloured squares, with an unknown number of white squares between and on either side of them. The purpose...

87degrees 22.08.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Tsunami: Japanese Logic Puzzles

Puzzle Pirates

Advantages: Great Game
Disadvantages: Cartoon Graphics.

...One of the most innovative game ideas ever, puzzle pirates is an online multiplayer game about, well pirates. The actual game itself is free to download but buying the disk version gets you some extra features including in game items and a few tutorial levels. The main online game has several seperate servers, known as oceans. There are some subscriber oceans, which you have to pay per money to play, or doubloon oceans, which are free but the addition of an added doubloon currency makes things more expensive and players have the option to buy doubloons with real or in game money. In the main game, you character takes on the role of a new pirate, who must work their way to riches one way or another. The game has a navy aspect which acts as a training base for new pirates and provide small ammounts of the game's currency (pieces...

almualim25 29.06.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Puzzle Pirates (PC)

Marymoose and friends get Puzzled!

Advantages: Anti Gravity room, Little/big room, value for money
Disadvantages: Expensive shop, some exhibits a bit tired looking

.................................................................................................. Intro I love the August Bank Holiday weekend - hubby goes off diving with another woman and my friends come up to stay (the legendary G, K, S & R) to keep me company and a weekend of fun, frolics and lots of booze commences ? highlights including the rewriting of ?Who Killed Cock Robin? and keeping our poor neighbours awake with midnight renditions of ?Babooshka? and ?No Limit? on Singstar. Where is it? Anyway, whilst out and about in Keswick on a relatively miserable (well, it?s hardly traditional August weather) Saturday I decided to take them to ?The Puzzling Place? which is located just off the high street (there are signposts if you?re struggling to find it) in Museum Square ? amazing (well, puzzling?) that loads...

marymoose99 05.09.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of The Puzzling Place, Keswick

What a puzzle!!

Advantages: Fantastically rhythmic with excellent illustrations
Disadvantages: None

...This is another one of Julia Donaldson't outstanding children's picture books, but perhaps less well known than the Gruffalo, which is a shame as it's a fantastic book which children between 2 - 5 can enjoy. ~ Julia Donaldson ~ Julia Donaldson began her career writing songs for children's television. In 1993 one of her songs 'A squash and A Squeeze' was made in to a book. Since then she has written over 40 books and is probably best known for 'The Gruffalo' which won three major British Book Awards. Other books by her include: * Room on the Broom * Fox's Socks * Postman Bear * The Gruffalo's Child * Rabbit's Nap * Hide and Seek Pig ~ Monkey Puzzle ~ This book follows the story of a little monkey who has lost his Mum and a butterfly that tries to help him find her. The little monkey can only tell the butterfly...

neenn 17.02.2006 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Monkey Puzzle - Julia Donaldson

Its a big red tractor puzzle

Advantages: Good Puzzle
Disadvantages: none

...The big tractor is another of the Orchard toy puzzles that we have at school. Tractors are very attractive to children they like to see them in the fields. This tractor in the puzzle is a red tractor, red tractors are a favorite. This puzzle is suitable for 3 to 6 year olds. The picture on this puzzle is of an attractive red tractor in a grassy field with a cow. A sheep or two are in a field behind a fence. Driving a tractor is a smiley farmer with curly hair, behind him is a black and white dog peeping out of the cab window. This is a very friendly scene. This puzzle has no straight edges but the edges a curvy rounded shape. The size is 62cm x 41cm. The puzzle is a big chunky one with 25 pieces. The pieces of the puzzle fit together with male and female connectors. They are large so quite easy to fit with a bit of jiggling...

mumsymary 25.05.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Orchard Toys Big Tractor Puzzle

Princess puzzle

Advantages: It's a jigsaw puzzle
Disadvantages: None for princess/fairy lovers

...ELC fairy princess jigsaw puzzle Working in schools, I come across lots of jigsaw puzzles, and find them useful for all kinds of things. This is one I came across last year when looking for a gift for a little girl. Obviously, having a real interest in the fairy/princess theme, Little Miss decided this along with some other fairy things could be just right. This was all working on the principle that she could show a younger girl how to make fairy scenes.. ~~~~What are they?~~~~~ They are sold as "4 pretty puzzles for young fairy princesses", and on this basis, they were a must for a Little Miss buy, being mostly pink/purple in colour. This is basically 4 jigsaw puzzles packaged in a wooden box. The packaging round the box shows clearly the puzzles in the pack, so you know exactly what you are getting?2 puzzles with 4 pieces...

danielalong 05.12.2007 (26.11.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Early Learning Centre Fairy Princess Puzzle

Igor on the DS - Puzzle Game

Advantages: Reasonable puzzle game
Disadvantages: Limited long-term interest

...Igor is a puzzle and adventure type game for the Nintendo DS, loosely based on the film of the same name. The game starts with a small tutorial to get you used to the controls, but the game is sometimes quite cryptic in a confusing rather than challenging sense. The aim is to solve puzzles whilst collecting items to progress through the game. I found the whole progression through the game rather clumsy, sometimes not entirely sure where I was going and for what purpose. There is also a fighting element to the game where you have to play a Tetris type mini-game in order to win the fight and progress. By getting blocks together you are able to beat off your monster opponents and perform different moves, which is interesting for a while, but not the basis of a fighting game given how many times this has to be done. The plot is really to...

julwhite 24.06.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Igor (Nintendo DS)

Puzzle Quest - Fantastic Jewel Swap Puzzle RPG Game

Advantages: Simple gameplay, complex structure, easy to play in short bursts
Disadvantages: RPG angle may put off some

...stars to make you stronger, and 4 of anything gets you another go automatically. Also you can use spells by spending the earned mana which adds an awful lot of strategy in for those who need it. THe game starts off with a tutorial which is deliberately hard to get you used to the style of gameplay. As your character improves even when loosing battles (although at a slower rate) this is all good practice. As you progress you can lay seige to cities, add companions to your party, capture enemies and mounts - which can then be ridden across the map, all through a vareiety of bejewelled style puzzles varying from timed stages to set paterns to clear. The touch screen on the DS works fantastically and the graphics while not PSPs version standard are clear and give a good sense of atmosphere. The script is also well written with a definite...

nli10 17.04.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (Nintendo DS)

Play with Galt numbers puzzles

Advantages: good simple puzzles
Disadvantages: none

...You can buy this set of 10 number puzzles for £4.99 from http://www.childsplaysussex.co.uk/galt-number-puzzles-3353-0.html . It is available for similar prices from other shops too. I think at present these puzzles come in a red box that has a carry handle, ours at work does not have this handle. This set of ten puzzles is suitable for children aged 3 to 5 years old, or those older who have problems with recognising number. These puzzles are made of a thick card and withstands quite a bit of wear, so should last quite a time. Each individual puzzle is a single number and is a three piece rectangular puzzle. The top piece of the puzzle is the numeral the centre piece which is the largest has a picture that corresponds to the number so for example on number 1 there?s is 1 spaceship, on number 5 there are 5 hats . The bottom...

mumsymary 09.03.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Galt Number Puzzles