Children

The best puzzle games for children: our tests and recommendations

Written by Agathe Rosse

The puzzle is an ideal little gift to stimulate and develop children’s brains. Creativity, logic, patience and reflection, all the elements are brought together to get the little ones to take up challenges and solve puzzles. From Chinese puzzles to mazes, there is a wide choice for toddlers of all ages, with more or less simple puzzles that will develop real skills in your little ones: physical, cognitive and emotional. Indeed, these little games develop motor skills, coordination, memory, understanding, perseverance and satisfaction: real teaching tools!

As you can see, offering these puzzles has many advantages for your cherubs, who will have to rack their brains.

For the puzzle to be appropriate for your offspring, it must be chosen carefully: if it’s too simple, your child will soon get tired of it and won’t enjoy its benefits, but if it’s too hard, he may become discouraged and lose confidence in his abilities. In order to guide and orient you in your purchases of these mind games, we have created a comparative shopping guide to help you find the puzzle that corresponds to your child at the best value for money, thanks to our testers and their opinions!

Best Chinese puzzles for kids: our favorites

Perplexus labyrinthe 3D original

Perplexus 3D labyrinth original

Kingou casse-tête chinois en bois

Kingou Chinese wooden puzzle

Gracelaza casse-tête en bois 9 pièces

Gracelaza wooden puzzle

 

🏆 Current Chinese puzzle for kid’s bestseller :

 

Puzzles for children: choose well

Casse-tête pour enfant : bien choisirThis thinking and logic game is very much appreciated by children of all ages, who make their brains work while having fun at the same time. But in order not to discourage or annoy the child, it is important to choose carefully the puzzle that will correspond to his expectations.

To be sure to invest and to offer a gift that will please, you must pay attention to certain aspects during the purchase. Here is our selection of criteria you should pay attention to when choosing the most suitable children’s puzzle.

Solidity and safety

Depending on the age of your cherub, you must be vigilant about the safety of the puzzle. For very young children, choose puzzles with large enough pieces to avoid any risk of ingestion and injury. When you buy, be sure to look at the age range for which the toy is intended.

These mind games are observed, analyzed, and returned in all directions by the small hands of your curious ones. Prefer solid wooden or plastic puzzles, which are not likely to be destroyed too quickly and degrade with use. The sturdiness allows good handling for your children and ensures comfort and safety during their challenge.

Complexity

To interest your little one in these riddles, it is important to choose a puzzle that is adapted to his age and skills, that is difficult enough to challenge him and make him think, while still being fun and entertaining.

For the little ones, we advise you to choose an easy and colourful toy to create an attraction to the object and lead them to solve the puzzle through shapes to be assembled, made of wood to develop the child’s sensitivity.

For older children, the puzzles are real educational games, the complexity of each toy is to be observed according to your toddler’s interest and ability to solve these puzzles. The best is to choose it with him (at least for the first model) to be sure to please him and offer him a useful game.

Benefits

Chinese puzzles, maze, construction, puzzles … There are many puzzles, which bring different benefits to the user. Some will develop thinking, memory, dexterity, skill, logic etc.. Choose a product according to the skills your child would like to enrich and work on, while remaining a hobby.

 

Best puzzle for children: the comparison

Here is our selection of the most popular children’s puzzles on the market. We have compared the different puzzles to help you choose the model that best suits your needs and your toddler.

 

Ziwing Mini Labyrinthe 3D Globe PuzzleZiwing Mini 3D Labyrinth Globe Puzzle

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Perplexus labyrinthe 3D originalPerplexus 3D labyrinth original

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Partituki pack de 24 casse-têtes cubes à billesPartituki pack of 24 ball cube puzzle

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Kingou casse-tête chinois en boisKingou Chinese wooden puzzle

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Gracelaza casse-tête en bois 9 piècesGracelaza wooden puzzle 9 pieces

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Our testers’ assessment of the best children’s puzzles

Ziwing Mini 3D Labyrinth Globe Puzzle

Ziwing Mini Labyrinthe 3D Globe PuzzleIdeal for children from 8 years old, this small maze in the shape of a sphere is a real challenge! The goal is to get out of these mazes with a small ball, but it’s not that simple! To change classic 2D labyrinths, this globe tests toddlers’ spatial awareness and patience, and develops coordination and precision. A real puzzle for children but also for parents: who will manage to get out of this maze?

A perfect gift to keep your offspring busy and warm their brains. Our testers have approved the difficulty and are still far from having found the way out! How about you? Can you do it?

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Our opinion: the purchasing criteria rated

Strength 5/5
Complexity 4/5
Security 4,5/5
Awards 4/5

The technical characteristics of Ziwing Mini Labyrinth

  • Dimensions: 10.2cm diameter sphere
  • Main material: ABS plastic
  • Weight: 222g
  • From 8 years old

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Perplexus 3D labyrinth original

Perplexus labyrinthe 3D originalEnjoyed by the whole family, this maze puzzle keeps the same concept as the other mazes, except that here you have to get the ball through 100 complex obstacles to reach the end. Not so simple: if you fall down, you have to start all over again! The perfect mind game to put concentration and perseverance to the test, only the most meticulous will succeed!

After many failures, our testers have finally managed to leave this obstacle course. We validate and recommend this fun and complex puzzle to share good times, or allow your cherub to have a quiet moment while challenging him.

