Toys are supposed to be fun and exciting for children, while some are also educational, but a few products aimed at kids have caused a wave of confusion among adults.
Unsuspecting moms and dads—and even one aunt—have discovered that children’s playthings can leave grown-ups scratching their heads. From a bank door that never opens to a “U” symbol no one can decipher, these kids’ toys and learning aids have turned into baffling design mysteries.
Here are five times what seemed like a harmless toy turned into a puzzling moment online.
- Baffled by a Bank Door
A parent bought a Montessori-style playset for toddlers featuring several shops (apple, orange, bookshop, bank) where every door opens easily… except the bank door, which was permanently sealed shut.
After being unable to open the small door, the parent posted on Reddit and sparked large discussion, with commenters joking that this was “late stage capitalism” or that the bank branch was conveniently “closed.”
Read more here.
- Puzzle in Need of a Spellcheck
A dad shared on TikTok that what appeared to be a simple wooden shape puzzle for his two-year-old daughter actually had odd shape names and spellings: for instance “teapazoid” instead of trapezoid, “heart shapen” instead of heart shape, and a star labelled “pentagram”.
Dad Frankie previously told Newsweek: “Sadly the only other slightly funny one was them calling an oval an ‘ellipse.’ Which I mean is technically correct but maybe not the best for my 2 year old.”
Read more here.
- U Is For?
A photo of a children’s alphabet mat showing the letter “U” alongside a strange blob symbol prompted mass confusion online.
Many tried to guess what word beginning with “U” the image was supposed to illustrate (some suggested “urchin”), but no definitive answer emerged leaving people online frustrated.
Read more here.
- Multilingual ABCs
A North Carolina woman shared on TikTok that while reading an alphabet board book to her one-year-old niece about healthy foods, the letter “X” was for something completely unexpected.
“I was going through the letters with her when I saw the letter X and picture of the watermelon,” Karen Thomas Mahoney told Newsweek.
The book used “xīguā” (the Mandarin word for watermelon) rather than a more familiar English “X” word.
Read more here.
- Alphabet Blanket Mystery
A Reddit user posted a photo of a child’s embroidered alphabet blanket where the square for the letter “P” had a weird conical white shape outlined in red with a brown rectangle beneath it.
The image apparently didn’t clearly correspond to any common English “P” word, and viewers suggested everything from “pagoda” to “piano” to “pizza oven.”
Read more here.
It is not just toys that have left people confused online either. Kids’ homework assignments have also left the internet baffled in the past, from confusing first-grade English homework to “bonkers” fifth-grade math.