Melissa & Doug 48pc Space Voyage Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle

My three year is obsessed with all things space and space shuttles in particular. I went in search of puzzles with a space theme for him and you can imagine my delight when I found this one. Wooden puzzles are still best at this age, the thicker size helps with construction, so this being wooden is an added bonus. The image is delightfully colored and captures his interest and sparks his imagination. There are asteroids and even a comet included in the picture. The comet sparked a long conversation about just what comets are and we pulled out one of his books on space and looked up the technical explanation to fully satisfy his curiosity. None of his other puzzles have brought out that level of inquiry before. Yes, space is his particular love at this moment, but he has other space puzzles that don't do that for him - there's just something about the color and vibrancy of this one I think.The puzzle itself is a little stiff and hard to take apart when first received. It "loosened" up a bit after we had constructed it once or twice and is now just perfect. I really cannot say enough good things about this one! He has even used it as a backdrop to play with his collection of small space craft and astronauts.

Decent quality wooden jigsaw depicting the sun, moons, planets, a comet, and space shuttle with a framed wooden tray that should last for years. We bought this for our 4 year old son who enjoys anything to do with outer space, astronomy, and rockets and spaceships. He loves it and has assembled it repeatedly in the time we've had it. The puzzle has 48 pieces, and is slightly larger than a cafeteria tray. It is age appropriate for patient geometrically inclined 4 year olds, or 5 year olds and older. The wooden puzzle portion is thinner wood than the "chunky" wooden puzzles, but it is much more durable than cardboard jigsaw. (There is a different Melissa & Doug Solar System 48 piece cardboard floor puzzle.) It was easy to separate the first time though some of the pieces were still connected, and the pieces fit well together. The pieces are cut like a standard jigsaw, unlike the world map puzzle which has pieces cut approximating continental regions We like that the puzzle comes in a tray a lot because the puzzle is very easy to store, left assembled.M&D sells fabric puzzle covers or you could use a pillow case to cover it. We just stack it on the world map we have and store it under the couch. (We tried using Press and Seal which would work well except that I have long hair that it likes to pick up.)My only wish is that the size of the planets were just a bit more properly relative,e.g. Saturn is much larger than Jupiter, so is Earth. Obviously they can't be to scale or perspective, but my son was insistent the planet with the red eye was too small to be Jupiter, and the moon was too big, it must be Venus (which was fine with me although a bit unconventional, but might easily be misunderstood by others.)Melissa and Doug have a number of 48 piece wooden puzzles with trays like this one:UnderwaterConstructionRainforestDinosaursFantaseaFrolicking HorsesButterfly GardenFairy GardenPirates (and ship)Knight vs. DragonMelissa & Doug also have similarly sized wooden map puzzles with trays:World MapUnited StatesCanada::jk

I was looking for a puzzle for my clever nephew aged 4, who has moved well beyond 24 piece puzzles. The puzzle business is a bit frustrating - there are 24 piece puzzles, then they jump to 60, then to 100, 200 and on up. Who decided these numbers, and are they based on child development research? Anyway, as with so many other M and D toys, this one is wonderful - well made, with sturdy wooden pieces and a wooden tray, challenging without being frustrating, visually interesting, and reasonably priced. It is the ONLY puzzle I could find with a number of pieces between 24 and 60 - it has 48. The tray makes it perfect for putting together on any surface, and we even used it for another puzzle that was made of thinner cardboard pieces and was too flimsy to do on a carpet. This was a hit in every way, and will most surely last through to the next nephew and beyond.

Really nice quality and very sturdy material. Son has done it many times and it still holds together perfectly.

When this came for my son for Christmas, he squealed with delight. At 3 he is obsessed with space and he loves puzzles, but our disappointment set in quickly. The plastic came off and the puzzle was dumped over, and he had zero way of knowing how to put this together. There isn't a box with a photo or even a photo on the board under the pieces. At the very least, there should be an outline of the shape of each piece. I had to trace each piece and then number them and the space so he has something to reference when putting it together. I know he is a little young for this, but not having a reference of any kind for any puzzle is weird.Quality otherwise great. Sturdy pieces and solid back board. Almost exactly what I expect from this brand. Just missing that dang reference....