We bought the Melissa & Doug farm animals puzzle game for Edwin, one of our clients, who had nonverbal autism. This is after hearing that the game can help with making nonverbal kids develop communication. In this post, we are going to give an honest review of the game so that you can know you whether you should buy it or you should avoid it altogether.
Melissa and Doug Farm Animals Puzzle Game with Sounds
So here we go:
The Animal Farm Sounds Puzzle has been developed by Melissa & Doug, two people who are experts in the special needs field and have been working tirelessly in a bid to make the lives of parents as well as kids with autism bearable and easy. The game as the name suggests is nothing but a puzzle where the kid matches the eight different animals to their respective slots and when they successfully do so, they are rewarded with the sound made by the said animal. For example when the child matches the sheep to its rightful place, they will hear the bleating of a sheep on the attached speaker.
The game is both eye-catching as well as audio-engaging. Your kid will love looking at the colorful animals as well as hearing their respective sounds.
Features of the Melissa and Doug Farm Animals Puzzle
- Made up of a cardboard with eight empty slots where the animals go into
- The animals are: horse, sheep, cow, rooster, pig, cat, dog, duck.
- Has a slot for 2AA batteries that you need to buy
- Has a speaker whose purpose is to sound off once you place an animal in its rightful place.
What we loved about the Melissa &Doug Animal Farm Puzzle
- The game is not only visually entertaining but also audio engaging once the kid places the animal in its rightful place and being rewarded when the animal sounds off.
- It helps the kid learn about the different animals in your home and identify them visually as well as associate them with the sounds they make.
- As the child ages, you ought to completely remove the batteries so that the kid themselves sound off once they place the animal in its rightful place.
- It helps with the kids fine motor skills
- The play things are all large enough and so you do not have to worry about your kid swallowing them.
- The game fosters free play, creativity as well as imagination. This are key since the go back to the basics of child’s play as indicated by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
What we did not like about the Melissa and Doug Farm Animals Sound Puzzle
Despite its alluring nature, the game is not without fault. Some of the things faulty about the game include:
- Edwin found out that he did not have to really match the animals with the slots so as to get the sounding off of the animal, no, he could still manipulate the game by placing anything near the front and it would sound off
- There was also the issue of reversal of sounds where a horse would neigh when you placed a sheep in its rightful place
- One has to continually replace the batteries
- The sound system has also been found to become faulty; not sounding when required and meawoing continuously when you do not want it to do so.
Conclusion of the Melissa and Doug Animal Farm Puzzle Game
The idea and intent behind this game is fantastic. However the execution was found to be defective in some cases for parents who bought the toy. In such cases, some parents would be so irritated that they would return it and order a refund. For those whose Melissa and Doug Animal Puzzle game worked, it was excellent as it fostered the need to be more verbal for kids below 2 years or autistic preverbal kids.