We stay pretty busy around here. Especially during the school year. Between school, work, the farm, church, and just trying to bathe, eat, and sleep, we don’t find much relax and hang out time. So we work pretty hard to make sure that we set aside some special “family time” activities to do together at home. This usually involves a lot of compromises. Maybe the house is a mess but we ignore it. Or we let everyone eat dinner in the living room so at least we’re still eating together at a family every night. I’ve shared before that every Friday is Family Movie Night for us. We’ve occasionally inserted a Family Game Night or Family Story Night, but we often go back to family movie night because it just works for us and everyone likes it.

Mr. Fix-It and I always make sure to focus on family-oriented activities at Christmas as well. So we’ve gotten family camping gear, family sports gear, family movies, family games, and last year we picked up a 1,000 piece puzzle–which sat in the closet for some 8 months. A few weeks ago, after a very stressful bedtime hour, on top of a very stressful day, Mr. Fix-It broke it out of its closet prison and suggested that we start it to take our minds off the evenings shenanigans.

And a new family-favorite activity was born! 

I didn’t quite expect it to take off like it did, but the kiddos LOVED it.

We started randomly in the middle of the living room coffee table at midnight one Thursday, and there it stayed for a month until we finished it.

The kids LOVED it being right in the center of the house so they could sit and be with everyone while they worked on it. They loved when Grandpa Ray came over and they got to show him how much they had done. And they loved seeing the progress and working together, swapping and finding pieces.

Mr. Fix-It and I really enjoyed it too. (I think I liked it a little more than he did after he got us started.) It’s a great “mind-numbing” activity at the end of a long work day.

The kiddos even went to visit Mimi for a week in the middle of our puzzle-building frenzy and when they called home they asked for updates on how it was coming and if we had finished their favorite sections yet!

Sorry these pictures are so bad. The light in our living room is just not camera-friendly for my cell phone.

Of course, when we bought it, I got Mr. Fix-It to compromise with me and we got the one that was Classic Literature titles in comic book covers. It was a fun education element for the kids to see the titles and authors as it came together and say “We read that!” or “We have that movie!” (You can find it here.)

Unfortunately you might notice in our finished product that we’re missing 3 pieces. {smile} I guess it was inevitable if you’re going to build a 1,000 piece puzzle smack in the middle of your living room and daily life that pieces will go missing. I don’t think 3 was too bad, actually. I know I saved a lot from the vacuum by making the kiddos do a puzzle-piece search every couple days before bed. 

The dogs’ tails were also a bit of a hazard. {smile} But the idea of just leaving it out in the middle of the living room had never occurred to me before, and now we can’t wait to do it again. Having it out on the coffee table was the easiest way for us to be able to work on it together in all the tiny moments we had together. And the colors and complexity kept even our high-energy kiddos engaged until it was done–as long as we didn’t turn it into a marathon session.

We are looking into one of those roll-up puzzle mats for Christmas this year, along with a new puzzle. The idea of better contrast for the pieces is appealing, as well as being able to reclaim our table if we had company or a special occasion come up. I also think the felt might help avoid losing pieces. I was also introduced to the idea of puzzle tables, but I think we like having it out in the middle of the room.

And how fun are all the new puzzle designs? I love the fairytale classics, the classic movie posters, and the comic book covers. Mr. Fix-It liked the candy wrappers, the comedy movie posters, and the vintage signs.

If you follow us on Facebook or Instagram, I wouldn’t be surprised if you see more pictures of us working on them in the future pop up! {smile}

Are you a puzzle fan? My grandparents used to have a card table set up on the side of the room and worked on big puzzles together a little bit at a time. I was never much interested then, but I’m glad to see our kiddos enjoy it now. 1,000 pieces is probably our limit for a while though. That’s enough to keep us busy, but not take SO LONG that everyone gives up.