GeoToys GeoPuzzle, Latin America Shaped Jigsaw Puzzles, 50 Pc Geography Puzzle, Geography Game, Map Puzzle - Jigsaw Puzzles for Kids Ages 6-9 Years Old

As a homeschooler and a geography enthusiast, I purchased a set of both of the current lines of continent puzzles on the market--The GeoPuzzles from GeoToys and The Continent Puzzles by A Broader View.Although I give them all five stars, I certainly found distant advantages to both. First of all, the puzzle pieces of the GeoPuzzles are thicker which suggests to me a higher quality, but that is to be expected as the price is actually more than double. The GeoPuzzles also come in a box for quick storage. The Continent Puzzles from A Broader View have numerous advantages themselves. First of all, they give a quicker and more direct educational experience. This is because the frame of the puzzle actually is the oceans and/or bordering continents so that the puzzle solver can get right down to the business of learning the countries of the continent. The Continent Puzzles can also be conveniently stacked to save a lot of closet space in comparison with the overall size of the GeoPuzzles. Also, I noticed that the GeoPuzzles use a Mercator Projection. If you are not familiar with the term, the Mercator Projection is a particular way to lay out a map in which the longitudinal lines(north/south lines)are represented as parallel from the top to the bottom of the map, which basically means that the point at the top of the North Pole is the same length as the entire equator. This seriously distorts the size and shapes of all land masses. I know a lot of kids don't notice these things, but no reason to give them a distorted view of the world . The Continent PuPuzzles from A Broader View use a different projection for each continent that is relevant to its shape and position. Further, for each continent from the ABV puzzles, the entire continent is represented. I noticed that some of the GeoPuzzles do not include the entire continent;in fact, what would have been the North America puzzle was converted into USA and Canada puzzle, meaning Central America and the Caribbean are not represented at all. FYI, Central America and the Caribbean are part of North America. The ABV Continent Puzzles also do an excellent job of showing the boundaries of the continents, which I would say is critical to learning about the continents. The GeoPuzzles lack this effort. The Continent Puzzles also have representations of many famous landmarks. As I mentioned, I give both sets 5 stars, but it depends on what you are looking for. The GeoPuzzles have good entertainment value and The Continent Puzzles excel both in educational and price value.

We have the US, Europe, and Africa puzzles for homeschool, slowly working our way around the world. My 8yo can name every US capital and find every European and African country on the globe. My 5yo isn’t too far behind. I highly, highly recommend these types of puzzles. We do it once a day, and they learn the countries so fast. The only thing is that the puzzles needlessly combine some of the countries together in one piece, or some of the countries are part of the edge pieces rather than being their own pieces. But it’s not a huge deal, and my kids are still learning so much from them. It gives them so much more context when teaching them history and current events.

I bought these puzzles back in 2021. They are fantastic! Most of the states/countries are individual pieces so you learn the shape as well as location. They are high-quality puzzles. I have used them in grades first through eighth and the students love them. They get them out when they are finished with their work and enjoy doing them together. When I bought the puzzles, the product description said that if I ever lost a piece they would replace it. Of course over years at school pieces were lost so I finally put each puzzle together and made a list of what was missing. I received this in the mail today. You can see that there are multiple puzzles involved and they sent everything I ask for. Fantastic product and customer service!

This is perfect for my children, 6-10, and was even challenging enough for my husband and me to enjoy putting it together (without looking at the box). It's true that not all the countries are their own piece - too many would get lost that way, and it would be harder to keep the puzzle together. Most of the ocean is interlocking like a traditional puzzle, and many of the countries (or clusters of countries) are pieces shaped like the country. It's a satisfactory mix, enough that you need to know basically where each country goes, but not so detailed that you get hung up over a tiny obscure country. It's not a political research map, remember, it's a toy to aid geography awareness, and I think it accomplishes that very well. There were one or two pieces still stuck together slightly, but they separated fine. Overall, the pieces seem very sturdy and the cuts are well-defined. Since the countries are shaped like countries instead of puzzle pieces, you definitely need to do the puzzle on a table rather than carpet, and it is a little trickier to get the pieces to stay together initially, but once you have the interlocking pieces in place as well, the puzzle stays together well. Overall, an excellent buy, a quality product and one I would purchase again without hesitation!

