The Global Puzzle

by Lisa S on 2011-12-02
We borrowed this puzzle from a friend, and we love it. My children have just turned 11 and 13.This puzzle is an addictive family project, and we feel comfortable with the idea that the pieces will hook up in the end. My daughter helped me when she said the comments in the ocean are alphabetized from left to right. We are unashamedly using the box as a guide. My kids are singing the geography songs to help themselves.

by Shannon R on 2011-08-07
We LOVED the challenge of this puzzle and learned so much together. I agree with the other reviews and wish the country pieces interlocked, but this won't keep us from doing the puzzle again. We will definitely start with the oceans next time and will organize those pieces alphabetically. We used the back as a guide every step of the way and even had the globe by us too as the picture on the back of the box is too small to read. This is NOT a kid project, but a family project. Next time we work it we will try to use less help from the box and globe but we are still learning together and making memories.

by April C on 2011-05-06
be warned, when pieces are "shaped like countries" this means they do not interlock nicely which can be extremely frustrating while working on it. I wish they'd redo this puzzle, because while there is value in placing countries in the right place, I don't think there's any inherent value in the pieces being shaped like the country - a puzzle needs to be able to be "put together"

by LORA N on 2010-10-13
This puzzle is more challenging than I expected. For us, this was a family activity with me (Mom) as the main participant. I bought it thinking it was something I could get my kids to put together every now and then to work on their geography skills. I realize now it's more of a family activity, like playing a game together. I can't imagine getting us to do it more than once or twice a year. So for us, it's a nice family project, but it's not a strong tool for working regularly on geography.

by ANDRA S on 2010-09-23
We loved it! We did the boarder first then the continents and then the ocean. It was a fun way to spend the last few days at home with my sick 6 year old.

by LAURA B on 2010-07-24
This doesn't say when it was made. Are the country names up to date? Is this the latest version of it? I won't buy it until this info is mentioned in the description. Please add it. Thanks. Good concept though. Would be interested if it were current.

by "Lori Jo" S on 2010-03-18
I'm disappointed - the descriptions Sonlight gave on the website "the pieces are actually shaped like the countries, which means you have to figure out where every country is located in order to complete the puzzle" is a bit misleading. Not all the countries had their own pieces and some countries were spread across multiple pieces. I guess I should have read the reviews before ordering but I've always trusted Sonlight's descriptions in the past. Please change your description so others won't end up with the same disappointment.

by JENNY R on 2009-09-18
We are a family that LOVES puzzles, so this was just another fun challenge for the 4 of us. My 9yo enjoyed it, but my 7yo was a bit bored after he finished putting South America together. As parents, we learnt a whole lot about Georaphy, I'll admit! It was tricky keeping the non-interlocking country bits together, while we figured out where the ocean pieces fitted in. We played the Geography songs CD in the background while building. It was quite addictive and we finished it in 2 sittings. Much enjoyed.

by ROBIN E. W on 2009-08-25
We just did the for the first time this morning, spending about 2 or 3 hours straight on it to complete it. I had originally purchased it 3 years ago, but it was too hard for us then. The dexterity needed made it a good project for my 12 year old, 10 year old, and me working together. It was somewhat fun, and would be much more fun for a family the loves puzzles (we think they are okay). I'm glad we finally got around to putting it together, and we'll do it again I'm sure, but I know of better ways to learn world geography.

by KERRY H on 2009-06-19
I was a bit disappointed. I thought the entire puzzle would be bigger and that each country would have its own piece. Some pieces are incredibly small. I find the facts on the ocean pieces way too busy and useless banter. Due to countries not interlocking, the areas you've already put together move around a lot. They recommend you put the ocean together first, however there is so much ocean - realistic yes, but if pieces of ocean were bigger, you could get to the meat of the puzzle faster..the countries! My 10 year old is not interested in helping with it. Improvements could be made. This company also makes continent puzzles. I would hope the pieces would be bigger, more visible in those. Good idea, needs improvement.