Puzzling Poll

[luuknam]

I'm wondering about the popularity of puzzles now and in the past. To be clear, in the poll, by "together", I only want to include cases in which the person was a real participant in the puzzle... a kid putting 2 pieces in the correct spot when an adult is doing a 1000 piece puzzle does not count as "having done a 1000 piece puzzle together" (for the kid... the 998 pieces done by the adult would count for the adult).

 

My hypothesis is that a lot of kids these days have done toddler puzzles (e.g. 12 pieces), but that not many kids have done bigger puzzles (e.g. 200 or more pieces). I suspect that kids in the past were more likely to have done bigger puzzles as well. Finally, I suspect that the people on this forum are quite different from the general population and that we're going to see an over-representation of people whose kids have done bigger puzzles (though I can't control for that, so there's no way of knowing if I'm right).

 

Regardless, we all love polls, yes?

 

ETA: just give your best guess if you're not entirely sure about yourself/your kids. Try to avoid answering 'other' if you're in doubt if the largest puzzle you did was e.g. 400 or 500 pieces and just pick 200 or more or 500 or more - the details don't matter too much, it's the general idea.

[happi duck]

I feel terrible.

 

I love jigsaw puzzles and dc, especially ds, loved puzzles as kids yet we've never done a huge puzzle together.

 

:(

 

I think the difference comes from that I grew up with a spot to leave out a puzzle and in our house there's no where to leave a puzzle. I tried one of those rolls for moving a puzzle and never got the hang of it.

 

Maybe I can still remedy this!

[The Girls' Mom]

Our family likes working puzzles.  We usually only work on them during the winter when we are either sick (like our mutli-week bout with the flu last year) or stuck in the house due to the weather.  

[Vida Winter]

If we start a puzzle I like to wrap it up in 1-3 days. For that reason we stick to 200-500 pieces. When we go for 1000 it takes too long, takes too much space, and pieces get lost. Last Christmas I was working on a 1000 piece puzzle on a card table which got bumped and collapsed.  :ack2: 

[luuknam]

I feel terrible.

 

Maybe I can still remedy this!

 

I didn't mean to make anyone feel terrible. :grouphug:

 

You probably can still remedy this. And puzzles that aren't really huge can be fun to do together too and are more manageable. C did a 200 piece puzzle of Picadilly Circus yesterday (I helped him a little, mostly by sorting the pieces by colors), and we were done in an hour or so, so it could be put away the same day. I did a 500 piece puzzle alone a few months ago and that took me about 2-3 hours I think, so that was also put away the same day. I'm thinking you might be able to do a 1000 piece puzzle together in a day (without puzzling from dawn to dusk) if your kids are actually helpful. Even if you stick to 500 pieces, it'd still be fun. The key part is not having preschoolers or younger kids aren't messing up the puzzle.

[Murphy101]

About every 3-4 months we buy two puzzles. A 1000-5000 jigsaw puzzle that we figure will take us several weeks to finish together. And a smaller one that will be several weeks but easier for the younger ones so they can share in doing a puzzle too.

 

Some of my kids really love puzzles and get excited and probably do 1/2 of it but even the kids who aren't all that into puzzles can't seem to not put at least one piece in as they are walking past the table at some point.

 

My home growing up did not have books or puzzles or much of anything like games either.

 

My dh says his house didn't have many puzzles mostly bc he was an only child and puzzles are something he prefers to do with company.

[Murphy101]

I have those big clear plastic mats people put under their rolling desk chairs. We keep the working pieces on the table and the pieces not attached to anything in the box and cover the table with the clear mat to protect the puzzle until we are ready to work it again. And this means we can also still do school work at the table.

 

Sometimes I do the same thing but on a card table in the living room so we can watch tv while doing the puzzle if we are in the mood. Usually in winter while watching Christmas movies we've already seen a million times.

[happi duck]

I didn't mean to make anyone feel terrible. :grouphug:

 

You probably can still remedy this. And puzzles that aren't really huge can be fun to do together too and are more manageable. C did a 200 piece puzzle of Picadilly Circus yesterday (I helped him a little, mostly by sorting the pieces by colors), and we were done in an hour or so, so it could be put away the same day. I did a 500 piece puzzle alone a few months ago and that took me about 2-3 hours I think, so that was also put away the same day. I'm thinking you might be able to do a 1000 piece puzzle together in a day (without puzzling from dawn to dusk) if your kids are actually helpful. Even if you stick to 500 pieces, it'd still be fun. The key part is not having preschoolers or younger kids aren't messing up the puzzle.

