GeoToys GeoPuzzle, World Shaped Jigsaw Puzzles, 68 Pc Geography Puzzle, Geography Game & Map Puzzle, Jigsaw Puzzles for Kids Ages 6-9 Years Old

The pieces are made well. I"ll be purchasing other puzzles from this seller.

We bought this puzzle to help with my son's cartography class, and have put it together and taken it apart upwards of 20 times already! It makes schoolwork much easier and much more enjoyable for him, and has given us the ability to have timed competitions and quiz each other on countries and their capitals in an interactive way!We were completely blown away by the quality and the way we were blessed by this map! 5 stars!

As a homeschooler and a geography enthusiast, I purchased a set of both of the current lines of continent puzzles on the market--The GeoPuzzles from GeoToys and The Continent Puzzles by A Broader View.Although I give them all five stars, I certainly found distant advantages to both.First of all, the puzzle pieces of the GeoPuzzles are thicker which suggests to me a higher quality, but that is to be expected as the price is actually more than double. The GeoPuzzles also come in a box for quick storage.The Continent Puzzles from A Broader View have numerous advantages themselves. First of all, they give a quicker and more direct educational experience. This is because the frame of the puzzle actually is the oceans and/or bordering continents so that the puzzle solver can get right down to the business of learning the countries of the continent. The Continent Puzzles can also be conveniently stacked to save a lot of closet space in comparison with the overall size of the GeoPuzzles.Also, I noticed that the GeoPuzzles use a Mercator Projection. If you are not familiar with the term, the Mercator Projection is a particular way to lay out a map in which the longitudinal lines(north/south lines)are represented as parallel from the top to the bottom of the map, which basically means that the point at the top of the North Pole is the same length as the entire equator. This seriously distorts the size and shapes of all land masses. I know a lot of kids don't notice these things, but no reason to give them a distorted view of the world . The Continent PuPuzzles from A Broader View use a different projection for each continent that is relevant to its shape and position.Further, for each continent from the ABV puzzles, the entire continent is represented. I noticed that some of the GeoPuzzles do not include the entire continent;in fact, what would have been the North America puzzle was converted into USA and Canada puzzle, meaning Central America and the Caribbean are not represented at all. FYI, Central America and the Caribbean are part of North America.The ABV Continent Puzzles also do an excellent job of showing the boundaries of the continents, which I would say is critical to learning about the continents. The GeoPuzzles lack this effort. The Continent Puzzles also have representations of many famous landmarks.As I mentioned, I give both sets 5 stars, but it depends on what you are looking for. The GeoPuzzles have good entertainment value and The Continent Puzzles excel both in educational and price value.

I searched for a good puzzle for Africa. This was one of the few I could find with South Sudan. Giving it 4/5 as it’s better than others out there.However, upon receiving, I realized that Mauritius is missing. It is an official country of Africa. It is larger than some of the other islands shown. There is space for it in the ocean so we will probably draw it in.It is also named Africa and Middle East, but only includes part of the ME. I understand it includes what is close to Africa, but should clarify that it’s part of ME nor all.

Our 4 year old loves this set - For the past 4-5 months he has been completely absorbed in learning about space/planets/galaxies/nebulas/stars/etc... so I thought this may be a relevant diversion into something more "earthly" - haha... He still has interest in comparing everything out in space, but also compares it to countries now :) (i.e. Russia is wider than Mercury's diameter).Pros: Either way, it's a great educational tool to introduce kids to the concept of continents, countries, different bodies of water, capitals, etc... For the younger kids (my 4 year old included) help will/may be needed in putting the puzzles together since a lot of the pieces (because they are shaped like the countries/states) do not fit and stay together like a traditional puzzle where pieces lock with each other. That's not a big deal, because having a parent/adult around is the best way to work on these puzzles (at least initially) so you can go over all the names together.Some Cons: Quality of the pieces is not bad, but for the price I wish it was a bit heavier. I have some pieces that I have to sort of gently bend, so they fit in with the puzzle; and then there are some that already have "cracks" or bending in the skinny parts, where it may break off at some point) - and this was prior to being used a couple of times. Secondly: Only 2 of the puzzles (the World and USA/Canada) came with a paper "map" of what the puzzle should look like. I think adding a map was great idea, but I'm not sure why my other 4 puzzles didn't come with one. SELLER, please contact me if you can provide these maps. Thank you.Great / fun learning tool overall. Even I enjoy doing these puzzles.EDITED on 12/5/2014: I had contacted the company about missing maps and they were mailed to me in a couple of days. Great customer service. Thank you.