'Who's In Space?' is without a doubt one of my favourite Orchard Toys products produced in the last year or so. And I am a big fan and we have a lot of their games and puzzles, so that statement is not made lightly.
The 25 piece jigsaw puzzle is aimed at children aged 3+, and depicts a scene of three astronauts (mixed gender and race, as with all Orchard Toys illustrations) on the moon completing some research. In the background are five of the planets in our solar system, the International Space Station, a comet, and a small green alien in a purple spaceship. Because after all this is a puzzle for children!
On the back of the box is a small guide providing further information to the objects in the puzzle; it identifies the planets, and provides a small explanation of the ISS, the 'moon buggy' as The Boy calls it (Planetary Rover), and the comet. This is incredibly useful and can help when using the puzzle as a discussion piece after. As with all Orchard Toys puzzles and games, the illustrations are in the trademark style, bright and colourful, and easy to understand.
Discussion is the main point of the Who's In Space? jigsaw puzzle; it has been labelled on the box as a talkabout first puzzle, and it does provide a huge wealth of talk opportunities which can lead onto other play activities.
As with all Orchard Toys games and puzzles, they have a handy educational guide on the back to show how the product helps your child:
- Develops hand-eye co-ordination;
- Encourages knowledge and understanding of the world (more below);
- Develops manual dexterity.
In addition to the above, I'd say it is also great for:
- oracy – it encourages discussion;
- drama – role play either with small world toys or with costumes and re-enacting the scene;
- problem-solving – finding the correct piece to fit into the puzzle;
- scientific understanding – the solar system, night and day, the Moon orbiting the Earth;
- historical understanding – trips to the moon and into space, show the space landing.
I can't emphasise enough how wonderful this puzzle is; full of talking points and challenging on many different levels dependent upon the child's stade of development. At only £7.50 then it is a very worthwhile resource.
However, I have a 'Who's In Space?' jigsaw puzzle to give away to one lucky reader, simply fill in the Rafflecopter form below to be in with a chance of winning.
I was sent this product for the purpose of this review, my opinions are honest and unbiased.
A DVD box set of Britain's Got Talent! This would give them an insight into what we are like inc the good, the bad and the ugly!
victoria sponge cake
Fish and Chips and a Cuppa
Cupcakes!
A goodie bag with all our favourite things
a dvd of the 2012 olympics 🙂
Chocolate!
A dvd of people queing,complaining and moaning about the weather!
An ipad!
iPhone x
Spiders :-p
cucumber sandwiches!
I would record The X Factor and send that!
A big seashell which you hold to your ear to hear the sea.
a copy of heat magazine, with reading material of that standard they're sure to think the best of us 😛
A laptop pre-signed up with a Twitter account x
a dvd box set of roswell
teabags! x
Photographs of everything around.
bad smells in a bottle. At least then they will never come here x
Has to be chocolate! Surely we're the only planet that has managed to produce something THIS wonderful?!! 🙂 xxx
A jigsaw puzzle obviously!
A football
A deep fried Mars Bar
facebook!
candy crush game
A tin of baked beans
A fish & Chip supper
a mars bar
An ipad
a yummy shepherds pie
A cake!
The Queen
A cup of tea
A three year old. They are like an alien species anyway!
I would send a selection of photographs of people, animals, the seasons etc and a flask of tea with biscuits!
coffee
chocolate!
a dvd of the 2012 olympics opening ceremony that was fantastic
A cream tea and a Cornish pasty!
A television!
victoria sponge cake
A mobile phone 🙂
A phone, along with an ET DVD so they can phone home!!!
A Yorkshire pudding!
A camera with photos of earth
An ipad
Cupcakes
an ipad
A selection of TV DVD box sets – including The X-Factor, Britain's Got Talent and The Voice – they would definitely change their mind about ever wanting to invade us then!!
chocolate, the best thing about our planet!
cuppa coffee and a slice of cake 🙂
A Yorkshire pudding.
A book of colour photographs of this beautiful planet.
ME
Bath Bombs
I would send my son as he`s the best thing on the planet!
a DVD boxset of Only Fools and Horses and a DVD boxset of The Best Of The House of Commons with a note asking them to guess which one is the comedy?
Box of chocolates x
A well-stocked library
A pepperoni pizza – cheesy loveliness for them to try!
An iPad so they could surf the web. X
Teabags
ginger nuts
A dvd of stomp 🙂
a mobile phone
An umbrella!
Some yummy food, a newspaper and a tablet with a Twitter and Facebook account added!
Tea and biccys!
A smart phone 🙂
tea!!
A mobile 🙂
A jigsaw puzzle of course! 😀
i would send a tv up showing an episode of emmerdale
A rubik's cube & sudoku to make us seem super smart
Some Ikea flat pack furniture – lets see if they can do it!! ha! 🙂
Tea and Victoria sponge cakes
David Cameron
A tape recording of Big Brother and Jeremy Kyle, it would be a great defence against alien invasions. I'd have to get someone else to make the tape though as I can't stand TV and don't have a licence!
a copy of Flash Gordon, they would know our world is in safe hands
the uk government and the ex, with just enough fuel to get out but not back
How about send them Star Trek boxset on DVD
A cup of tea!
A lovely landscape painting of the countryside
A copy of "Match" magazine
David Cameron
CHOCOLATE CAKE
A yorkshire pudding! delicious 🙂
Big bunch of flowers :}
A big mac :')
A big comfy bed – lol suffering insomnia isn't good !!
iPad or some other amazing technological device!
Chocolate
Jedward – I'm sure the Aliens would turn around straight away
Facebook 🙂
An apple fanboy, the type who queue up days before a new phone gets released. The aliens wouldn't bother coming if they met one of these people.
bannoffee pie
A DVD of The Only Way is Essex
A football ! wonder if theyd find it as obvious as we do !
It would have to be A packet of Space raiders! The one thing i was addicted to when i was pregnant.
Aliens get pregnant right? 😉
Bill Bryson's book A Short History of Nearly Everything
a mobile phone
I would send them a dvd of Mickey Flanagan's stand up.
A box of chocolates! 🙂
A season of Eastenders on DVD