I just told the kids I want us to do a jigsaw puzzle! I'm eyeing the coffee table and putting the cat on notice!

 

You didn't make me feel terrible...sorry it came out that way! I feel terrible because ds *loved* puzzles as a kid and I never realized we never worked big puzzles together as he grew up. He commutes to college so there's still a chance!

 

Thanks for the encouragement!!

[luuknam]

I'm curious who did 5000+ piece puzzles besides Martha, and how many pieces (I probably should've made the voting public. I think my personal record is something like 1000 pieces - not sure, but certainly not 5000+.

[Guest]

We don't really do puzzles. When I was a kid I did a biggish one with my dad and cannot remember the size, and my kids do them in the early grades to help with their spatial recognition, but I think 50-100 pieces is about all they've done or want to do, I tried to get them to do a slightly puzzle of a guinea pig and they hated it.

[MysteryJen]

My oldest got me a year of puzzles for Christmas. I take over the dining room table, because all my kids have their own desks now.

 

My Dh teases me, but I love puzzles. The largest I have done is 2000 pieces. Usually I do 90% myself.

[Pink and Green Mom]

We love jigsaw puzzles. I used to get one from my parents every Christmas as a child, teenager, and even as an adult.  I have done this 5000 piece puzzle.  https://www.ravensburger.com/us/shop/2d-puzzles/adult-puzzles/views-of-modern-rome-17409/index.html  It was huge (barely fit on the dining room table) and it took close to a year (sometimes ignoring it for months) to finish. Somewhere on youtube there is a time lapsed video of someone putting that puzzle together and it is pretty neat to see.

 

My kids regularly do 1500 piece puzzles but I'm not sure either has ever done more than that on his own. 

 

Off to go search for a new big puzzle to get me off my butt  :lol:

 

 

[Arcadia]

The 1000 box has pieces of decent size and don't take the whole dining table when being completed. The 5000 box has tinier pieces so we didnt buy those sets.

My dad grew up helping in the family business. He and his siblings didn't have toys. My mom had plenty of toys growing up.

[kewb]

I do not come from a puzzle family. My parents did not do puzzles. We did have some laying around when I was a kid. I do remember my sister doing some 1000 piece puzzles when we were growing up.

Personsally, I don't enjoy puzzles.

My kids used toddler puzzles and some larger floor puzzles when they were younger.

[Annie G]

We love puzzles. Since we live far from our parents, our kids grew up doing puzzles when we visited because they didn't have many other things to do there. We also do them together- when we have family members visit, we tend to sit around our dining room table talking and stuff, so we usually have a puzzle going at the same time. Talking and doing a puzzle is an excellent way to spend an evening. 

 

When our kids were little we'd sometimes let them have their own smaller puzzle going on at the end of the table.  Made them feel very included not to be shooed away while the adults talked. 

 

Our grandkids do puzzles when they visit- in July we did a 200 piece one together. So we're keeping the tradition going. 

 

We generally do 1000-1500 piece puzzles but have a supply of 500 piece ones for shorter trips. 

 

I use a tablecloth on our table so when it's time to eat we just throw a tablecloth over the puzzle and eat.  And we cover it when we go to bed because our cat has been known to steal a piece or bat them onto the floor. 

[BooksandBoys]

I have always loved puzzles, and my oldest takes after me. He was solving 100 piece puzzles when he was before he was 3 and can do 500 pieces independently now at 7. When I was growing up, we always had a puzzle out, but between cats and babies, that hasn't happened here. I'm hopeful that once the youngest is out of toddlerhood, we can set up a permanent puzzle table.

[SKL]

I used to be called the "puzzle queen" when I was a teen / young adult.  I just love puzzles.  Unfortunately, as I get older, they are hard on my eyes.  I voted that I've done 5000 or more, but I don't really enjoy anything bigger than 1000 since they take so long, and you can't do anything else with that space while you wait.

