Good fun with Animal Train Puzzle

The boys have been able to identify their letters for over a year so there was a side to me that though that this puzzle might have been a little baby for them and I actually contemplated returning it but the boys found it and before I knew it -- it was out of the box.  Inever imagined how much fun that this would have created for the boys. They absolutely LOVE it and spend hours (well in the toddler sense) playing with it. 

Besides trains, they are definitely obsessed with animals.  The fun in this is not only putting the puzzle together and taking it apart and putting it back together again is getting the corresponding animals onto their letter.

It completely appeals to Connor's compulsive and organizational tendencies as well as encourages them to use what they have learned in a practical setting and we have had some amazingly long conversations relative to what animals start with what letters.

They are sooo proud of their accomplishment and generally work well on it.  Since there are enough letters, they can be at opposite sides of the puzzle and not really disturb one another.  It's a win win despite the amount of space that it takes up (length wise).  But it makes them happy, so we will sacrifice the floor space.
 

And, this may just be an example of when one of them shall we say is unreasonable relative to animal placement...