Some months ago, my husband brought home this animal puzzle from his parents’ house in a box of things from his youth. The box also included a bunch of (worthless) baseball cards and a collection of “cassingles” from the early 90s. This puzzle was undoubtedly the best thing in the box.
It’s so weird. None of the animals are to scale and about half of them are just heads. I put it together, and it took me a long long time. Seriously, like over an hour. It’s crazy hard!
There is no hope for any child ever being able to put it together, so framing it for display seemed to be the best way to enjoy it.
I grabbed a thrift store frame from my stash that seemed to fit the proportions best. Then I went hunting for a suitable background. The frame is about 14 inches wide which ruled out a lot of the patterned papers I had on hand. I ended up painting a piece of brown kraft paper with some watered down craft paint just to give it a bit of color. I think the washed watercolor look gives it some extra interest.
It took some fancy maneuvering and a few tries, but I was able to sandwich it between the backing and the glass without using any glue or adhesive. Easy disassembly should we ever want to just play with the puzzle again.
My two favorite moments in this crazy scene are the whale and frightened green octopus (in the above photo) and the dove’s head in the wolf’s mouth (below). Cuckoo, right?
Now that’s a puzzle worthy of framing! 🙂 Great find, and I love that it speaks to your family history in a way, being a reclaimed treasure from your husband’s childhood.
I think you can probably tell I love it. I put it in the girls’ room, so it’s been officially passed down to them!
Love that you framed it! I beg to differ that there is no hope of a child ever putting the puzzle together – I found your image when searching for my FAVORITE childhood puzzle!
Thanks! My kids are under 5, and it was way too hard for the preschool set. Maybe I’ll unframe it when they’re older!
I had this puzzle as a child and loved it. I’ve been searching for one is how I found your site. Love that you framed it…so fun!
That’s so crazy. I wish I knew more about it (brand, year, etc.)!