Family Style Jigsaw Puzzle

Family-Style Puzzles have three different sized pieces.

Do you love jigsaw puzzles and wish the whole family could sit down together and join in the fun, but a 750 piece puzzle would be too hard for one and a 200 piece puzzle would be too easy for another? Well wish no longer because it is possible to purchase "family style" jigsaw puzzles, puzzles that are designed so that everyone can work together at their own level.

Family-style puzzles include three different sized pieces - small, medium and large - in one box. I have given these puzzles as gifts and recommended them to families on numerous occasions. I'm always happy when I can figure out an activity that families can do together when there are different cognitive and/or skill levels involved, and this is one. 

A family-style puzzle typically starts on one side with a single sized piece and moves to the other side (or top to bottom), with the pieces changing in size as you go. I haven't run across them too often, but we assembled one a couple of days ago at home and then I saw another family-style puzzle at one of my kid's homes yesterday. So I am going to add the few I know about below and then I will do a computer search and see if I can find others.

Here is the puzzle we recently assembled and the graphic on the back that showed where the different sized pieces were located on the puzzle. Let the kids start on the big pieces on one side, the adults start with the small pieces on the other side, and work until you meet somewhere in the middle.

For tips on how to teach kids how to work jigsaw puzzles, read my post Tips for Assembling Jigsaw Puzzles.

NOTE: I have owned and/or blogged about the first few puzzles on the list. The others I found through an internet search and are affiliate links to Amazon.

Snowy Afternoon Friends - 300 pieces

Disney Family Christmas Jigsaw Puzzle - 400 pieces

I SPY Christmas - WARNING - This is not a family style puzzle, even though the box says so and even shows the piece sizes on the box. The pieces are all the same size.

The Peanuts Movie Family Puzzle - 400 pieces

Peeking Through - 400 pieces (animals)

Together Time - 400 pieces (Charlie Brown)

Puppies Picnic - 399 pieces

Gingerbread Houses - 350 pieces

Summer Carnival - 400 pieces

Apple of My Eye - 400 pieces

Springtime Wonders - 400 pieces (animals)

Ocean Park - 400 pieces

Three Generations - 400 pieces


Check out other types of puzzles I have blogged about:

Junior Princess Ball Puzzle - 96 pieces

Progressive Puzzles - 9 board puzzles for beginners - 4 to 9 pieces each

Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles - A good place to start

Tumble Jumble Pond Life Puzzle - A 3D puzzle with rectangular pieces printed on all sides

Bean Boozled

Bean Boozled - If you dare.

 
From Jelly Belly comes the jelly bean game called Bean Boozled. Not for everyone, this game will require you to eat jelly beans that may be delicious or may be absolutely disgusting. In public. Without throwing up.

I stumbled onto this game in the candy section at Wal-Mart (during the Easter season of all things - jelly beans). There is a Christmas version of this game that is called Naughty or Nice, and an individual pack that is not a game. I've also seen them in the Halloween candy section at the grocery store this year, many small bags to hand out with just a few beans to a bag. The "trick" may ultimately end up on the trick-or-treater who unknowingly pops a few without reading the bag first. 

There are 10 different colors of jelly beans to a game. Each color comes in two different flavors. For instance, the two flavors for the green jelly bean are lime and lawn clippings. It is impossible to tell the two apart by looking and they don't smell different. You will only know which one you got when you chew into it. On each turn, all players will eat one of the same color jelly bean. You will either get a spinner (see image above) to choose the jelly bean color each turn, or you can just take turns picking. Some people will get the regular Jelly Belly flavor and some people will get the gross flavor. Here are the flavors that came in our plastic jar:

• Black - Licorice vs skunk spray
• Brown - Chocolate pudding vs canned dog food
• Green - Lime vs lawn clippings
• Blue - Berry blue vs toothpaste
• Pink speckled - Tutti fruitti vs stinky socks
• White speckled - Buttered popcorn vs rotten eggs
• Orange - Peach vs barf
• White - Coconut vs baby wipes
• Green speckled - Juicy pear vs booger
• Yellow speckled - Caramel corn vs moldy cheese

I see that they have new versions and some new flavors now, so yours may vary. Some of them were actually tolerable, like the lawn clippings and toothpaste. However, it took me forever to get the taste of the stinky socks out of my mouth, even after rinsing my mouth and brushing my teeth. And a speech therapist that was playing refused to go on after eating canned dog food, it was that bad to her. My biggest fear was the black jelly bean - skunk spray vs licorice. I couldn't believe the negative anticipation that built up, worrying about it a little more as each person took a turn choosing a flavor combo. So when it came to me, I chose skunk spray just to get it over with. Fortunately I got licorice, and I love licorice. Although my sister hates licorice so much that she might opt for the skunk spray.

The game may be played while keeping score - if you get the "good" flavor you get a point. However, you will have absolutely no control over which flavor you get as they both look exactly alike in each category, so keeping score seems pointless to me. And besides, don't you think the person who gets the disgusting bean should get the point, just because of what they had to go through?


Try this:

• Keep a few "spit bowls" handy or give each person his own paper cup. 
• Watch each person's face as they chew and see if you can guess which flavor, instead of everyone eating at once. Try to keep a straight face on bad ones and gag on good ones. Then get a point for each person you fooled.
• Don't move it around in your mouth too much after you have chewed into a bad one. The fewer taste buds it hits the better off you'll be. 

In the box: Varies depending on container.