 

I have a bunch of puzzles that I want to do with my kids someday.  I should be doing them already, but we never seem to have a big chunk of time or space to do them.  Well, now we do have a table that isn't used for anything else, so maybe I should pull one out.  :)

 

One of my kids likes puzzles, and is a little ahead of the curve ability-wise, but she doesn't do a bunch of them for the reason mentioned above.  My other kid has never seemed to be a fan of puzzles.  She has vision issues that might make it hard for her.  She has done kiddy puzzles up to maybe 100 pieces, years ago, but she doesn't express particular pleasure in them.  Maybe that will change when we start doing this as a family.

[MyThreeSons]

When I saw "puzzles" I didn't immediately think of "Jigsaw puzzles", although it seems from you poll that is what you mean. When I was a kid, we almost always had a jigsaw puzzle in progress on the dining room table. (We ate in the kitchen except when there was company.)

 

We haven't done one here for quite a while, though. My guys did participate and help out on some big ones, including puzzles that were on the table at their Granny's house. We have also worked on several in the waiting areas at hospitals over the years. 

 

I am a big puzzler, but rarely do jigsaw puzzles. I especially like math, logic, spatial reasoning and critical thinking puzzles. In fact, I teach a class at Co-op called Thinking Out of the Box. 

[happypamama]

I didn't vote in the poll because I really have no idea. We haven't done a ton of puzzles, but we have done some, maybe 500-1000 pieces? But now I want to get some of them out and try them more!

[6packofun]

We have a 500 (I think?) piece puzzle on our game table right now.  It's in a little nook in our kitchen.  I wouldn't say that we do them regularly, but my family did puzzles when I was growing up (mostly my mom, but dad did, too) and so did dh.  We've done 3 family puzzles so far this year.  I just set it out and then the kids and dh and I work on it whenever.  Mostly 500-1000 pieces.

[6packofun]

Meant to add that I wait for coupons for Hobby Lobby or Michael's and use them on puzzles more than on craft stuff!  lol

[Cinder]

I love jigsaw puzzles but we only do one (500+ pieces) per year--New Year's Eve, a tradition dh grew up with. If we did more than one I'd get nothing else done. Even though the whole family participates I tend to spend more time on it than anyone else.

 

I'm pretty sure neither of my parents did puzzles. From what I remember of my dad he went to work, ate, watched tv. OTOH my mom doesn't know how to sit still.

[Annie G]

I love jigsaw puzzles but we only do one (500+ pieces) per year--New Year's Eve, a tradition dh grew up with. If we did more than one I'd get nothing else done. Even though the whole family participates I tend to spend more time on it than anyone else.

 

 

 

New Year's Eve- what a good idea! Thanks for the idea- a New Year's puzzle would make a great gift to send the grandchildren!  I'm weird and send gifts at unusual times. They get so many presents at Christmas and birthdays but a tradition of a New Year's puzzle would be cool. 

[Reefgazer]

My mom and I used to while away the time doing puzzles a lot - big puzzles.  My kids aren't as enthralled by puzzles as I was though, and don't have an affinity for them.

[Jenn121]

I dislike puzzles. So I have only done them with others in a confined setting like in the side rooms at a performance where we had to be quiet or small ones with my kids.

 

[Amy in NH]

We do three to four 1,000 piece puzzles each winter here.  We work on them together.  We have a dedicated puzzle board in the living room that sit on the ottoman when we're working on it, but can be slid under the couch if we need the space.  The board has a very small lip around the edge to prevent pieces from sliding off.

[HRAAB]

We are a puzzle family (except dh  :crying: ), even sons-in-law.  We do more puzzles during the fall and winter.  Actually from October on we always have a puzzle going, and the family puzzle for Christmas is a must.  I have a large, round, rotating puzzle table topper thingy.  If I need it out of the way, I just stick it under a bed.  Normally, it's just part of the furnishings.  Some we have glued together, and the girls have them in their bedrooms.  Some we take apart and put back together.  Some we just keep in a stack.  The smallest size puzzle we would choose would be 1000, however, we've never tackled a 5000 piece one.  

[purpleowl]

We did plenty of puzzles in the 500-1000 range when I was growing up.  My kids are young, but my girls have done up to...either 60 or 100.  I know they've done 60; I *think* there's a 100-piecer somewhere in the playroom, and if it's in there, they've done it.  (Our bigger puzzles are elsewhere, and they haven't done those.)

