Review: Ravensburger 3D Windmill Puzzle

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My children had bought their Gramps a 3D puzzle of the Eiffel Tower for a present last year so I looked forward to being sent the Windmill 3D puzzle to review. We took the puzzle around to my parents' house and the team of 3 set to work:

Helping Gramps sort pieces

The very clear instructions tell you how many pieces are in each part of the puzzle and they are all clearly marked. So you need to group them in numerical order to construct the puzzle:

Numbered puzzle pieces

Grouping the pieces

Some of the pieces are creased so that you need to fold them to make the corners of the puzzle. Then you have to put the correct pieces together just like in a normal puzzle:

assembling the pieces

My son is a couple of years below the suggested age of 10 for the puzzle but it didn't take him long to get the hand of bending and clicking the pieces together:

The pieces click together

Once a few were attached then the were able to stand up and you could see the windmill forming:

The very start of the wall

My daughter decided that we as a girl's team were going to build the other half of the windmill. She has done this type of puzzle before so she got on with it quite quickly. I was only allowed to sort the pieces into piles so that she could do the exciting construction.

Arrows show direction of next piece

By now the boy side had finished their bit. I love the little details such as the bicycle leaning on the wall:

Lower tier completed

Our section was taller and narrower than the lower half:

Nearly done

It was great to put the two pieces together:

Positioning the top section

Then the windmill blades and roof were placed on the top and we were done:

Pleased with their efforts

The next day my daughter decided that the mill needed some residents including a little mouse with clogs on:

New residents moving in

It took our combined team just under an hour to complete the puzzle and that was with the children doing most of the construction and the adults only allowed to do the boring sorting! It was a great activity to do across the generations and with a smaller group it would have nicely filled an afternoon or morning. 

What is great as well is that the puzzle makes a great decorative piece and is pretty sturdy once constructed. The attention to detail on the sides of the windmill are great. I wonder which one of the other 3D puzzles we will be getting Gramps for his birthday this summer..