In case you missed it, I recently posted about our day at the Junior Scholars blogging event in Watford. The children were given the chance to take an item each to review at home. Mr T did not hesitate to make his choice: The Lanka Kade Dinosaur Alphabet Puzzle.
This is a wooden Fair Trade product made from sustainable rubberwood and painted with safe non toxic paint. You can definitely tell that it is a good quality product and very well made. Each piece is thick and chunky and there are no rough edges, chips or imperfections anywhere on the puzzle.
We do have a couple of Lanka Kade products already and it’s a company I really like, as our family is half Sri Lankan its nice to support great ethical Sri Lankan companies like this so I was pleased to see Junior Scholars stocking a wide range of the Lanka Kade puzzles. (See the full range here)
Mr T chose the puzzle due to the dinosaur design as he is keen on dinosaurs and he seemed to like the large size of the puzzle. Once we got it home, all 3 of the boys have enjoyed playing with it (age 2, 3 and 5)
Mr T and Mr R don’t yet know their alphabet but by working out where the pieces fitted together they were able to complete the puzzle, and Mr Z (5) was able to complete it very quickly as he does know his alphabet. He enjoyed using the puzzle to teach some of the letters to the younger ones. I can see the younger two (age 3 and 2) getting more play from the puzzle over time as it challenged them more.
It’s a lovely puzzle to help familiarise them with their letters in a fun way.
The only improvement I would say with Lanka Kade puzzles is that it would be good to have a storage tray or box to come with them. We do have a turtle one, which we got from a relative who bought it in Sri Lanka, which comes in a tray so its easier to keep all the pieces together but with the ones you find in the UK you do need to find your own way of storing them. We keep ours in a basket, but any storage boxes or even zip lock bags could work.
The large dinosaur puzzle is £14.99 from Junior Scholars which I would say is good value, and you can get the same puzzle in the number version if you prefer. Junior Scholars also have some really cute small Lanka Kade puzzles which would be great for stocking fillers at Christmas:
Lanka Kade Puzzle Stocking Fillers from Junior Scholars by intheplayroom on Polyvore
Have you tried Lanka Kade puzzles before? Let me know what you think in the comments.