Animal Crackers 300 Piece Puzzle

Why is this product Super Cool?

First I'd like to state that the Cool Rating for all Ravensburger Jigsaw Puzzles is based on the testing of two puzzles. We chose the Animal Crackers 300 piece puzzle and Sweet Dreams 300 piece puzzle to test. We chose them because they were small enough to build quite quickly, because the Animal Crackers puzzles is recommended as an adult puzzle while the Sweet Dreams puzzle is recommended as a kid puzzle and we were curios about the differences (of which we found few), and because we particularly liked the pictures of these two puzzles.

We think it's reasonable to assume the entire line of Ravensburger jigsaw puzzles would be fairly represented, at least with respect to quality, by these two puzzles. With that said, here is at least part of why we decided to rank Ravensburger Puzzles as Very Cool.

Encourages a Variety of Developmental Skills

Puzzles in general are really great for helping your child develop skills in shape, color and pattern recognition. Solving puzzles promote logical thinking and exercises spacial awareness. Even though puzzles have been around for a long time they, in our opinion, are still one of the best educational toys available.

Encourages Parent-Child Bonding

Helping your child, especially a younger child, work through a puzzle is a fantastic bonding opportunity. Taking the time to encourage your child through the puzzle building process is such a wonderful way to spend a little quality time together.

A Non-Demanding Focal Point for Family Fun

Puzzles can be a great focal point for a family fun night (or rainy Saturday). Puzzles have an advantage over board games in that they don't demand that all players are present at all times. So if Suzie wants to take a call from her best friend, or Joey forgot to do the last two problems of his math homework, or Dad needs to check on dinner, it's all good. No one is holding up the game and the available players can just keep on playing. This flexibility is especially inviting for busy families. Puzzles can provide the focal point for a family to gather without demanding everyone's full attention at all times.

Wow Factor

Okay, I admit it, most kids are not going to jump up and down exploding with wild excitement over a jigsaw puzzle. Puzzles just don't seem to elicit a huge “WOW” factor. That is the main reason we rank our puzzles as Very Cool instead of Super Cool.

High Quality

Ravensburger is known for quality and the puzzles we carry do not disappoint. Very sturdy, thick puzzle pieces that fit together snugly, just the way a puzzle should. I've done a few puzzle in my time and most are reasonable, some very disappointing, but the two Ravensburger puzzles I tested (Sweet Dreams and Animal Crackers) were flat out impressive - and I'm not overstating. I was really impressed with the thickness of the puzzle pieces, the durability of each individual piece as well as the way the puzzle pieces fit together. I was very pleased with the overall sturdiness of the finished puzzle. So often a brand is hyped beyond reality, but not in this case - these Ravensburger jigsaw puzzles are the best quality puzzles I've worked - period.

Good Value

Puzzles in general are a good value. Small to medium sized puzzles are typically under 15 bucks and you can do them over and over providing lots of entertainment for a wide range of family members. Or if you prefer you can glue your finished jigsaw puzzle to a backing and create a great wall hanging. I would take it a step further and say that due to the high quality of our Ravensburger puzzles they are an exceptional value over standard puzzles.