 

I'll be very glad when the little guy is big enough that I don't have to worry about putting a big puzzle out.  Right now he's toddling and likes to pull things off tables, making a big puzzle with lots of little pieces a particularly bad idea.

[Mama Geek]

I don't think I have done a 5000 piece puzzle but have done several 1000 or larger puzzles.  Dd5 can do 100 piece puzzles by herself although she would rather have help and has helped on 200 and 300 piece puzzles.

 

We don't have a TV and I make sure there are plenty of puzzles around to work on.

[Tsuga]

Hm. Puzzles. They aren't my favorite games. We like Lego and robotics and card games more. I think my step kids have each done 1000+ puzzles but we don't do them often. We also end up doing a lot of sports. There just isn't time... and no, we don't watch a ton of TV. Maybe a movie a week.

[LucyStoner]

My mother was a puzzle person so I have done a lot of larger (1000-5000+ pieces) ones with her. Truthfully though, it's not my preferred pastime. I haven't done any big puzzles since my brother and I finished the one she left when she died. My mother was wickedly smart and due to disability couldn't work much after a certain point so puzzles were a way for her to spend her time.

 

My younger son is the puzzle boy in the house. He's just up to 200 or so piece ones with limited assistance from big brother or us.

[Guest]

I love puzzles! My parents also loved them and often put together very large puzzles. My mother frequently got them at yard sales. I have bought my kids many puzzles from infancy on; I especially like Ravensberger puzzles.

[Julie Smith]

when youngest was getting outside help for his visual tracking problem, he had another issue, that was helped by doing lots of puzzles. So for awhile we did lots of puzzles.

[katilac]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned virtual jigsaw puzzles yet - my mom and oldest dd will both do those (and I would imagine they elbow out a certain number of 'real' puzzles).

 

All 3 generations have done puzzles in the 500-1000 piece range. I'd say 1000 pieces is big but still fairly common; anything 5000 pieces or more tends to be much more expensive and only for the truly dedicated enthusiast. 

[HS Mom in NC]

My MIL does 1000+ and 5000+ piece puzzles with the grandkids.  She usually has one going on her dining room table. My middle daughter enjoyed large puzzles on her own for a while.  I hate doing puzzles. 

[Annie G]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned virtual jigsaw puzzles yet - my mom and oldest dd will both do those (and I would imagine they elbow out a certain number of 'real' puzzles).

 

All 3 generations have done puzzles in the 500-1000 piece range. I'd say 1000 pieces is big but still fairly common; anything 5000 pieces or more tends to be much more expensive and only for the truly dedicated enthusiast. 

 

I had never heard of virtual jigsaw puzzles- THANK YOU for posting this- I'm now working on one and I think it'll be awesome when I'm spending time at my inlaws' house taking care of MIL. There's a lot of downtime and I get so bored. 

I think my grands will love these!

[Truscifi]

Brotherman and I are puzzlers. The largest we've done is a 7000 piece 3d puzzle. It took forever. We mostly stick to 2000 piece or smaller. Actually, with Babyman being three now and wanting to help, we mostly stick with toddler puzzles with the occasional 100-200 piece thrown in, but I look forward to moving back up to bigger, more challenging puzzles when he is older.

[matrips]

I loved puzzles as a kid and we've done some joint family puzzles. But 10yo dd is always doing puzzles. She has a corner of our family room for her continuous puzzles. She prefers the 1000 piece ones, but is particular on the style. White Mountain ones like the presidents or civil war are her favorites. They hold her interest. She also really likes the 500 piece jan Cleeve ones- she finds them comical and amusing. Just generic scenery stuff- nah, she'd pass on it.

[sassenach]

5000 is a huge leap from 500. Just 1000 to 2000 is a pretty significant difference. I don't think I've ever even seen a 5000 piece puzzle (completed).

 

We've done a few 1000 piece puzzles as a family, while on vacation. We don't have a space to leave a puzzle out, but I wish we did. I didn't do many puzzles as a kid.

[abba12]

My kids got on a puzzle craze earlier in the year, and they shocked me with what they could do. 4yo was doing 150 piece puzzles. I anticipate the trend will continue. 

[abacus2]

My mom and granddad love puzzles. They have puzzle storage specifically designed for temporarily putting away an in process puzzle. I have enjoyed at least one larger (500+) puzzle with my kids.

