Dinosaur Day
One of the movies I’ve seen hundreds of times and won’t ever tire of is Jurassic Park. Wearing out our VHS tape of this 90s staple instilled in me a love of dinosaurs, so this Dinosaur Day—June 1st—seems like a great time to puzzle some dinos!
There are so many dinosaur-themed puzzles on the market, and Puzzle Warehouse has more than 100 options currently in stock. One of my favorites is Dino Toys Come Alive with art by Jan Patrik Krasny in 1000 pieces from Anatolian.
Dino Toys Come Alive by Anatolian
I just love the mix of dinosaur toys, artwork, and even a puzzle in this image! It reminds me of the dino paraphernalia my brother and I had as kids (and still have!). Quite a few puzzles of Jan Patrik Krasny’s artwork are available, and his dinosaur imagery can be found in a variety of piece counts and brands, including Ravensburger, Educa, and Ceaco. I recently did another of his puzzles—Dino Roar in 300 pieces in Ceaco’s Prehistoria line.
Dino Roar ( End of Life) by Ceaco
Ok, I admit I picked up this specific puzzle from the thrift store, and wow was it missing a lot of pieces! I guess that’s what I get for not ordering a new puzzle from Puzzle Warehouse! Puzzle Warehouse has my back though and carries many more in this line, including Dinosaur Jungle, Jurassic Playground, Dino Landscape, and Jurassic Forest.
Dinosaurs to Scale by Mudpuppy
Another great illustration is Dinosaurs to Scale with art by Owen Davey. I loved the bright colors and art style in this 300 piece puzzle from Mudpuppy. I presume they mean that the dinosaurs are in scale relative to one another, because a puzzle of dinos actually to scale would decidedly not fit on my puzzle table! I had a good laugh about that one when I pulled it out of the box (from Puzzle Warehouse–I learned my lesson!).
While we’re talking illustrations, I just couldn’t resist Space Dinosaurs from Ravensburger!
Space Dinosaurs by Ravensburger
This 200pc puzzle has fabulous art by Piya Wannachaiwong! I mostly know this artist for his wonderful dragon illustrations (including Star Dragon from Ravensburger and Book Wyrms from Mchezo). But I absolutely love these charismatic space dinos! Ravensburger also has some of their friends in this 3-pack of 49-piece puzzles, Dinosaurs in Space. I love that each dino has its own color scheme.
Another ridiculous dinosaur illustration that makes me laugh is Dinotopia in 150 pieces from Schmidt. As much as I love all the colorful and silly dinosaur puzzles, I also appreciate those that try to be a little more realistic. To that end, I love MadCapp’s shaped puzzles I am Raptor and I am T-Rex and this intense realistic-looking Spinosaurus in 200 pieces from New York Puzzle Company.
Spinosaurus by New York Puzzle Company
Of course these artists took their best guesses of what dinosaurs might look like. Scientists have learned a lot from the skeletal structures and fossil footprints they left behind, and artists fill in the rest. I love a good trip to a natural history museum to see the dinosaur skeletons and other specimens, so Evolution Laboratory in 500 pieces from MasterPieces stood out to me.
Evolution Laboratory by MasterPieces
The more I studied this image, the more I realized just how quirky this image from Gentaro & Shiori Kagawa / Studio Oz is! There’s some Jurassic Park-level sci-fi shenanigans happening here! This is also part of MaterPiece’s A-maze-ing line, so if you’re not too distracted by the kids playing hide and seek or the scientist freeing several archaeopteryx, you can also solve a maze!
And, well, speaking of Jurassic Park, I couldn’t finish this post without mentioning Jurassic Park Collage in 1000 pieces from Aquarius.
Jurassic Park Collage by Aquarius
I love that there are puzzles of dinosaurs in so many different pieces counts and themes from so many different brands. Do you have a favorite?
- Gail, @jiggies_and_gems
