We are big fans of Orchard Toys here in our house. We have many of their jigsaws, puzzles and games. All of which get played with regularly. I was so excited when we received the Giant Road Jigsaw, not only is it a great floor play jigsaw but once built it can be used as a road to drive the cars about on. Now what child wouldn't want to drive their cars about on this road.

What I love most about it is that you can change the road to be in different layouts, making the puzzle easy for little ones to build and then you can mix up the layout for some extra fun.

My boys had great fun playing with the jigsaw and both built it by themselves. Driving the cars about.

We even used it for road safety with some of the little characters. I taught them to cross at the crossings which are on the jigsaw and where is safe to cross, etc. I think this toy is fantastic, there is so much you can do with it, it really has no limits.

For little ones you can use the jigsaw to help them learn colours, by pointing out can you show my the yellow car, can you show my where the blue car is, etc. It's also good for counting and asking how many cars there are? Perfect for my oldest who has just started school.

Honestly, I cannot praise Orchard Toys enough and this jigsaw is no exception. I loved it and so did the boys. It is a great price for so many things that can be learnt, built and played with. I would recommend this for both boys and girls toddlers, pre-school and early school age. A puzzle, a game, a road and a jigsaw all in one.

The Boy has recently developed a taste for cars. Cars and jigsaws! As long as he can 'brum' a car along then he's a happy chappy. Give him a 24-piece jigsaw as well and he's in seventh heaven!

Now wouldn't it be good if someone combined the two together?

Well, the genuis that is Orchard Toys have! They've created an extra large floor puzzle in the format of a road jigsaw. Now strictly speaking this is not a typical jigsaw: as there are a great deal of combinations that can be created from the 20 chunky pieces which include corners and junctions, as well as straight roads.

When it first arrived, I honestly cannot tell you who was more excited: The Boy, me or Mr. TheBoyandMe. Mr. TBAM has undertaken a personal challenge to create as many different layouts as possible using all the pieces, as his OCD is worse than mine and he won't allow a layout to be counted if there's a piece left over. I often have to ban him from playing it until The Boy has gone to bed, but both of us love setting out a new system for The Boy before our bedtime so that when The Boy wakes up, he's got something new to play with.

Of course, The Boy gets a look in! He's very fond of making roundabouts and straight roads; it took me some time to get him to realise that he can combine the two to stop the car crashing into the wall. However, he adores it and often races off to find his cars so he can 'brum' along the roads.

This game (and I call it that because I think it is more than just a jigsaw) creates hours of fun, and I don't use that phrase often or lightly. It is more than just a jigsaw:

It's a problem solving activity. Older children could be given a drawn picture or photograph of a layout and asked to recreate it.
It's a tool for imaginative play. Use cars, create shops with old cardboard boxes, get little figures out and create an imaginary world.
It's a real-life discussion activity. The beautiful illustrations demonstrate some very important real-life situations: recycling, litter, road safety, etc.

I cannot even begin to convey how fond we are of this game/jigsaw. Every child who comes into our house, be it boy or girl, heads straight for it to try and come up with an exciting road system. I've already suggested to Orchard Toys that they do add-on kits for it. Mr. TBAM would like to see cul-de-sacs and cross-roads, I'd like a single roundabout piece. Can you imagine a layout over the entire ground floor of your house?! How cool would that be?

This is an independent toy review by Lauren for Izziwizzikids.co.uk for Play Fest.
A big thumbs up for the Giant Road Jigsaw. See what Lauren thinks...

A jigsaw, that you can then play with - brilliant idea!

The pieces are fab and easy to put together, and the kids love it!

It is durable enough to play with your cars on it too!

This is a wonderful puzzle for preschool children with a really fun twist! The jigsaw pieces are great quality and a perfect size for small hands. We particularly love the attention to detail in the road scene, as well as the interchangeable design of the pieces to fit together in more than one layout!

This product is absolutely brilliant. This is the first jigsaw I have seen that can be completed in different ways. It also made a great "playmat" for my sons cars to drive around on.

Another high quality and great fun jigsaw. Kieran has spent hours, both by himself and with friends building numerous different roads and playing with cars and fire engines. Excellent!

This is an independent review of the Giant Road Jigsaw by Kelly for IzziwizziKids Play Fest. a Brilliant toy a must have for Christmas or Birthday!