Melissa & Doug Mix-Up 'N Match Wooden Bear Family Dress-Up Puzzle

3-bear puzzle with mix-n-match outfits and multiple expressions.

In the box: 45 pieces

This 3-bear puzzle (mama, papa, and baby) comes with lots of pieces so you can dress them in a variety of mix and match outfits. Each bear is made of up three pieces - head, top, and bottom.

The wooden box stores all the pieces and the large rectangular piece where you see the three bears assembled (above) is the box lid. There are cut out shapes on the lid where you assemble the puzzles. The pieces do not fit tight enough to leave them on the lid when you are done unless you are not going to tip the box, as they would fall out. The lid slides on and off through groves, but does not lock in place in any way. I just put a rubber band around it when if I carry it with me. 

There is a variety of clothing for the bears including casual, dressy, pajamas, long-sleeved, short-sleeved, sweaters, sandals, boots etc. Most of mama bears bottoms are skirts. Each bear will only use his or her specific pieces, so clothing and heads are not interchangeable between characters. The bear faces show a variety of expressions and emotions. Good for a starting point if you are working on reading facial expressions.

Happy, angry, sad, surprised, worried.

Try this:

• After assembling the puzzle, tell a story based on the bears faces (emotions) and clothing.
• Tell a story and ask the individual to build each bear as you describe it, with an appropriate facial expression and outfit.
• Describe an outing and ask the individual to dress the bears, such as going shopping or going for a hike in the woods on a chilly morning.
• Ask the individual to dress each bear so that they are all wearing a specific color, such as all wearing something with red.
• Sort the clothing by different attributes: by bear, by common color, by shape, tops and bottoms.
• Line the bear heads up and name the emotion on each face. Tell something each face might be thinking about.
• Line the bear heads up and describe an occurrence, such as you just walked in on your surprise birthday party or your brother won't share the last piece of cake with you, and ask the individual to choose the expression that best fits how he would feel.
• Sort the pieces into the box by character when putting them away.
• Scatter all the pieces on the playing surface and ask the individual to look them over to find the appropriate pieces.
• Put only the necessary pieces near the individual for assembling if he cannot start out sorting through different shapes and sizes in a large grouping.
• Place the pieces on the table up-side down (colored side up) and ask the individual to turn each piece in-hand to orient for placement.
• Work on visual discrimination, figure ground, eye-hand coordination, in-hand manipulation, manual dexterity, interpreting facial expressions, dressing for different occasions, executive functioning skills, process skills, creative play, play and leisure exploration and participation