Our 4 year old loves this set - For the past 4-5 months he has been completely absorbed in learning about space/planets/galaxies/nebulas/stars/etc... so I thought this may be a relevant diversion into something more "earthly" - haha... He still has interest in comparing everything out in space, but also compares it to countries now :) (i.e. Russia is wider than Mercury's diameter). Pros: Either way, it's a great educational tool to introduce kids to the concept of continents, countries, different bodies of water, capitals, etc... For the younger kids (my 4 year old included) help will/may be needed in putting the puzzles together since a lot of the pieces (because they are shaped like the countries/states) do not fit and stay together like a traditional puzzle where pieces lock with each other. That's not a big deal, because having a parent/adult around is the best way to work on these puzzles (at least initially) so you can go over all the names together. Some Cons: Quality of the pieces is not bad, but for the price I wish it was a bit heavier. I have some pieces that I have to sort of gently bend, so they fit in with the puzzle; and then there are some that already have "cracks" or bending in the skinny parts, where it may break off at some point) - and this was prior to being used a couple of times. Secondly: Only 2 of the puzzles (the World and USA/Canada) came with a paper "map" of what the puzzle should look like. I think adding a map was great idea, but I'm not sure why my other 4 puzzles didn't come with one. SELLER, please contact me if you can provide these maps. Thank you. Great / fun learning tool overall. Even I enjoy doing these puzzles. EDITED on 12/5/2014: I had contacted the company about missing maps and they were mailed to me in a couple of days. Great customer service. Thank you.

These are thick cardboard pieces. They come in separate plastic bags and then there are 6 resealable bags so once you open the puzzle you have a reusable bag. My daughter is 5 and needs help with this puzzle because some of the shapes are quite difficult. We completed Europe and it is large— do this on a smooth, hard type of floor or a dining table. I wouldn’t recommend trying to do this puzzle on carpet. The colors are bright and vivid. Everything has excellent detail. I use a digital globe to help her understand where the puzzle is in relation to where we live and other countries. The box comes with poster paper guides/templates to help you put the puzzle together. They are double sided (so 3 sheets total). I wish the sheets were sturdier, so I am planing to laminate them, so I don’t have to worry about them tearing. I also wish the box was bigger. All the puzzles are packed in like puzzle pieces themselves, so once you pull them out it is hard to get it all to fit nicely back in the box. I might just purchase a plastic bin to store them and use the box to store something else ( like all her other geography stuff). Overall, I am very impressed with the quality and size. I am so glad I got it for her and it something she will be able to grow into over the next couple of years.

Perfect for our study of China. This gave the kids some perspective of where it is in Asia and how big it is.

Note: I am putting many owner pics above for reference on my review. I am really disappointed in this puzzle and Amazon has issues with the Product Features and description. (I will let them know)... I was looking for a good useable puzzle that has the shape of each state in the US... (ie..trying to re-create a fun family pastime of putting the US puzzle together in the quickest time and once you were so good at it you got blindfolded and had to do it all by shape.)... The product features mentioned Jumbo sized pieces (not true)...but since I ordered both the US/CDN and World puzzles I see the box top of the World Puzzle indicates "Jumbo" (still not true) but the US/CDN does not reference "Jumbo sized". Each US state does not have its own piece shaped like the state. (VA & WV are together, MD,DE & NJ are one piece hooked to the Atlantic Ocean , VT, NH & MA are all one piece as well). The cardboard stock of the puzzle is not thick and out of the box we have many pieces that are warped or "popped-up" - making it extremely frustrating for a 7 and 9 yr old to put together. The puzzle is 17" x 17" but from the top of ND to the bottom of TX is only 6.5" ... I believe the designer was trying to stay true to actual sizes of land mass - but since GeoPuzzle doesn't have a USA puzzle alone I didn't think this would be as much of an issue as it is. More than 2/3 of the depth of the puzzle is NOT the US. Also since many of the CDN territories are divided on solid lines, there are minimal "jigsaw interlocking" pieces in this puzzle. There is no way you could move it after assembling because many pieces are just aligned next to each other. This is the drawback of puzzles shaped as the state/territory. The colors are brilliant, I appreciate the State Capitals printed on each state, and the labels on the Oceans. My kids do love putting it together but I think I need to buy a wooden puzzle for possibly three times as much money to get what I am remembering from childhood. My three star rating is in response to the quality of the cardboard - and the fact that the USA is only 1/3 of this puzzle. I really think GeoPuzzle should look to make a USA alone version in addition to their existing line. They already have HI in a small box on the side - they could do the same with AK.