Montessoridays™ Bear Dress-Up Matching Game

Love these puzzles! The pieces are all colorful, and very sturdy!

I bought this set for one niece and she liked it so much, I've bought a second one for another. They are both just turning 3 years old.
One thing we found frustrating is that the pieces are not interchangeable between bears, however there's no easy way to tell which one goes with which bear. They arrive neatly organized in three separate sections of the bin, however that lasts about 12 seconds before they are all in one big pile.
I took paint markers and marked the back of each piece -- a red flower for momma bear, a blue star for pappa bear, and a green heart for baby bear. I then made the same marks on the puzzle base and the box sections.
This will help the kids be able to tell which pieces go where and to which bear. It will also add some color and pattern matching learning opportunities to the set. I've added an image to this listing with the markings added.

I have had this dress-up set for 2.5 years already, since my son was just 1.5 years old until recently, when he became 4. My son has played with it every now and then throughout all these years, and the set has survived extremely well! Some of the stickers have got a little peeled here and there, but overall the set looks similar as to when it was new.
As for the set itself, it contains mother, son and father, each of them with 5 heads, 5 upper clothes and 5 lower clothes (total 15x3=45 pieces). I find a little difficult to figure out which head belongs to which bear, but after a while you get used to it. We enjoy both making the "correct" sets as shown in the back picture of the box, and making "creative" arrangements where we mix and match.
Overall, this is an entertaining and long lasting toy, with great design and quality. I cannot recommend it enough!

Purchased these for an elderly person in a dementia facility, and they seemed to enjoy this! I think it was challenging enough for them to try and work out, despite their confusion of proper placement and differentiation of the faces & clothes.
The pieces are made of a thin but sturdy, corrugated-type material, which are placed in the cut-out board with the individual bear characters, and then the bottom piece contains 3 compartments; 1 holds the varied (expressions of)faces, another holds the clothing tops, and the third holds the bottoms(pants, legs).
When you want to put this away, the top containing the bear cutouts slides neatly (upside down) onto the compartment (bottom) piece.
I am quite happy having given this as a gift for the special needs adult.

My 2 1/2 year old grandson loves this toy! I bought it as a gift, and was impressed by how sturdy the toy is. The pieces are not too difficult for little hands to take out and rearrange. He seems to take endless pleasure in changing the bears' outfits and describing what each bear is doing. I took the advice of another reviewer and color coded the pieces on the back. I used a red daisy to signify the clothes of the mama bear, and drew that on her figure; a blue heart on the clothes and figure of the little bear; and a silver star on the clothes and figure of the papa bear. In this way, when he gets confused about which head or item of clothing goes with which bear, he can match the little design on the back with the design on the figure. When I showed him how to match them up using those colored symbols, it helped a lot. Many thanks to the mom who came up with that idea!

PREPARE!!! Once a kid goes to Kindy they will be there without Mommy and Daddy to cut
to draw, to glue, to do stuff that will require those little fingers to be smart.
It is a parent's job to prepare kid for success. You can do it.
Just let a young child to do as many things with their fingers that require some
challenging but achievable task completion and move on little by little
and always always praise and have fun and never push or criticize.
With those skills a child will be proficient and confident.
This is what you are really buying when you buy toys like this..
you are helping kid to grow.

I bought this for my daughter when she was three years old and it is one of my favorite purchases I've made for her. It seems like such a simple toy -- put faces and clothes on a mommy, daddy, and child bear-- but it is multifaceted.
Each bear comes with several faces including sad, happy, surprised, angry, and surprised. They also come with several outfits including pajamas and rain gear. The pieces are relatively thick and durable--they're made of a material that reminds me of thin particle board. They're not flimsy cardboard pieces that will easily bend. The box comes with a lid that doubles as the puzzle board. I love that there's a lid.
Other reviewers mentioned that all the pieces weren't interchangeable. I never expected them to be, after all, the bears are clearly different shapes and sizes. It's easy to tell which bear most of the pieces go with and my three year old figured it out pretty easily.
This puzzle is excellent for helping children identify and express feelings. My daughter was a very late talker, so she used it to let us know what was on her mind, which included letting me know that I needed to put on my happy face more often. It's good for identifying correct matches for the clothing. You can even use it to talk about weather -- when do you wear sweaters? Raincoats?
My daughter played with this for 30 minutes at a time nearly daily, for over a year. She adored this puzzle and even now, at five, she'll pull it out to play with on occasion.

I bought this for a friend's daughter's 2nd birthday. The birthday girl and I sat on the floor and played with it immediately. I love that the top slides into a groove on the box --- keeping the pieces together. The box is divided into three compartments. The Daddy's bear's pieces, the little boy bear's pieces and the Mommy Bear's pieces store separately. It's a plus that not only do the bears have several changes of clothes, they also have changes of faces. Each can be happy, sad, sleepy, surprised or grumpy. This is a great conversation starter.

