Home School Product Reviews

Timberdoodle’s catalog is full of curriculum resources and products for home educators, and my girls love looking at all the homeschool supplies they feature. They were thrilled to receive a Junior Puzzleball Globe from Timberdoodle for our family to review.

The 3D puzzle made by European game maker Ravensburger features curved plastic puzzle pieces that students assemble to create a sphere. The Junior edition of the Puzzleball Globe includes 96 colorful puzzle pieces that fit together to form a globe illustrated with kid-friendly graphics of birds and animals.

The product is recommended for children ages 6 and up. My 8-year-old daughter, who has always loved puzzles, opted to put it together the first time using the numbers stamped on the back of the curved pieces. She completed the globe puzzle in one sitting and thought it was a nice change from flat cardboard puzzles. No glue is required, and the pieces fit snugly together. For more of a challenge, she’ll try assembling the globe with a map without using the numbers. My 4-year-old isn’t able to do the puzzle by herself, but the pieces are the right size for her and she is able to help her big sister. My husband and I were both surprised and impressed by how sturdy the Puzzleball is when put together! You can toss it in the air and catch it like a regular ball, and the kids even rolled it back and forth to each other on our tile kitchen floor without it coming apart.

Unlike the versions designed for teens and adults, individual countries aren’t identified on the Junior Puzzleball, so its use for geography instruction is limited. The colorful illustrations make the globe appealing to my preschooler. She is now suddenly quite interested in learning about the continents and where things are in the world!

The Junior Puzzleball Globe costs $12.75 and is well worth the price. Puzzleball Globes are also available for older children as well as teens and adults; they come in 240-, 540-, and 960-piece models that include a plastic display base and/or a metal rotation stand. Watch the video below to see how to assemble a Puzzleball and use the included puzzle guides. (The globe in the video contains 540 pieces and is larger than the Junior one, which is about 5″ in diameter.)

The preceding is reposted from the Treasure Seekers blog.

The Global Puzzle really is wonderful, I always find country locations I didn’t know before.  We like to assign continents of the world to the child we think most needs to work on that area.  Of course, my husband and I usually get stuck putting together the oceans; they are the tedious part.  If you love puzzles and have an afternoon to while away, this is great fun.

Read additional customer reviews of The Global Puzzle

Europe Geopuzzle has 50 pieces and is 19" x 16"

I bought GeoPuzzles because my children have no enthusiasm for learning geography.  To increase the educational value I have the kids say the name of the country puzzle pieces outloud as they add it to the puzzle. But my kids increased the educational value ten-fold by quizzing each other after the puzzle is finished.  They take turns removing a piece and trying to stump each other naming the missing piece.  If the missing piece can’t be guessed, the country is spelled one letter at a time until someone guesses it. Not only are they learning, but they are having fun together.