Melissa & Doug Pets Sound Puzzle Review

There’s nothing like a good puzzle between friends!

While some mamas might take the gift of a noise-making toy to be a subtle jab at their sanity, I, for one, welcome it!

When my daughter celebrated her first birthday this past January, one friend bought us the same puzzle that her own son (just five months older) was absolutely enamoured with, which has lead me to put together my Melissa & Doug Pets Sound Puzzle review!

This adorable 8-piece puzzle features all sorts of cute little pets — a kitten, a puppy, a horse & more — which all sound off as each puzzle piece it put back in its respective place. The sounds are pretty cute, if not a little electronic sounding, but they certainly get a great reaction out of kids! Gretchen has even started mimicking the horse’s neigh – so sweet!

The pictures are nicely drawn and the whole puzzle is quite attractive, which is something that I have to give kudos to Melissa & Doug for — their products are all ones which I have no problem displaying in our home. It’s always a bonus when the toys your kids like are ones that you don’t mind seeing strewn across the floor each day!

I will have to admit that there are a few little annoyances that come along with this particular puzzle.

For starters, there’s a good chance your child will figure out that she doesn’t actually need to place the animals in their correct place for the sound to go off — if they play their cards right, the kitty piece will almost definitely set off the budgie sound, and so on. It’s also possible to hit the toy/step on it hard enough to get a meow or squeak to happen!

The little  sensors are SUPER sensitive, which brings me to my other little annoyance: shutting doors, footsteps and turning lights on and off will ALSO be rewarded with neighs and barks! For the first little while we weren’t so bothered by the sounds, but sometimes even having the TV on, or tiptoeing past the shelf where it was stored would cause it to go off. Mostly it’s not so bad, but there have been times where we’ve taken out the three AAA batteries (not included) just to give it a little rest.

However, even with its somewhat possessed nature, our daughter loves this toy enough for us to keep it in rotation. The age specs on the back of the puzzle state recommend it for 2-4 years, but our 15-month-old has been happy playing with it for several months birthday. Even when the batteries are MIA, she still likes pulling the pieces up and trying to fit them back into place. Her smiley reaction to the chirps & ribbits are more than worth the little sounds which mysteriously emanate from our living room in the middle of the night!

According to the back of the puzzle:

“All Melissa & Doug products are carefully crafted using non-toxic coating and meet or exceed all US toy testing standards.”

Their website also provides information about their CPSIA compliance and their safety statement.

This puzzle is definitely something which could be passed down to friends or future babies. Even if the sound mechanism were to eventually fail, our daughter has proven that the puzzle on its own is intriguing enough to hold her attention.

Thank goodness!

• Eco-Awareness:
  
• Luxurious:
  
• High-Design:
  
• Good Value for your Money:
  
• Good Gift:
  
• Appropriate for Ages:
  2-3 yrs old