Designer Desire: Alfons van Heusden

Montage of Alfons van Heusden illustrations | H is for Home

Alphonsus Josephus Hubertus van Heusden (1930-2000), otherwise known as Alfons van Heusden, was a Dutch graphic designer and illustrator. He was a lecturer at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague during the 1980s. He’s best known, though, for creating the graphics on many children’s jigsaws and card games that were produced by Jumbo Puzzle.

We have a couple of examples of his designs available in our webshop. We love his work so much, we included an image of one of them on the reverse of our business cards! It’s the game in the top, right of our collection above – and it also happens to be an item that’s in the permanent collection of Amsterdam Museum.

We’ve recently seen another couple of his items currently for sale on Etsy.

Working alongside poet and children’s writer, Willem Wilmink, he illustrated the latter’s 1980 book – ‘Spook tussen spoken’ (which translates as Ghost between ghosts).

He illustrated Even naarde brievenbus (Just to the letterbox), Hahaha, je vader (Ha ha ha, your father) and Groot groter grootst (Big bigger biggest) written by Ivo de Wijs.

In 1981, he designed a series of Christmas cards for children, one of which is the bottom image in our montage.

Image credits:

JungleKey | Pinterest

Educational jigsaws

Educational jigsaws | H is for Home

Day 19 of the UK Covid-19 lockdown… Are you running out of ideas for keeping the kids (or yourself) busy and engaged? People have been playing board games as an enjoyable and sociable way to pass the time.

Educational jigsaws are also a great idea for multiple reasons; for a start, they can take a lot of time (especially if it’s a 1000-piece jobby), patience and concentration to complete. Secondly, they can be done as a solitary pastime or with the family. Thirdly, you can stop, get up and go do something else, and return to it at a later time… try doing that during a fierce game of Monopoly!

In addition to all those positives, the jigsaws we’ve chosen will also teach you a thing or two. The Bodleian puzzle is an image of a segment of antique books in the children’s section of the library. You’ll learn a bit about children’s book titles and authors, piecing together the beautifully decorated spines and covers.

The Victory jigsaw not only teaches you the geography and industries of Europe, but also its history; countries such as Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and USSR no longer exist and Germany hadn’t yet been reunified.

With The Little Boys Room example, you can choose to have a map of your local area turned into a jigsaw. I love the way that the piece where your home is located is in the shape of a house! It’s a sure-fire, fun way to learn your way around your neighbourhood.

  1. Bodleian Libraries jigsaw puzzle: ‘High Jinks’ bookshelves 1000-piece jigsaw: £12.99, Waterstones
  2. Victory ‘Industrial Life in Europe’ plywood jigsaw: £25.00, H is for Home
  3. Personalised Our House map 400-piece jigsaw by TheLittleBoysRoom: £39.95, NOTHS

shop educational jigsaws

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Prices & links correct at time of publication.

