Artsy Cats 500 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

Background Our family loves puzzles. For our 11 and 8 year olds, they have an attention span that is not quite to a 1000 piece level yet so 500 piece is a good fit. 1000 can sometimes be annoying to complete and the most fun puzzles are the ones you actually want to complete. Subject matter is also important. Who wants to do a puzzle that is a chore to complete? I know for my kids, a puzzle that is funny, has interesting illustrations and bold colors are perfect to keep them engaged. Overall thoughts The Mudpuppy Artsy Cat puzzle perfectly fit this checklist. I'm no fan of cats but I (and my family) find the illustrations funny and well executed. The grid structure with the individual cats creates mini puzzles within the larger puzzle which makes it more fun to sort and do as a team. My kids love the characters and have asked to do the puzzles more than once. In fact after getting all three of the cat series puzzles, my son asked to do them again so that we could take a photo of all of them completed together. Details As far as difficulty, they are pretty easy. My son and I usually complete them in 2 days and I would say most people would complete them in 2-5 days. The individual cats in a grid make sorting easier, and the borders between each cat aids as well in putting them together. The pieces seem to be cut and fit together well. As you can see in photo three (similar Bookish cats puzzle), I am able to hold the entire puzzle off the ground and the pieces stay engaged. That is usually our test of a good fitting puzzle. Each puzzle also includes a paper printout to allow two people to get a view of the completed puzzle. Plusses + Fun engaging subject matter for all ages + Well made and cut pieces that fit together nicely + Bold and bright colors that are printed well + Good pricing Minuses - Relatively easy and quick to put together - Wish they made even more of them!

Mudpuppy has many designs. This is my first. This puzzle functions as 9 individual puzzles (roughly 50 pieces each) joined together by white borders. The print is crisp and clear without any haziness. Each mini puzzle is nicely contrasted by the others and the color selection tends to be unique to each mini puzzle. As a whole the images are appealing. The puzzle pieces are a little thinner and a bit larger in size compared to Ravensburger puzzle pieces. They have a good hand feel and weight with no peeling of layers and are cleanly cut although not fully snug when connected. This does not detract from the representation of each image. The pieces will fall apart if lifted. The puzzle is cut in the grid pattern with a standard 2 prong/2 opening piece design. The box is square, solidly made, with thick walls. The top and bottom are not glued together which is really nice. All 4 sides have title, piece quantity and a small puzzle picture reproduced in full, crisp colors for those who like to file their puzzles. Intermediate and advanced puzzlers may prefer a much more challenging puzzle however this was a sweet, relaxing, no stress puzzle which may be exactly what you are looking for to kick back and enjoy. I will be looking at the whole Mudpuppy line for more involved puzzles and hope their quality will be as high as this one.

Good quality puzzle

Great puzzle! It was essentially 9 little puzzles that made one bigger puzzle. I was able to finish it in a day. Very vibrant, the pieces fit well. I have RA and this was easy on the hands. It would be great to do as a family. Everyone can pick a cat to work on. Also a very good price for the quality! I’m going to order the rock star kitties next.

I love the quality of the pieces and the colors! They weren’t cheap and the paper wasn’t peeling. Once completed, it was beautiful! The only thing I wish is that they should have put the cat-artist names on the puzzle because that part of the cuteness; the artist-cat mash-up names.

Bought this puzzle for my 85 year old Aunt. She is an artist and thought it was rather clever. It took her a couple of days to complete it and then I got a go. So fun. The colors are great, the kittens are cute, and this would be a great puzzle to teach art to kids.

We bought this adorable puzzle for our 7 year old granddaughter who is very patient and very good at putting together puzzles. I was actually surprised by her knowledge, I started to explain the concept to her, and she immediately recognized the brown cat as being Freda and picked out Van Gogh's Starry Night. I think she knew more of the artists than me! That being said the 500 pieces was a bit overwhelming for her. I do think it would be nice if the manufacturer could put out the puzzle in both a 500 piece version and a 250 piece version,

This was a great puzzle to work on with other people, we could each pick one of the cats and just grab all of the pieces for that one, assemble it, and then slide it into place in the puzzle on a piece of card stock. Noone hovering over the whole puzzle blocking half the pieces, no need to throw elbows or use scathing commentary. It came together fairly quickly, because it was really nine small puzzles. The pieces were a bit shiny, so there was some glare from my overhead light, but since the puzzle was assembled in sections, it wasn't too bad, although a matte finish would have been better. Would do this one again as a "passing time while chatting and having a nice cup of tea with friends and trying to identify each artist without cheating" puzzle.

Excelente precio calidad.

Valeu muito lindo! demorou pra chegar mas chegou

Because the puzzle is broken up into squares, each consisting of a cat with very different colours/texture as the others, my 6yo was much less intimidated by it. He focused on one cat at a time, and could sort the pieces / complete the puzzle easily enough, with just enough of a challenge component. Overall a very good puzzle choice!

Love this puzzle, very cute design and not hard at all.

Excelente calidad, corte perfecto, cada pieza encaja con facilidad y es más grande que un puzzle regular.