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Our opinion: the purchasing criteria rated

Strength 4/5
Complexity 4,5/5
Security 4/5
Awards 3/5

The technical characteristics of Perplexus

  • Dimensions: 19cm diameter sphere
  • Main material: reinforced plastic
  • Weight: 340g
  • From 6 years old

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Partituki pack of 24 ball cube puzzles

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Partituki pack de 24 casse-têtes cubes à billesThis small pack includes 24 marble cubes to challenge children from 3 years old. Thanks to the different puzzles, children can test and discover different puzzles to avoid boredom, and train their dexterity and logic on several models.

Thanks to their small size, these small cubic puzzles can be carried everywhere and can be easily slipped into a bag or schoolbag. Your offspring can put their minds to the test at any time! Clever to occupy our toddlers in the school yard with several cubes, in the car or in a waiting room. Fun and colorful challenges to share with friends, trying to solve the puzzles first!

We recommend this product for the youngest 4-5 years old), to start with puzzles that are quite simple but still require thought and patience.

 

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Our opinion: the purchasing criteria rated

Strength 3,5/5
Complexity 3/5
Security 4/5
Awards 3,5/5

Partituki’s technical specifications

  • Pack of 24 cubes of 4cm x 4cm
  • Main material: plastic
  • Pack weight: 522g
  • From 3 years old
  • Package dimensions: 25.6 x 16.6 x 4.8 cm

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Kingou Chinese wooden puzzle

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Kingou casse-tête chinois en boisIn addition to being a real Chinese puzzle, this educational game allows our little thinkers to develop their creativity and imagination. This puzzle is composed of colorful pieces of wood in different shapes, the goal is to succeed in assembling them all to fit into the board! In addition to stimulating their logical mind and motor skills, your cherubs can use the pieces of wood to create infinite shapes: animals, people, houses… Their only limit is their imagination! A puzzle with a double cap, to please your toddlers.

The plus: the parts are solid and safe for children from 3 years old! While waiting for them to grow up to complete the puzzle, they can play with the pieces of wood to let their imagination run wild.

We like: the wooden parts, which are very easy to handle and pleasant to the touch.

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Our opinion: the purchasing criteria rated

Strength 5/5
Complexity 3,5/5
Security 4/5
Awards 4/5

Kingou’s technical characteristics

  • Dimensions: 14 x 12 cm
  • Main material: wood
  • Weight of the pack: 118g
  • From 5 years old
  • Number of rooms: 11

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Gracelaza wooden puzzle 9 pieces

Gracelaza casse-tête en bois 9 piècesDiscover 9 unique puzzles with different designs and complexities. Made of wood and very colourful, these little puzzles to assemble are not so easy! It will take some time, observation and analysis for your little ones to solve these puzzles. These construction games can be shared with the family, to challenge the adults and have a good time.

We like the colours and the attractive appearance of the wooden parts. We recommend these puzzles for ages 6 and up, some pieces being quite small, and rather complex for little ones.

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Our opinion: the purchasing criteria rated

Strength 3,5/5
Complexity 3/5
Security 4/5
Awards 3,5/5

The technical characteristics of Gracelaza

  • Number of rooms: 80
  • Main material: wood
  • Pack weight: 921g
  • From 6 years old
  • Package dimensions: 25 x 25 x 9 cm

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Why buy your kids a puzzle?

Pourquoi acheter un casse-tête à ses enfants ? As mentioned earlier, puzzles are playful and educational toys that awaken our toddlers’ thinking machines. From puzzles to construction to the maze, many skills are developed, and the cognitive mind is stimulated by activating different areas of the brain. Focusing on a task also relaxes and channels our offspring, while activating their neurons. All this while giving him a little more autonomy, with a game of reflection that he can do alone or with others. There are many benefits that should not be overlooked, especially for young children. Puzzles promote the proper development of brain areas by testing perseverance, observation, understanding of space, memory and dexterity.

 

How long for a puzzle?

There is no time limit for solving a puzzle. It depends of course on the type of game and its complexity, but also on the skills of the person who solves it. Some will spend 10 minutes and others several hours, but whatever the time spent, the important thing is to have fun!

 

What a puzzle to play with your family?

If you want to put your brain to the test as a family, there are many games to discover together, enjoyed by all ages. We recommend board, card or building games so that all members can play at the same time! Depending on what you like and the age of your children, you have a choice of puzzle and riddle card games (more for older children from 8 years old), or building games for younger children.

Best Puzzles for Kids: Why trust us?

Thank you for reading this article! Because we know that it is not always easy to make the best choice without trying, each of our recommendations is the result of a long work of analysis of consumer opinions on flagship and little-known products on the market, of comparison of prices and technical characteristics, but also and above all of tests by a team of men and women constantly renewed in order to keep a real objectivity to help you in your purchasing process.

All the purchasing criteria are scrutinized for the realization of our comparative guides: budget, level of range, functional and practical aspects, design, pack and accessories, safety… All this in order to help you choose the products best suited to your needs, desires and constraints on a daily basis, at the best price!

4.8/5 - (5 votes)

About the author

Agathe Rosse

I have been a kindergarten assistant for 4 years now, I enjoy my free time for my passions. I love cooking (gourmet food is my biggest flaw!), adventure and sports. Writing is one of my hobbies, to let the pen express my thoughts. I never leave without my little notebook!