Rubiks Junior Puzzle Review

Reviewed by Deborah Banasko

Bunnies are a firm favourite amongst my three children, so receiving the Rubiks Junior puzzle from Ideal was a welcome treat of a review. My kids are aged 9, 6 and 2 so we have been able to really test this out from all perspectives.

This puzzle is based on the idea of the Rubiks cube where you have to twist sections of the puzzle in order to complete it, but targeted at a younger age range . In this instance, you are creating a bunny character. The rabbit is handheld and has three body sections which can be twisted about a horizontal plane, 360 degrees. These are divided into the head, body and legs. The head has fixed white ears, the body has little arms and the legs have fixed white feet to finish off the look of the character. Down the centre of the bunny is a vertical line of division (the bunny is essentially split into two) so that the two halves can be twisted 360 degrees, provided that it is lined up correctly. The bunny is essentially made up of 6 twistable and angular 3D shapes.

The front of the rabbit is covered with yellow stickers, sporting a cute little face at the top with typical bunny eyes, nose, whiskers and teeth details. The back is red, with a white bunny tail at the bottom. The base is orange, and the sides are green and blue. Thankfully the stickers have been added for you, and cannot be peeled off and moved around so no cheating! This is a lovely feature which allows you to practice colours with your child and gives a little nod to the original Rubiks stickers design.  The sections spin really well and it’s easy for children to hold and handle. This toy is wipeable which is great for sticky fingers and also enables you to take it out and about with you, without the worry of getting it dirty.

The puzzle isn’t as basic as it looks, as you have to ensure that the central vertical section lines up or it won’t twist upwards or downwards and this concept got my 6 year old a bit frustrated at first; he wanted to move the segments vertically as individual thirds rather than as a whole. You can really mix this sections up and get your kids brains working. I was never good at the original Rubiks Cube, and at one point the only person who could solve the mess I’d made with the rabbit was my 9 year old, embarrassingly. Naturally due to it’s size there are a limited number of combinations, but it was enough to keep my 6 year old suitably challenged.

The target age is 4 plus and I would agree with this judgement. Any younger and it would just be frustrating, as my two and a half year old tried to pull it apart in frustration as he couldn’t understand the concept. Whilst this toy is without doubt good quality and very sturdy, I do believe a determined toddler could pull it apart if he set his mind to it. It is the perfect size for little hands, and I’d probably buy this for a child aged between 4 and 6.
My two year old did like to play with it as a bunny doll as well, so it has got other potential uses especially if you have the other characters in the range.

The other models available in the Junior range are a kitten, puppy, bear and puppy. I’m not sure how different these versions would be to the bunny, or if they would present enough of an additional challenge having not tested them out. I do think it would be nice to have the option of a discounted duo pack, as I doubt that I would be inclined to buy all four individually unless I had a family of four children in mind as a gift.

The price point for this toy is possibly a little high at it’s full retail price, although I think the current offer of £7.98 is reasonable and I would be happy to pay that.

My eldest describes this as a “fiddling around” toy when she’s watching TV, sat in the car, waiting for an appointment or having some down-time. It isn’t a toy that would occupy large chunks of time, perhaps 5-10minutes at a time. We quite enjoyed setting challenges for each-other, increasing the difficulty. When we tried to do this with the original Rubiks cube which we have already at home, it either took too long and the kids became bored, or no-one could solve it. At least with this kind of toy it is quicker, less frustrating and someone will be able to solve it- even if it is the child and not the adult!

We even started to time each-other which was great fun if not a little stressful for me (the pressure!). I do think that this a toy which we will keep bringing out.

If puzzles are your child’s thing, then this is great for a younger child and will introduce them to logical thinking and problem solving. It’s actually a great price point for school friends birthday parties.
With it being a bunny character this makes a great Easter themed gift and a is bit more original than a chocolate egg, and possibly easier to post given that we are still in lockdown!

Rating: 4.5/5

RRP: £9.99 (currently reduced to £7.98)

This product can be purchased from Amazon here.