Puzzles have always filled our toy closet. One of our first was a 6 piece wooden puzzle with different shaped airplanes. Each piece had a handle, making it easy for little hands to manipulate and practice spacial orientation.
We have since graduated from 6 piece puzzles to 1,000 plus pieces. Some are 3D and others come in strange shapes and packaging. According to my kids, the more challenging the better.
We just received the coolest puzzles as a gift and I had to share. Have you heard of MUJI [1]? MUJI is a Japanese company which sells a large variety of household and consumer products, including really awesome puzzles. MUJI [2] is known for it’s minimal designs, emphasis on recycling, avoidance of waste in production and packaging, and no-logo or “no-brand” policy. The name MUJI means No Brand Quality Goods. They spend little money on advertising or marketing. Most of their success comes from word of mouth. How cool is that? There are a few stores in New York City and others sprinkled around the globe.
We received three different puzzles, one for each child.
At first glance, the puzzle pieces are extremely plain. No color or fancy design. They basically look like pieces of cardboard made from recycled paper [3].
The instructions were relatively simple and when they finished we had three incredible, 3D puzzles.
We quickly discovered that the puzzles could be shared. They took the pieces apart and swapped. The elephant above was put together and taken apart several times.
The owl was one of my favorites. It looks somewhat daunting in this photo.
The airplane was an interesting gray color. If you look closely you can see how the numbers are used to match up pieces.
These interesting puzzles make a fantastic gift!
Do you have a favorite puzzle?
In honor of not-so Wordless Wednesday I’ve linked up with Better in Bulk [4], Dagmar’s Momsense [5], Live and Love Out Loud, Project Alicia [6], Mama Dweeb [7], From PDX With Love and I Thought I Knew Mama.