[Tammi K]

We do them as a family.  Everyone helps - even the kids from the time they are old enough not to eat the pieces they would wander by and 'help'. By the time they were pre-school or kindy age, they would place a few pieces here and there. By school age, they would all be helping.

 

We put them together on a large table where they can sit undisturbed until they are finished even if it takes a week or two and then work on them in the evening when we're all gathered around. 

 

*I should note we only have one 5,000 piece puzzle. We generally do ones in the range of 1,000. However we do have several that are 2,500.

[mamiof5]

I love puzzles!!! Didn't grow up with them, it's something I have learned to like as an adult. The max size I have done is 1000 piece. Just finished one, but lost 2 pieces :(

[foxbridgeacademy]

We rarely did any puzzles when I was a kid, couldn't keep pieces for more than a day.  I started doing them when I was a teen (on my own) but stopped when I had kids.  We've done a couple little puzzles when they were 6-8 yrs old but none since.  I think we would do them if we had a place to set them up and work on over time.

[AndyJoy]

Timely poll for me. DS turns 6 tomorrow and I was just looking for bigger pizzles at the store yesterday. He does 48-piece ones independently but we don't have any larger ones (yet).

 

My immediate family was not that into puzzles when I was a kid, but there was always one on a card table at 2 sets of my great-grandparents' house. The kids would work on the puzzle in snatches with great-grandpa while the adults talked and cooked. It's a fond memory for me.

[luuknam]

5000 is a huge leap from 500.

 

I know. My main curiosity in this poll was about whether people had done big kid/adult sized puzzles and whether their kids had done big kid/adult sized puzzles. Since 200 pieces seems to be considered for ages 8+, I decided to take that as one cut-off, and adult puzzles tend to start at 500 pieces, so that's another one. And then I was curious whether any WTM'ers  had done megapuzzles, so I decided to throw in 5000+ as well.

 

As I said in my OP, I think it's rare to find someone who's never done a 12 or so piece puzzle. It seems one of those "of course you have your toddler do a puzzle at some point" kind of thing. Whereas having your 8yo do a 200 piece puzzle seems to be much less of an "of course you do that". I've developmental checklists with questions like "can your kid do a 12 piece puzzle". I haven't seen "can your kid do a 200 piece puzzle" on developmental checklists for older kids. Maybe they exist - I don't know. It's sort of amusing to me though... of course there are developmental benefits to giving a toddler a puzzle, but presumably puzzles have benefits for older kids too. And of course kids can turn into fine adults without having done a 200+ piece puzzle, but then and again, they could probably also turn out fine without any puzzles, so long as they weren't deprived of other things.

 

I'm guessing people are more likely to give puzzles to littles because they're quick to do, many of them are cheap and you're less likely to end up with missing pieces in toddler puzzles than in puzzles for older kids.

[Grover]

I'm curious who did 5000+ piece puzzles besides Martha, and how many pieces (I probably should've made the voting public. I think my personal record is something like 1000 pieces - not sure, but certainly not 5000+.

I do 5000+ piece puzzles.  Here's a good range: http://www.simplepastimes.com/cat_over.cfm

 

500 - 1000 piece puzzles are my "sitting watching TV" activity - I have a table that I can pull in to my recliner and I fiddle away with them.  Usually I'll do one in an evening, sometimes 2 or 3 if I'm tired, lol.  The bigger ones (the largest I've ever done was 18,000 pieces - the sistine chapel) I fuss away at over longer periods of time.  Some I can only do in summer because I can't see the colours well enough under artificial light. 

[Sdel]

I've done a 5,000 piece puzzle but only once. I don't have the room, have young kids, and cats so I don't do as many puzzles these days. The cats are the biggest problem because they usually knock the puzzles off the table and lose the pieces, tear up the picture, or use the puzzle box and pieces as a litter box.

 

Stefanie

[Annie G]

Those of you who do 5000 piece puzzles....wow! I'm impressed. 

 

And Grover, an 18,000 piece puzzle...I would never finish that.   It's tough enough for my eyes to focus well enough for me to search through 1000 pieces trying to find the right one. 18,000? o way. Kudos!

[TrixieB]

Sharing a FUN 1000 piece puzzle that one of my kids and I put together in an afternoon -- it was surprisingly easy, and we had a lot of laughs about what some of the images seemed to depict.

 

Transit Graphics 1000 piece puzzle