I bought Sami her first puzzle in early 2017 when she was just over 1 year old. I was a little skeptical since the puzzle stated that it was for ages 2+. I've since learned that I can disregard that suggestion on many toys unless they do have tiny parts.
Her first puzzle is one of the best I've seen. It had 9 little hinged doors, and in each was a magnet. For example, there's a dog house on the door and inside is a magnet shaped dog. There's a garage and inside there's a magnet shaped car. The outer edges of the magnet are also color coded to help the little ones out. Here's a link to the puzzle: https://www.target.com/p/melissa-doug-hide-seek-board-game/-/A-50715782
This puzzle not only helped her with colors, but helped her learn new sounds and eventually words. Her favorite magnet was the car for a long time. She use to call a car a "beep beep" which makes me really nostalgic to think about. What a cutie!
She also loved playing with the magnets on the fridge. She'd take one from the puzzle, run to the kitchen, them back and forth one at a time. It was a great way to get her tired for nap time! She certainly doesn't play with this puzzle as much as she used to, but oh the fun we had. She still plays with it from time to time and can name all the items with ease. The lunchbox, treasure and turkey used to stump her a little.
She's since gotten a few more puzzles. One is a Mickey Mouse one with all the characters from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It's a wood puzzle where the characters drop-into place. This one was a little challenging at first since her motor skills were still in the early stages of development when she got it (around 18 months of age). She knew where the characters went, so she'd put it in the area of where they would go, but they weren't in the correct position to be able to fall in. She's a champ now, but I think it was a good tool to help her work on her motor skills. Here's a link to that one: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Disney-Mickey-Mouse-Clubhouse-Wooden-Chunky-Puzzle/40752751
She got a similar puzzle for Christmas, a drop-into place one. This one continues to help with re-enforcing colors and shapes. She knows all the shapes although she'll mix up a few every now and then. We work on them every week and it makes it fun for her. Sometimes I'll take the pieces asking her where they go. "I'll ask her does it go here?" "No......." she replies "It goes here Mama". Here's the link: https://www.target.com/p/melissa-doug-174-wooden-chunky-puzzle-set-wild-safari-animals-and-shapes-16pc/-/A-51215997
Lastly I got her a wooden jigsaw puzzle. This one is definitely more challenging with its 12 pieces. I kind of wish it had an image of what it's supposed to look like on the bottom of the holder to assist her with where it goes, but she's getting it more and more every time we do the puzzle. She often selects the correct place for it, but isn't lifting it to snap it into place, or turns it the wrong way. She'll get there I'm sure. I try to get her to associate the different colors to match up each piece. Here's a link to this puzzle:
https://www.target.com/p/melissa-doug-174-animals-wooden-jigsaw-puzzles-set-pets-and-farm-life-24pc/-/A-50224844
I don't want Sami to grow up too fast, and I savor every day with my little girl. But part of me can't wait for her to be old enough to complete 1000+ piece puzzles with me.
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