Children learn through play, and one of the most wonderful resource for teaching young children, is puzzles: they are fun to do and so many skills are learned through building them. It is vital to develop a love for them in early childhood, as they are a perfect form of educational play. Of course, there are all sorts of different puzzles, so it is important to find age appropriate ones, where the child is challenged, but not to the point of wanting to give up, if it is too advanced for them to manage. It can be a great way to spend quality time together, as you work side by side on a puzzle, with you guiding them as they learn, but it is also a good way for children to learn to work alone, giving themselves some quiet time as they tackle the challenge of doing a puzzle by themselves.
The benefits of doing puzzles are many:
Tackling any puzzle, no matter what kind, builds fine motor strength in little fingers, as it takes good muscle control to pick up and turn puzzle pieces around to fit in place etc.
Gross motor muscles can be used as well, especially when working on a large floor puzzle, as one has to stretch across and lean over to pick up and place puzzle pieces in position. This involves crossing the mid line, another developmental stage in children, which involves both the left and right side of the brain working together. This helps develop body awareness, and critical thinking skills, among other things. Before this ability is gained, the child will pick up something in one hand and then pass it to the other when it reaches the mid way point of the body. Struggling with this can cause a lack of co-ordination and poor fine motor skills which can lead to difficulty in holding a pencil and writing when they are older, for example.
Eye-hand co-ordination, which is the ability of the eyes and hands to work simultaneously to perform a task, is enhanced through building puzzles. These skills are essential for life, and obviously for learning to read and write down the line.
Various perceptual skills are gained and practiced through building puzzles, such as memory and comprehension (remembering and understanding what one sees) and visual discrimination (being able to differentiate between various shapes and sizes and see similarities and differences). Being able to identify what is missing in a picture, and seeing and recognizing different shapes and patterns and fitting them together, are all vital skills needed. Being able to identify an object or something which is incomplete in a picture, is another ability learned.
Seeing different shapes and patterns in puzzles, helps towards building mathematical skills – geometry, of course, uses shapes and shape recognition, and mathematics is full of concepts which include patterns and use patterns to solve problems.
Problem solving abilities, cognitive and concentration skills and perseverance are all developed through doing puzzles, as it takes effort and thought and time to work out what goes where, and it can be challenging. Where trial and error can be used, as the child develops more skills in working with puzzles, they will begin to use more logic in solving the problem.
They are great for developing attention span as they do more and more challenging puzzles and have to spend longer doing them to complete them.
They also learn the satisfaction of working at a project and seeing it through, which is a fantastic life skill to have – not giving up easily but working until a solution is found.
As mentioned above, puzzles are ideal for encouraging independent play, as it is good for children to learn to entertain themselves sometimes, and they can be used as a calming tool in an anxious child. Adults too can benefit from puzzle building! One of my favorite holiday passtimes is sitting and doing a 1000 piece puzzle – just so relaxing and the best fun!
The one thing I always encouraged and tried to build up in children in my play school, was confidence. Building puzzles builds confidence if tackled the right way, building up from smaller, age appropriate puzzles, to larger and more challenging ones, as more and more skills are gained. As a child succeeds at a puzzle, it will boost confidence in their abilities and give them a wonderful sense of achievement and pride at what they have managed to do.
Of course, doing a puzzle should be a relaxing and fun activity, where one can be calm and quiet. It is fun doing puzzles with a friend or family member or two, but just as satisfying sitting quietly doing one on your own.
Overall, puzzles are amazing and so many varied skills are gained through doing them – they should be a part of any child’s toy cupboard and routine! We started most mornings with puzzles in my play school. Developing a love for puzzles from young, can extend through life, and the pleasure and joy they can bring is never ending. I absolutely love the times I am able to get going with a 1000 piece puzzle (my preference), and I cannot stop til it’s done! I have a puzzle mat, so it never gets in the way, as I can roll it up and put it away for later if necessary!
So, get a puzzle mat and a few age appropriate puzzles for your child (and yourself maybe too), and get involved in the joy and relaxation that puzzles can bring.