Puzzling it Out

 

You know those times when your kids seem to be shifting into a new phase of play? It happens slowly and subtly around here, but then I look around and realize that they're playing with totally different kinds of things than they were a few months ago.

We've had one of those shifts lately and I'm still catching up and making adjustments around the "new normal." What are Ezra and Reuben interested in these days, at ages 6.25 and 3.0? Puzzles, building with blocks (this has been a constant, throughout lots of shifts and transitions) and games.

Ezra did lots of puzzles when he was three. One of my clearest memories of my pregnancy with Reuben is going to The Ugly Mug with Ezra every morning and snuggling on the couch there, reading books and doing little Melissa and Doug truck puzzles that we brought from home. We had some bigger puzzles that he would often do at home, too - a world map, a Richard Scarry bunny house and an alphabet train. I, never a puzzle person before, learned to love puzzles too, through sharing the joy with Ezra.

But, then, no puzzles, really, for a few years. And now...it's puzzle time again! This time with Reuben enjoying the same puzzles that Ezra enjoyed when he was three and with Ezra (and Mama!) enjoying 100 and even 200 piece puzzles. I am so happy puzzles have come back and have been having fun seeking them out at the Goodwill, our local consignment shop and our fantastic new neighborhood game store. Do you know of any great puzzles?

Comments

[Lisa]

Thanks, Laura, for the Orchard Toys recommendation. I haven't heard of them before! It sounds like you and your mom had lots of fun w/puzzles - it feels like a really sweet parent-child activity that can last through many phases (toddler, kid, big kid & even teen!).

[laura]

I've become smitten with the Orchard Toys floor puzzles - my little one is in a puzzle phase right now too! She really likes another one we have that is a bunch of elephants in dress-up clothes, so she has to match their shoes, hat, and cape to put them together.

I used to do puzzles with my mom all the time; we liked the complicated ones that didn't have edge pieces or a picture on the box and things like that!