We have the “Safari” Chunky Puzzle from Melissa and Doug and it’s been one of our daughter’s FAVORITE toys. Though she does play with it like a puzzle sometimes, she mostly just plays with the animals. This toy has been great for animal recognition. Animal figurines are a wonderful open-ended toy at this age. Many Montessori families opt for plastic animals due to their realistic features. However, we stick to wooden animals since we have yet to find plastic toy animals that aren’t made of PVC- a highly toxic substance.
Although we don’t have them, we also like “Farm” & “Pets” version of this puzzle, and actually find the animals to be more realistic (and thus, more Montessori-friendly).