Product Description

Children, parents, and teachers alike will love this puzzle because the pieces are actually shaped like the countries of the world so you can't complete this 600-piece puzzle without figuring out where every country is located. No other puzzle comes with such a superb geography lesson! Ages: 8+ Manufacturer: A Broader View Made In: USA

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8216 in Toys & Games
• Brand: Reveal Entertainment
• Released on: 2006-09-08
• Dimensions: 2.30" h x 10.30" w x 15.30" l, 2.20 pounds

Features

• All 193 countries and their capital
• All 50 states of the US and their capitals
• All 13 territories and provinces of Canada and their capitals
• Lots of other important geographical information contained within the oceans' borders
• Recently awarded Top Educational Resource of the Year!

From the Manufacturer
A challenging 600-piece puzzle of the world that has individual pieces shaped like the world's 192 countries. A great way to learn geography while having fun.

Customer Reviews

Cool puzzle, not highest quality pieces
We are really enjoying this puzzle, and learning a lot. The information written on the oceans makes the puzzle more interesting and manageable.

The pieces are necessarily very small to match the size of the countries. The bigger problem is that they curl up just a bit, so the pieces don't lie flat as you make the puzzle. This is frustrating, and you don't get that satisfying feeling as you put a piece in, as you have to press it down a few times and it still doesn't quite flatten down. I'm trying covering the finished puzzle with heavy books, but I suspect it's just a problem of cheap glue.

Still, I give it four stars since a good world puzzle is very hard to find, and the content is good.

Putting the World Back Together Again
If you've ever felt like the world has fallen apart and you're the only one with the sense to put it back together, this puzzle is a good first stop. It's a lot of fun, and very educational. It's hard to learn geography, mostly because of all the memorization entailed. But this puzzle will help you learn where all the countries are and other geographic facts.

The country pieces don't interlock, so it's challenging. Most of the country pieces are shaped like their actual borders, but some really tiny and very large countries are not. The small pieces (some are VERY small) are easily lost, so be careful. All countries are featured, and all capitals. The oceans tiles (most of the planet is water) would be really hard to piece together, so they put some basic demographic facts about all the countries in the ocean space--listed alphabetically to aid in assembly. This is a nice touch, but also my main reservation.

My two complaints: there isn't enough oceanic geography and there isn't enough topographic data. The puzzle is purely geopolitical (good in its own right), but lacking in mountain ranges, rivers, and water-based features. Sure, the major oceans and seas are named and so are the more basic features like the Gulf of Mexico. But smaller features are not labeled, like Straits, etc. You can see the Nile, but it's not named. Niether are ANY mountain ranges or topographical features (although, it would not be practical anyway... but it's still a trade off: better country data for poorer data elsewhere).

Regardless, this is a great product. One just has to realize that it is geopolitically centered. I would really love if the made additional map-puzzles in this line for terrain features. IE pieces shaped like rivers, pennisulas, mountain ranges, etc. And with topographical, rather than political, data. That would be an excellent compannion piece if they would add it to their line.

Buy this for kids failing geography, puzzle-lovers and nerds of all ages.

Not quite what we expected
Great puzzle but not all the country pieces are shaped like the country. This upset my 5 year old son. Many of the pieces are quite small and since the country pieces don't interlock some of it was difficult to put together.