Timberdoodle Puzzle Globe -- A Review

You may remember that Mr. Smackdown LOVES puzzles. During his rest time each day, he works on whatever 300-500 piece puzzle happens to be under construction in our bedroom on his work table. Sometimes when I resist the pull to be an adult, I join him as we hunt down the missing puzzle pieces. Our conversations are always unique and special.

So, when MamaBuzz announced the opportunity to use and review Timberdoodle's Puzzleball Globe with 96 pieces, you better bet I was all over it. We had had so much fun constructing this 3-D sphere!

And to be honest, while Mr. Smackdown was super excited about the Timberdoodle Puzzleball Globe by Ravensburg, I think that I was more excited about the Timberdoodle catalog was was included in the packaging materials! I discovered that Timberdoodle is an excellent resource for homeschooling curriculum and materials.



Let me give you some further insight into the theory behind this Puzzle Globe that was passed along to me. It is interesting and worth reading.

Why Give Your Child A Puzzle To Teach Geography? Puzzles can be educational in so many ways because they stretch your child's brain and improve the way his mind solves problems. While he's solving a puzzle, he's really teaching his brain to work in new ways. As your child solves a geography puzzle he is mentally drilling himself with physical facts, such as what country goes next to the one he has just completed. Unconsciously he is making a number of associations as he searches for the next piece.


More Realistic Than A Flat Puzzle: Flat puzzles of spherical items are easier to assemble, but what if you could hone your geographical skills on something more appropriate, more true to life? Now you can with Puzzleball Globes. These sturdy plastic 3-D puzzles come in different levels suitable to be used with beginners or for a refresher for both your pre-teens and older children.

No Glue Required! Each Puzzleball Globe comes with beautiful, vibrantly-colored, and perfectly-crafted curved puzzle pieces that allow for an exact fit and are easily assembled with no glue required!! A stand is included to display your work of art, but you will have so much fun putting it together that you shouldn't be surprised if the stand gets little use!

I like this puzzle because it will "grow" with our learning. There are 2 different ways to complete this puzzle: build it in numerical order according to the numbers located on the back of the puzzle or by matching the colored pieces up. Since Mr. Smackdown had never attempted such a unique puzzle before (and I wanted to take a multi-discipline approach to this) I got out our 100's chart. We placed the numbered puzzle pieces in numerical order.



By doing so, all he had to do was grab the pieces in order to construct his globe.


He was delighted when he began to see the Puzzle Globe take shape.


Look how happy he is! (And no, this wasn't posed. My kiddos are so used to the camera they pretty much ignore Willow.)



I love the look of concentration and seeing his fingers accomplish the task that is being sorted out in his brain.


Only a few pieces left!


Done! Let's do it again!

Mr. Smackdown actually commented on how strong the globe was after it was constructed. In fact, much to my dismay he began to play ball with it and roll it around on the floor!

For children in the early grades, consider the 96-piece Puzzleball Globe. Large pieces and child-friendly graphics make this a perfect puzzle for a six-year old. Bright, colorful, and adorned with animals, your young students will get a kick out of assembling and reassembling this puzzle. The cost of this GREAT Christmas gift is $12.75 and can be purchased at Timberdoodle. (Yes, that was a plug that I didn't write . . . but I wholeheartedly agree with the statments!)

This is a Mama Buzz review. The product was provided by: Timberdoodle for this review. I do not have to purchase or return the Puzzle Globe. No way! I'm keeping it!