Sandra Boynton puzzles

 I generally don't review toys, but we started a popular circulating puzzle collection in the winter of 2021 and several people asked me about adding puzzles for kids. Then when I was offered Sandra Boynton puzzles... how could I say no?

I started with Hippo Birdie Two-Ewe, the smallest puzzle at 300 pcs. It turned out to be surprisingly challenging. The background is the familiar logo, but it's really only useful for positioning pieces right side up. After putting together the border and the music strip at the bottom, I tackled the words and then the animals. There are a lot of random gray and white curves and squiggles which were quite challenging. Once I managed these, there were identical twists of ribbon and then random confetti. Conclusion: This is actually more challenging than I would normally give to a child, especially one who is not patient or has trouble distinguishing details, but adults wanting something simpler than 500 or 1000 will enjoy it, especially once they figure out how to match up the confetti squares and use the background words to turn pieces right side up.

The next size up, 500 pieces, features complaining chickens! This was certainly the funniest - and was actually easier than the smaller puzzle. The border was very simple to piece together, then the words. I think a non-reader might actually find this easier, since some of the very curving fonts were hard to identify as individual letters and words and it was easier to go on color shading and spacing. I did the chickens last and that was mostly a matter of trying them against the few spaces left, since they were mostly random white pieces with a few small lines. However, there was a very good mix of difference piece shapes left by the time you get down to the chickens. I think a child or a family will really enjoy doing this one together and it's challenging but not too much for younger kids.

Finally, the hidden cows! This was a 1,000 piece puzzle and I initially thought it would be easier, because of all the details, but no, it was very tricky. The main difficulty with this one was that, unlike the other two puzzles, the pieces were cut so that they fit in multiple spots - I had to go back and change the pieces multiple times because I couldn't figure out where things went until I had more pieces put in and they didn't fit correctly. There were a lot of different patterns and colors to fill in, but the cows and piano at the end were mostly just trying piece after piece, since it was almost impossible to match up the random black splotches and lines.

If you are looking for puzzles for young children and families to put together, Puzzle Complaints is the best choice. If you have Sandra Boynton fans to please, all three are a fun addition, especially if you have a circulating puzzle collection.

Puzzles provided by Workman Publishing for review; Donated to the library's circulating puzzle collection.

Hippo Birdie Two Ewe

Puzzle Complaints

Hidden Cows