What Type of Puzzles are Best for Toddlers?
I would recommend that you buy the sturdy wooden puzzles for your toddler. They are a bit more expensive but they are durable and can withstand a busy toddler’s play session. Most toddlers are beyond the stage where they are putting things into their mouths; however, they are a bit rougher with their toys and paper puzzles can easily bend or tear.
Puzzles Are a Great Way To Help Your Child Develop Their Motor Skills
Puzzles are not only fun but they also help your child developmentally. In fact, many educators uses puzzles during play therapy and use them to teach children skills that they need for proper development.
Often times, puzzles are challenging and they can give your mind a workout. Most children quickly figure out how to match the puzzles pieces to the matching spot on the puzzle board by looking at the shape or picture that matches on both the puzzle piece and board. Matching shapes, colors, or pictures is a great way to improve your child’s memory skills. In fact, your child probably can point and show you exactly where a puzzle piece goes by memory alone. They might not be able to master getting the puzzle piece into the board but they can easily determine where the piece goes.
As your child is steadily trying to get the puzzle pieces into the right spot on the puzzle board, you child is busy eyeballing and trying to figure out exactly how the puzzle piece will fit. Children use visual cues to help them accurately line up the puzzle piece and match it to the board. This helps your child improve their hand eye coordination which is part of your child’s developmental needs.
When picking out puzzles for your toddler, make sure that you find puzzles that easily fit into their hands. In fact, if they haven’t played with puzzles before your toddler might get easily frustrated if the pieces are too small. Opt for a few puzzles that have larger pieces so that your child can get the hang of matching and putting the puzzle pieces into the board correctly. Puzzles can help your child develop their fine motor skills while they are working on controlling their movements when they are placing a puzzle piece into the right spot on the puzzle board.
A puzzle is a great way to introduce your child to math and problem solving skills at an early age. When your child successfully puts a puzzle piece into the board, they have created a whole part and you can use puzzles pieces to teach your child how to count. It takes skill and practice for your child to figure out which way a puzzle piece is supposed to go and it makes them think about how they are going to get it to fit into the board. Your child might spend a few minutes attempting put the puzzle piece in several different ways which allows your child to learn by trail and error.
Grab Some Puzzles and Have Fun Playing With Your Child
Puzzles are not only a great learning tool but they are fun and exciting as well. Grab a few puzzles and sit down and work a few with your child. They will enjoy you interacting with them as they are developing their motor skills.
Does your child enjoy working puzzles?
Comments
11 responses to “Why Do Puzzles Make Great Learning Tools?”
Love your blog. This is another example of what children are learning through play.
Marcie, thank you for your encouraging comment. Yes, you can teach children lots of things while playing and kids won’t even realize that they are learning new things.
Many people don’t realize the importnance of learning through play. Playing allows them to be creative and to have fun while learning. Makes learning more enjoyable.
I agree, wooden puzzles have better quality than rubber/plastic ones. They’re pricier but the quality makes up for the price tag. 🙂
I agree, the paper ones get torn up easily.
So true. My mother, a parent educator and former teacher/professor, and my grandmother, who was also a teacher, were always bringing us puzzles for the kids. They always stressed how even when they seem too tiny to understand how puzzles get their little wheels turning, they are excellent learning tools. I wish I enjoyed them more as an adult, actually! I love to watch people who are really good at it put them together quickly.
Rhonda you are correct you can teach them colors, teach them what the objects are on the puzzle, and puzzles also help improve their fine motor skills.
My sons love puzzles and my oldest is 13, but he doesn't like the ones with tons of pieces because he grows tired of them before he gets them done. He would love the family to work a puzzle together. Thanks for the idea – looks like we need to pull one out on the dining room table for a little while and just work on it now and then.
That sounds like fun Bobbie. I hope you and your kids enjoy working on some puzzles.
We love puzzles here! Infact my 3.5 yr old awes me with his ability! Sometimes better than mommies!LOL
[…] Puzzles and games are a wonderful way to keep your children engaged indoors. They also helpenhance their brain development and problem solving skills. You could also go for board games and memory games; again, both will entertainment them and at the same time improve their skills. […]