Fairy Tale Puzzles

Traditionally, my dad receives a puzzle every Christmas and then he spends part of the holiday putting it together with other family members sitting in to help and chat at times. Over the years, we've tried several different puzzles, but in the end we usually enjoy a complex but straightforward big puzzle (over a thousand pieces). This year I'm leaning towards a puzzle that fits my interests especially after I fell in love with a few of the ones I'll share below. How wonderful that Dad doesn't care about the image as much as the fun of doing the puzzle so a fairy tale themed one will just make him smile with me and give us something to share.

This puzzle of James Christensen's fairy tale painting is 1,500 pieces and is one of my top picks. I love the painting anyway and it is really perfect for a puzzle.


The next is an image pulled from Walter Wick's Can You See What I See? Once Upon A Time book. I own the book, but not the puzzle, and have spent more than a few hours with my nephew pouring over its pages. It works in the I Spy universe of books where you search for objects in the elaborate photo spreads. Once again, nice and intricate imagery and perfect for a puzzle. This one is 1,000 pieces. (I'll include the book image first.)



I have several Melissa and Doug floor puzzles on hand for when I have visitors under age 10. (Favorites include the solar system and the USA map.) These withstand a lot of abuse and are fun as long as you have enough floor space to build them. I don't have either of these fairy tale castles, yet.




The Fairy Tale Picture Cube Puzzle (12 pieces) by Fischer is for children and not inexpensive being made of wood and imported from Switzerland, but it's fun because it's six puzzles in one using sides of blocks to create six different fairy tale scenes: Snow White awakened by the Prince; Hansel and Gretel at the witch's house; the Frog King at the well; Red Riding Hood and the Wolf; Lucky Hans; and Sleeping Beauty. Click on the image or link to see a slightly bigger image of it.


I admit I found several more, but have decided to stop here. These were most of my favorites at least...perhaps I'll share more or move on to another type of 'toy' tomorrow.