Woodland Party – Talkabout Floor Puzzle by Orchard Toys

When I was little, one of the things that I used to enjoy most was doing puzzles. There is something about it that I find so entertaining and relaxing. I think what I love the most is to see how the picture of the puzzle gradually forms.  As Official Orchard Toys Testers, we were asked to do a review of one of their puzzles. We were so excited about it!

They sent us one of their new releases for 2016: Woodland Party which is a talkabout floor puzzle. When the box arrived I was very impressed with it as it was lovely. I thought that it was very practical that it came with a handle making it easy to transport it when on holidays or for those weekends away at the in-laws.

This puzzle was perfect for Bella as the age range is from 4 to 7 years. Bella will be 6 in May so she is the perfect age to test this puzzle. It comes with 70 pieces. It is a fair amount of pieces but they have a reasonable size and they are also so colourful with so many interesting characters.

Bella wanted to take the box to her grandparents as she was staying there for a few days for half term. On Sunday afternoon, still at the in-laws, after lunch we all decided to go to the living room and have some fun putting it together. Bella was very excited and especially so because Mummy and Daddy would also be helping her.

She opened the box and took out all the pieces. We started putting together all the edge pieces. Bella knows that this is a great trick to start these puzzles. After the border was built we then started to put the remaining pieces.

This puzzle is great and very fun to do. Like all of Orchard Toys products, this puzzle also has educational benefits as it promotes imaginative play, encourages observational skills, encourages discussion and develops hand eye coordination.

Bella was very concentrated whilst doing the puzzle. Even Sienna who is only 18 months was very curious to watch us work on the puzzle as a team. I guess the bright colours and the interesting characters caught the eyes of both of my girls.

There were so many little characters and things going on in the puzzle that it encourages your child to talk about what is happening in the picture, developing their observational skills. At the back of the box you can find some activity ideas and questions for you to share with your child. Bella was able to chat about what she was seeing. We tried to encourage her imagination by asking some questions such as: “Why is the frog holding her nose?”.

You can also play I-Spy, discuss position asking “who is under the table?” or “who is hiding in the tree?”. You can encourage number skills asking for example “How many carrot cupcakes can you count?”. When they are completing the jigsaw you can ask for specific types of pieces like, “pass me a piece that has some yellow on it”. Also literacy can be promited by asking, for example, “what book do you think the little girl is reading?”.

All these activities really helped to start a conversation and have a fun, imaginative chat with Bella. She was intrigued by all the lovely characters.

I noticed that Bella was more comfortable building this puzzle without help but she still needed some supervision. Having the edges done first really helped her to complete the remaining pieces. She was looking at the picture on the box all the time as a guide to how to put the pieces together.

This fun and educational puzzle has a RPP of £9.75.  If you like the look of this game, you can buy it from the Orchard Toys website. You can also find Orchard Toys on Twitter, and you can also browse around their boards on Pinterest.

What do you think of this puzzle? Do you have any other puzzles from Orchard Toys? Would you consider buying a puzzle like this for your kids?

Disclaimer: I was sent this puzzle from Orchard Toys in exchange for an honest review. All the opinions are my own. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Love you all ❤️

Franca  💋