Puzzles are definitely smart toys, and the Oblo Puzzle Sphere is smarter than most. Surprise, it’s our SMART TOY #2!
The OBLO is a spherical puzzle that looks just like a regular ball at first but is actually a puzzle using the classic nesting concept.
There are 21 pieces total, and after you find how to get the first outer green piece off, the blue sphere is visible underneath. Take a blue chunk out and there’s another yellow sphere.
Inside the hollow yellow sphere is a 2 piece, solid red sphere and once you’ve gotten this far, you’re almost finished!
Getting the red sphere apart is tricky – it comes apart a little differently than the others, but if Elliot can do it, you can do it too!
Once you’ve got the red center out, you can finish taking out all the other pieces, until…
…you are left with the green sphere, empty!
Now it’s time to put it back together, one layer at a time. After the red center is back in, you finish completing the other layers until the last piece goes on and – ! A green sphere again!
And then you wear it like a hat, of course.
Here’s a really cool video demonstration of how it all works:
As you can see, Elliot loves this little 3-dimensional puzzle. He loves all puzzles and I wasn’t sure he’d be able to do this one, but it has been great for his little brain and fingers to figure it out (with a little help).
The OBLO is a super smart puzzle because it’s both tactile and mental. Taking the sphere apart and putting it back together require a different set of problem solving skills and give those little fingers practice doing precision work, the same kind of movement that children need to learn to write and draw.
The OBLO helps children develop crucial hand-eye coordination and mastering and completing it gives children a confidence and willingness to continue taking on these kinds of fun challenges.
We have loved discovering all the secrets of this great puzzle – it’s been a perfect quiet time, road trip, and before bed activity for our kids and it’s been really fun to do it together. Boyd loves puzzles and he loves teaching our kids to love them too.
Thanks to OBLO for sponsoring this review and providing a product sample for us to try out – we get a little smarter every time we whip the OBLO apart and back together!
