Jigsaw Puzzles

When I would visit my mom's side of the family growing up, we would often pass the time by playing games like Sequence and Scattegories. More recently, the games would sometimes change depending on my sister and I brought with us, but we have also done more jigsaw puzzles together. Since the game time would happen after lunch, we could take over one of the big tables without worrying about getting in the way of the plates and drinks.

Jigsaw puzzles with the family have been nice experiences because we're all working together, but it's not on a time limit like some games, so we can pop in and out as we choose. There were a few favorites that I've helped make several times now. One of which was a map of the world where the countries were in shapes based on their borders rather than the typical puzzle piece. (Okay, small countries were clumped together in larger pieces and larger countries were broken up into interlocking pieces [Russia is 16 pieces!], but you get the point.) The US and Canada are also split up into states and territories rather than uni-colored areas. It was nice to learn some geography snippets while putting the puzzle together. Plus, the otherwise empty oceans were filled with information about each country, so you could learn capital cities, areas, and populations that way too.

Shortly after New Year's, I found myself in the Mall of America Barnes & Noble store and I stumbled upon the jigsaw puzzle section. Since January is National Puzzle Month (which is the holiday I'm recognizing today), they had a BOGO 1/2 Off Sale and sure enough, one of the puzzles they had was the nations of the world. I picked it up along with a Broadway-themed puzzle and brought them back to Wisconsin with me. Last night on a whim, I unwrapped the box and started my construction of the world. I ended up finishing it this morning, but here's the finished product:

It took until the entire frame was coming together for me to know for sure that the whole puzzle would fit on my kitchen table. (I was definitely concerned for a little bit, even after bringing in the tape measure.) Even though I've done this puzzle several times already, I found myself questioning how two countries/areas related to each other. As you can see though, I pulled it off and I am happy to report that I didn't consult the box a single time after taking all of the pieces out. Unfortunately, some of the pieces were already a little bent and it was best to wait until all of the oceans were filled in before placing all of the tiny country/state/territory pieces. Otherwise, they could scoot all over the place.

It's been a while since I've done a physical jigsaw puzzle on my own and I can't think of the last time that I made a large puzzle (this one was 600 pieces). It was weird not having other family members working on separate parts of the puzzle, but part of me enjoyed the fact that in the end, I could pat myself on the back for putting every piece in its place. Plus, it's nice to complete a physical jigsaw puzzle since a Flash version isn't quite the same.

As I mentioned before, January is National Puzzle Month. I have some other jigsaw puzzles I haven't done before, so I may do those later this month as well. I'll just make sure to double-check the box and make sure it fits on my kitchen table for sure beforehand!

DFTBA.