GeoPuzzle

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.

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.

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.

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!

They arrived on time. Haven’t put them together yet, (Christmas presents) but the pieces sound heavy, as advertised. Despite these being more homework than toy, I anticipate a bunch of fun hanging out with my kiddo making them. The quality is good. the child-reaction/involvement will totally depend on your kid.... I mean, it’s a puzzle and it’s not bunnies or unicorns ;) However, I plan on bringing out the encyclopedia/internet while we’re doing the puzzle to attach the pieces to ideas and discussions. I think it’s going to be a lot of good time spent, trying to make the discussion about things that interest my kiddo that also apply to the country we’re placing. (I bought the whole world in continents... 5 puzzles in all because I was a tad shocked when my 11 year old couldn’t find... ‘the country of Africa’ :O yikes) ;)

Man ist ob der Maße/Flächen der einzelnen Länder immer wieder überrascht und hat deshalb auch Schwierigkeiten, kleine Staaten auf der Landkarte (Puzzlefläche) richtig zuzuordnen. Uns allen (3 Generationen) macht dieses Puzzle mächtig Spaß und regt zu weiteren Recherchen (Atlanten, Karten etc.) an.

Gioco istruttivo e grazioso per bambini forse qualche pezzo troppo piccolo

The best thing ever in the whole world I love it great for people who's into geography!

Se lo compré a mi hija de 4 años y se lo pasa muy muy montándolo mientras aprende geografía. Es un producto resistente y que viene en una bolsa para su buena conservación.