Making puzzles is so cash, yo.

You may not know this by looking at me but I love me some puzzles. I’m talking literal puzzles here by the way, not like word puzzles or mind puzzles or something. Physical “connect one piece to another” puzzles usually sprawled over a foldout card table for a month or more. Why do I love puzzles? Because they’re so simple, yet they’ve done a lot over the years to throw some curve balls my way. Want to hear more? Of course, because what else are we gonna talk about? E3? I don’t think so!

Puzzle Me This

When I was a kid I had the usual handful of wooden puzzles that all kids typically owned. While I certainly had the obligatory wood puzzle with basic shapes like a car or a house, I had a few that were a little cooler. My grandma had dinosaur wooden puzzles that where actually huge chunks of wood that fit together to make the shape of a brontosaurus or something. Those were extremely cool, and I keep looking and seeing companies like Melissa & Doug doing the same sort of thing. Then again, they seem to love wooden toys, so it only makes sense.

Okay, maybe my grandma's puzzles weren't this cool.

I found myself always checking garage sales for puzzles once I became a little older, constantly searching for the next coolest puzzle ever. While I found a few Ninja Turtle puzzles, some of the cooler simple puzzles I found were G.I. Joe puzzles that interconnected. There were four puzzles with like two or three hundred pieces each and though each was contained to its specific picture, the four puzzles connected together to form one giant puzzle. Sadly I only found three of the four, but the effect was still very cool to me.

My parents had a great many advanced puzzles in their closet that would make it out every so often for a family puzzle session. These were extremely difficult puzzles with pictures such as a piece of hay in a stack of needles, a pile of fun-sized candy bars, or just a puzzle that’s front picture was purposefully designed to mislead you as to what the actual picture was. There were also the occasional 3D puzzle, but those were a one-time build before just setting them on a shelf or something.

Everyone tries the 3D globe puzzle at some point in their life or another.

Probably the most epic day of things related to puzzles occurred when my father and I were at a mall and happened upon an all-puzzle store with a guy standing behind the counter that had to be the Grand Puzzle Master. Naturally, he looked like he hated his life. What made this better were the three Puzzle Geeks challenging him with asinine puzzle-related questions. One walked up asking if they had any puzzles without edge pieces, to which the Grand Puzzle Master said they had a selection in the back corner. The next geek tried his luck with the question, “Do you have any puzzles with extra pieces thrown in to trick the puzzler?” Obviously they did, and they were on the shelf behind the geeks. The last guy thought he had him with the ultimate, “Do you have any blank puzzles?” The Grand Puzzle Master reached below the counter and pulled out a blank puzzle box. The Puzzle Geeks were defeated and the Grand Puzzle Master sighed his sad little sigh.

Still, none of these could possibly compare with the massive floor puzzles I found one day at a hobby shop. Did you know you can get a puzzle with 18,000 pieces in it? I don’t know why you’d want it, but you can get it from Ravensburger, and if that isn’t even enough, there’s a 24,000-piece puzzle as well. That’s ridiculous.

Behold the behemoth of puzzles. I kind of want this now.

That’s all I can say about puzzles for the moment though, mostly because I don’t currently have any. I wish I did, but sadly there is no space in my apartment to make a puzzle. Some day, but not today. In the mean time, what about you? Are you a puzzle fan? Or do you just hate puzzles? Let me know with a comment. I dare you to challenge the Grand Puzzle Master.

This right here is one of the most popular education-based toy around. And it's a video game system.

If I were pressed to defend the educational value of video games, I probably couldn’t do much other than say they can teach reading, math, problem solving, community interaction, cause and effect, and hand-eye coordination skills, so really I’d have an uphill battle talking about their benefits (wink). However, there are a handful of very popular toys being sold this very second to parents wishing to give their kids a little boost in the learning aspect of playing while still making sure the toy is fun (gotta love parents). But just what are some of the most popular educational and learning toys right now?

Yay! A noise-maker for kids!

Heard of LeapFrog? You probably have since they’re selling tons upon tons of electronic toys aimed at teaching kids. It just so happens one of their best-selling products is a video game system called the Leapster. It looks like a mutant Game Boy but plays like something with the explicit purpose of learning in the foreground. However, you can easily fool a kid into forgetting he’s learning something when the character in the game is Batman. LeapFrog also has a wide variety of other electronic-type toys with the Learn & Groove Musical Table for kids (a thing that makes noise), the Spin and Sing Alphabet Zoo (a thing that makes noise), or the Scribble and Write (I’m sure it makes some sort of noise, it is a child’s toy after all).

Responsibilities! Exciting!

If, perhaps, you’d rather not futz with noise or electronics in general, our good friends Melissa & Doug have more than enough toys made of wood and magnets. Sometimes simple can be best, and Melissa & Doug tends to make very high-quality toys that last and last. It’s hard to beat a magnetic alphabet set or a magnetic responsibility chart. Sure, kids hate responsibility, but disguise it with magnets and they’re sold.

Dang that kid looks happy. I want some of those blocks!

Fisher-Price is still around and doing just fine, by the way. Do you remember them from your childhood? I sure do. I had all sorts of plastic blocks and shapes and steering wheels and things of that nature from Fisher-Price, and I’m happy to say they still make all those things with their Brilliant Basics Baby’s First Blocks staying as a bestseller. Their Sesame Street Silly Sounds Remote may not really be in the same category though. It may say “Sesame Street: on it, but it also says “Silly Sounds” which is code for “Lots o’ Noise.” Just get the blocks.

Hooray for bugs! What, you don't like bugs? That's science!

It’s also cool to see that the Insect Lore Live Butterfly Garden is up near the top in sales. Why is that? Bugs, while super gross, are also super cool. Plus, it’s impossible for kids to find bugs in the house, so they have to go outside. If they can find tons of bugs inside, you’re teaching your kids something wrong. I was always happy as a kid with a bug net and a jar to keep my findings in. I assume kids haven’t changed too much since my childhood.

This is an incomplete list of the bestselling Education and Learning toys, but it’s a good start for sure. If all else fails, I can’t think of a single kid that’d say no to “Imagination Time” with their loving parents. In fact, I might just call my dad and see if he’s up for a game of it right now.

Their Chunky Puzzles are perfect for babies. They come with large, colorful pieces that fit neatly into the board and can also standalone for imagination play. The big, chunky pieces are perfect for small hands and developing motor skills. Aside from every variety of animal puzzle, Melissa & Doug also offers puzzles that are great for teaching children counting and the alphabet.

They’ve also got puzzles with themes of shapes, vehicles, instruments, and even states. A number of M&D puzzles even have talking boards, such as USA Map Sound Puzzle, which speaks the name of the state and its capital when the puzzle piece is lifted. Melissa & Doug puzzles are beautifully designed and excellently crafted, and are sure to become a favorite in any child’s toy box.