Squirrels on Vacation - 1000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle by Nancy Rose (Cobble Hill)

Nine little scenes, nine tiny dramas. A squirrel paddles a kayak with a life jacket on, another sulks in a miniature tent bed under a sign that reads "Only three sleeps left!", and down at the beach two of them sit building sandcastles like they've done it a hundred times before.

Nancy Rose builds these sets by hand and lures real squirrels in with hidden peanuts, so every prop, from the tow caravan to the picnic table, is scaled to fit a genuinely wild animal rather than drawn or digitally added. That's worth knowing before you start, because it changes how you look at the puzzle: this is real photography, not illustration, and the fur, whiskers and tiny paws are all sharp enough to sort by.

With nine separate panels it's an easy one to break down into smaller jobs — do the kayak scene one evening, the surfboard car the next. Good for a rainy weekend or for two people working on different corners of the table at once.