Infantino Matching Colors and Textures Puzzle: A 2-in-1 Puzzle For Your Toddler

The Infantino Matching Colors and Textures Puzzle ($12) is really 20 two-piece puzzles that challenge toddlers to match a descriptor like "bumpy" or "purple" with a picture of an animal or familiar shape.  My three-year-old son Finn enjoys just about any puzzle, even if Mama ends up putting together most of the pieces, but he put together every single combination on this one. 

The easiest way I found to help him was to stack the descriptors and deal them out one at a time so he could match them to the shapes spread out on the rug. I said, "What color is this?" He answered, "orange" then found the orange carrot and joined the two pieces. The only hiccup here was that some of the descriptions were confusing.  When he tried to find the brown animal he found two, but the fluffy rabbit was supposed to match the card that said "fluffy." It was hard to explain that, while the rabbit was brown, he was also fluffy.  The butterfly was just described as "beautiful," which could’ve easily described the rainbow card or to my son, a lawn mower, a pile of rocks or the mud puddle at the bottom of the slide. It certainly wasn’t a deal breaker though, and we enjoyed a few quiet minutes of playtime together. 

Pros: Chunky pieces and bright colors are great for the little guys.
Cons: Some of the descriptive words are confusing as they can apply to different objects.

– Kristen