When I was young, I was crazy for puzzles. There was always a puzzle going on my parents' floor, for at least 10 years straight. Now that my friends have little puzzle-freaks of their own, I realize how much precious floor real estate those things take up. If you're going to have a puzzle-in-progress on your floor for days or weeks, why not make it a good-looking one?

• Wayne Thiebaud's Three Machines puzzle from Pomegranate is perfectly kid-appropriate, yet has a hint of darkness that appeals to all ages. I love this one.


• The next two puzzles - the Art Quadrat Puzzle by Stefanie Keppler and Ingo Fremer and the Puzzulus Puzzle are both bright, fun, poppy, and available from MoMA. The Art Quadrat can be put together in many different ways- I might be too old-fashioned for something like that..


• Speaking of free-form, if you're kid is a color & concept genius, get her to put together the PuzzlePerser by Katrin Sonnleitner. That's 1,225 pieces of recyclable rubber...some assembly required.


• Eleonora's Girl With Red Umbrella puzzle is based on her charming original illustration. For the burgeoning Francophile in your household, perhaps?


• I suppose it's wrong to refer to Amish design as "modern", but there's no denying their design is good. The quilt on this Amish Quilt Jigsaw Puzzle available from JigZone Shop "is among those included in the major exhibition 'Amish Abstractions: Quilts from the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown', organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Not a bad pedigree, and perfect for the quilter in the house. You know, during the off-season.


• The Spin Art Puzzle from Superbuzzy lets you "recreate the delicious and beautiful yarn featured in Jacey Bogg's book Spin Art". Again, this would be great for a knitter or crocheter. Is that a word?


• Jackson Pollock's painting Convergence was made into a puzzle available from SFMOMA- the best part is that this 1,000-piece puzzle made up of splotches and splatters is described as being " ideal for all skill levels". Please, someone give this to your five-year-old and tell us what happens.


• The Charley Harper Tree of Life puzzle is 500 pieces and includes creatures from all over the animal kingdom.


• The pizza puzzle from Into The Woods Studio just makes me laugh. A pizza, on the floor!

(All images as credited above.)