Personalised Our House map 400-piece jigsaw by TheLittleBoysRoom
Personalised Our House map 400-piece jigsaw by TheLittleBoysRoom
£39.95
Victory ‘Industrial Life in Europe’ plywood jigsaw
Victory ‘Industrial Life in Europe’ plywood jigsaw
£25.00
Bodleian Libraries jigsaw puzzle: ‘High Jinks’ bookshelves 1000-piece jigsaw
Bodleian Libraries jigsaw puzzle: ‘High Jinks’ bookshelves 1000-piece jigsaw
£12.99
Personalised Our House map 400-piece jigsaw by TheLittleBoysRoom
Personalised Our House map 400-piece jigsaw by TheLittleBoysRoom
£39.95
Victory ‘Industrial Life in Europe’ plywood jigsaw
Victory ‘Industrial Life in Europe’ plywood jigsaw
£25.00
Bodleian Libraries jigsaw puzzle: ‘High Jinks’ bookshelves 1000-piece jigsaw
Bodleian Libraries jigsaw puzzle: ‘High Jinks’ bookshelves 1000-piece jigsaw
£12.99
Personalised Our House map 400-piece jigsaw by TheLittleBoysRoom
Personalised Our House map 400-piece jigsaw by TheLittleBoysRoom
£39.95
Victory ‘Industrial Life in Europe’ plywood jigsaw
Victory ‘Industrial Life in Europe’ plywood jigsaw
£25.00
Bodleian Libraries jigsaw puzzle: ‘High Jinks’ bookshelves 1000-piece jigsaw
Bodleian Libraries jigsaw puzzle: ‘High Jinks’ bookshelves 1000-piece jigsaw
£12.99
Personalised Our House map 400-piece jigsaw by TheLittleBoysRoom
Personalised Our House map 400-piece jigsaw by TheLittleBoysRoom
£39.95
Victory ‘Industrial Life in Europe’ plywood jigsaw
Victory ‘Industrial Life in Europe’ plywood jigsaw
£25.00
Bodleian Libraries jigsaw puzzle: ‘High Jinks’ bookshelves 1000-piece jigsaw
Bodleian Libraries jigsaw puzzle: ‘High Jinks’ bookshelves 1000-piece jigsaw
£12.99
Personalised Our House map 400-piece jigsaw by TheLittleBoysRoom
Personalised Our House map 400-piece jigsaw by TheLittleBoysRoom
£39.95
Victory ‘Industrial Life in Europe’ plywood jigsaw
Victory ‘Industrial Life in Europe’ plywood jigsaw
£25.00
Bodleian Libraries jigsaw puzzle: ‘High Jinks’ bookshelves 1000-piece jigsaw
Bodleian Libraries jigsaw puzzle: ‘High Jinks’ bookshelves 1000-piece jigsaw
£12.99

On the road!

'On the road!' blog post banner

Vintage Galt Toys puzzle game | H is for Home

We bought a small box of vintage learning games last week – and amongst them was this gorgeous traffic puzzle that we just had to share.

Detailed view of vintage Galt Toys puzzle game | H is for Home

It was made by Galt Toys in the 1960s, a company that produced some of our absolute favourite toys from this era. The colours & graphics are wonderful.

Detailed view of vintage Galt Toys puzzle game showing the car | H is for Home Detailed view of vintage Galt Toys puzzle game showing the removal van | H is for Home

Detailed view of vintage Galt Toys puzzle game showing the caravan | H is for Home Detailed view of vintage Galt Toys puzzle game showing the caravan | H is for Home

You can remove some of the vehicle pieces to see what’s going on inside – the contents of the delivery van, the caravan’s interior or the passengers on the coach!

Detailed view of vintage Galt Toys puzzle game showing the bus | H is for Home

It’s very charming – one of those finds that will be hard to part with!

Pieced Together

"Pieced Together" blog post banner

three vintage children's jigsaws: red London double decker bus, Magic Roundabout characters and Trumpton characters

We had a bit of a jigsaw bonanza at the market last week.

vintage children's jigsaw of a red London double decker bus

It started with this gorgeous London bus dating from the 1960s…

detail of vintage children's jigsaw of a red London double decker bus detail of vintage children's jigsaw of a red London double decker bus

…very Kenneth Townsend in style.

vintage children's jigsaw of Trumpton characters

Then we found a couple of classic children’s TV jigsaws.

vintage children's jigsaw of Trumpton character, Mickey Murphy vintage children's jigsaw of Trumpton character, Captain Snort

First up is Trumpton with Captain Snort, Doctor Mopp and Windy Miller to name just a few. Who remembers the firemen’s roll call? Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble & Grub!

Followed by The Magic Roundabout – Dougal, Dylan, Ermintrude and friends.

vintage children's jigsaw of Magic Roundabout characters

vintage children's jigsaw of Magic Roundabout character, Dougal vintage children's jigsaw of Magic Roundabout character, Ermintrude

Ahhhh… the memories come flooding back from our Watch with Mother days in the late 60s & early 70s.

‘Time for bed’ said Zebedee!