This is a classic toy that children love!
I have purchased this several times, for my kids and for gifts.
It is perfect for a pleasant calm activity and has appeal for a range of ages. My older dauggter loves to coordinate the outfits while fabricating a backstory about the bears. My little one who is learning to dress himself is proud to remember all the different parts that the bears need and is proud to figure out which sizes fit each bear.
Also, i like that the board doubles as a cover to the compartments for easy storage.
Highly recommended !

I gave this to my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter. We played with it almost every day. It was fun to watch her developing new skills with this. Day one she realized there were 3 compartments to sort the garments for the 3 different bears. She spent day 2 memorizing which garments belonged to which bears. Day three she discovered the images on the bottom of the box that show the completed outfits and then concentrated on making the correct matches. She favored the happy faces to begin with, but once she gained confidence in wardrobe selection she began using the other faces and adding little story lines to why they had a grumpy face or a confused looking face. I was delighted to see how much this stimulated her imagination and strengthened her sorting skills. This is well made and adorable. I'm sure she will be playing with if for a long time and that it will still be in good shape when her younger brother is ready to play with it.

Being an advocate of puzzles, I ordered this for our 2 yrs old granddaughter who lives with us. She instantly figured this out and we found that she was dressing them each nite for bed and for their day upon waking. We never prodded her or mentioned it at all. The older children also play with this a lot. A good sturdy toy that will last for many ages. Love Melissa & Doug products.

I bought this for my young granddaughters who love playing with puzzles. These are not typical puzzles... there is a momma bear, a baby bear, and a papa bear. Each bear has five possible heads with different facial expressions, five possible shirts/blouses, five pants/skirts. The girls love to mix and match the pieces and they describe each bear's mood and where the bears are going and what they are going to do. There are many wonderful educational aspects to this puzzle, and the girls have spent many hours enjoying it.

I first bought these for my older daughter (now 3.5) about a year & a half ago when I noticed how interested she was in puzzles. While interested, she really wasn't very good at them & would get very frustrated. A friend recommeded this puzzle & I'm so glad she did. It's an easy puzzle that really held her interest. For awhile, we kept it in her bedroom & she would put the family into their pjs & sleeping faces while I put my younger daughter to bed. It was a lifesaver with a small baby & a toddler in the house.
My almost 2 year old (who is actually pretty decent at puzzles ;)) loves this. She will often play quietly with this for 20-30 minutes. Yes, several of the pieces have been tossed out as they've been chewed up so much they no longer fit into the proper place on the board but overall, this is one of the most useful toys I've purchased (we have a LOT). They don't seem to bore of this one at all.

Best toy investment we've made to date, and I'm not exaggerating. I bought this when my oldest turned 2. This was 2 years ago. She plays with these bears every day, and my son, who is not 2, is learning to dress them up. My daughter went from using this as a puzzle, learning to put the pieces in the right spots, to actual dress up play, and she has now started using the bears as a template to trace on paper, adding her own designs and faces to her drawings.
I would never have imagined her figuring out that possibility for this seemingly simple toy. The pieces have held up very well. Minimal to no peeling of the designs. The box is sturdy and the sliding lid is great for keeping everything tidy.

My almost two year old granddaughter loves this! She likes mixing and matching outfits on the three bears and it keeps her fascinated for long periods of time! Very durable and love that the pieces store inside the box for travel to grammies house.

This is a cute puzzle. Purchased for two 1-1/2 year-old granddaughters. I have had a chance to sit down with one of them. She needs help, of course, but I went ahead and bought them because it is something to do one on one and help them develop their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. She was starting to catch on how to get the pieces in by herself. We have a 3-year-old granddaughter and a 5-year-old grandson who enjoy this, too. With them, it is not so much of a challenge or something they will grow into, it is just a fun puzzle for them to do. This puzzle is a neat idea, and I expect the girls we got these for to enjoy them for awhile as they grow.

The only reason this is 4 stars is that it is made in China (probably don't want your kiddo chewing on these pieces, as even some older toddlers are prone to do). It's cute, and entertains my 22 month old son for quite some time. I saw some complaints in prior reviews about the pieces being hard to fit. Maybe so, if you leave a baby alone to play on his own with this puzzle. I would assume as they get older that they'd be able to figure it out (i.e. Mommy Bear has medium brown fur, Baby Bear has light tan fur, and Daddy Bear has dark brown fur). This helps anyone to know which face/hands belong to who. The bottom piece of each bear is shaped differently, and one quickly learns that all of Daddy's pieces have the legs spread apart, Baby's are together and small, and Mommy's are together and big (plus, feminine clothing). I was going to try marking the backs of them, but even my 22 month old doesn't seem to have a problem with this, as long as I am with him to help a little.