Melissa Doug Animals Puzzle Effects Reviews Summary

Build Quality

Pros:

• "Like other Melissa and Doug products, this puzzle is well made and will hold up nicely through use by my four young children."
• "The wood quality is great."
• "Feels very sturdy and will hold up well over time."
• "The pieces themselves and the board are good quality."
• "The puzzle pieces seem quite sturdy."
• "The puzzle itself is wood so it's durable."
• "Like all M&D products, outstanding workmanship and bright, well made pieces."

Cons:

• "The puzzle feels cheap and it stopped working while playing one time!"
• "The old was made with real wood and this is cheap chipboard."
• "These puzzle pieces even though they are wooden, the top part is a sticker that peels up & off."
• "Some of the wood pieces were chipping off while my baby was playing with it or putting them in her mouth."
• "The edges of the puzzle pieces are sharp and there were splinters flaking off."
• "Absolute junk...made out of cardboard, and not wood. Sound doesn’t work."
• "The overall puzzle feels solid but the pieces seem easy to break."

Sound Functionality

Pros:

• "The animal noises are accurate."
• "Plays 'Old Mcdonald...' with different instruments and works well for our one year olds."
• "The sounds are cute and play for about 5 to 10 seconds."
• "The kids are motivated by the sounds, which to me sound different for each animal and aren't bad for a small sound chip."
• "The animal sounds are pretty good (better than some of the books that provide animal sounds)."
• "The pieces make sounds when you place them back in their spot on the puzzle, the sounds are clear & loud."
• "The sounds are proper sound of the animal."

Cons:

• "The sound doesn't always work. Sometimes it'll work but when it does it never plays the right noise."
• "The animal sounds have stopped working."
• "Sometimes it’ll play the sound but for a different animal. Most of the time it does not play the sound at all."
• "This is definitely an adorable puzzle, however the animal sounds made are not realistic and the puzzle sounds go off automatically."
• "The sounds are indictinct (literally cannot understand what the intended sound is on most of them!)"
• "The animal sounds are obnoxiously loud and awful and don't sound at all accurate."
• "It does not make the animal sound when the puzzle piece is placed and sometimes makes the wrong sound."

Educational Value

Pros:

• "The puzzles are especially great, They teach sorting, matching, following directions, taking turns."
• "My grandson loves these puzzles, he is 2 and a half. He has developed great motor skills, he matches them up to the slots."
• "It’s a great learning tool."
• "He laughs and giggles when the noises are made and it's really helped him with his motor skills."
• "It’s a great learning item, good for developing the pincher grasp and recognition of animals/matching."
• "They get to learn about animals and their sounds as well as shapes at the same time."
• "Great for motor skills as it takes a little more skill to place them down than the big, chunky puzzles."