10 Reasons Why Puzzles are a Must for Your Toddler
Puzzles are always bought in abundance in households with little children. As soon as the child starts to crawl, Parents start buying puzzles for the little ones. The motive behind buying these puzzles was always to keep the child busy and quiet.
With time, we have come to understand the importance of these little pieces. Puzzles are the simplest-looking toys but can teach so much. All the toddlers need to do is put the pieces together. It’s a favorite with teachers as well as parents. They come in different themes to keep the toddlers engaged, from cartoon characters to their favorite farm.
Psychologists have also established that children tend to learn from their environment, and puzzles are a great way to enhance that environment. It is believed that if children engage in problem-solving games, their brain development is faster. It develops their cognitive, motor, social, and verbal abilities. Parents will be surprised by the change it brings to the development of the child.
A common problem with toddlers is that they are unable to concentrate on any task, or his/her concentration span is one-minute maximum. To build that concentration span, puzzles play an important role. Building puzzles require a lot of patience and concentration. These are the skills that can be helpful later in life. Putting a puzzle together needs the toddler’s full attention. Parents should encourage them to keep on trying even if they fail a couple of times. Here are the ten reasons why puzzles are a must for your toddler:
1. Puzzles are the best way to build better concentration
The parents need to choose a puzzle that is age appropriate. If the toddler finds the puzzle too difficult, then they will not have the patience to go for it. It will not provide the required challenge if it’s too simple. To keep the child focused, parents should pick the right puzzle-like. For a one-year-old, there are knobbed puzzles, whereas for a 3-4-year-old, parents can go for 16–20-piece puzzles.
2. Puzzles help toddlers to think better
When they have to assemble all the pieces, they start thinking creatively and differently. Kids also get in the self-assessment where they made a mistake or what they did right. So, puzzles improve their problem-solving skills. Problem-solving strategies can be taught by parents as well. This will teach them how to tackle a puzzle step by step. Parents can give the puzzle and ask them to put the puzzles facing the picture upwards so that they can see all the picture sides of the puzzle. They can also show the children how to identify the edge pieces. Parents can also show them how to sort the pieces by colour. This problem-solving technique will help them break down a problem and tackle it. It’s a helpful tool for school-going children.
3. Puzzles help toddlers strengthen their grip
Little toddlers don’t have a good grip on things. While trying to hold the puzzles and assembling them will help develop their fine motor skills. Fine motor skills include movement of fingers, wrists, hands, and feet. It takes time to develop fine motor skills. Holding the puzzles will also improve their grasping ability, which can help them hold the pencil and write. There are going to be times when the parents might see the little ones struggling with pieces and want to help them, but they should be patient and let them handle the task.
4. Puzzles help improve vocabulary
Puzzles come in different sizes and shapes, and themes. There are puzzles on different topics like animals, trees, flowers, parts of the body, etc. solving different puzzles also improves knowledge on different topics. It also improves their vocabulary and knowledge of different topics.
5. Puzzles improve hand-eye-brain coordination
Jigsaw puzzles improve hand-eye-brain coordination in toddlers. All three parts of the body work together when solving a puzzle. Kids have to decide on the action when they see a problem with the use of their hands. Coordinating all three successfully needs practice. Once achieved, it forms the best coordination between the three (hand-eye-brain). Hand-eye coordination is also essential for good handwriting. Puzzles give plenty of practice to toddlers in building coordination.
6. Puzzles generate curiosity in toddlers
Speaking is an essential part of a child’s development. It is said that children should be spoken to a lot in their early age of development. While building puzzles, kids come across different concepts, shapes, or animals. They will ask questions related to the jigsaw and learn new words. They would want to know about the image they are trying to solve from their parents, which will help them in developing vocabulary. Learning new vocabulary will improve their speech. Parents can ask questions about the puzzle. What colors are there in the puzzle, or what is the shape are they using? This will teach them new words and will give them new information about everything.
7. Puzzles help build self-confidence
When a toddler can finish the task of putting the puzzle together, it will build self-confidence and satisfaction for themselves. The sense of accomplishing something fills them with self-esteem, which is a very important vice to have. It teaches how efforts are important to achieve a goal.
8. Puzzles help with shape recognition
Little ones could be better with shapes. They need help to distinguish between different shapes as they can’t tell which is square and which one is a rectangle. For better shape recognition, some jigsaws can be used by parents. With time and practice, they will be able to understand shapes and their properties. While toddlers are busy assembling the differently shaped jigsaw, parents can tell them all about that particular shape and its properties. This will help with their shape recognition.
9. Puzzles help keep the mind active
Puzzles keep the mind of toddlers active and working. It improves their reasoning ability. While solving the puzzle again and again, makes them remember the shapes, colors, and pieces go. If suppose a puzzle piece is missing, they will quickly be able to recognize the piece that is missing. It builds short-term memory retention.
10. Puzzles help develop social skills
Puzzles are good games to be played between two or more children. If children play together, it will develop their social skills as well. By playing together, kids learn important life lessons. There are going to be times when they will agree or disagree, but even then, they will try to solve the puzzle together. It will teach them teamwork and how it can be fun.
Conclusion
It’s not unheard of that children need support sometimes to solve a puzzle. In that case, the parent should start by assembling the puzzle with them, or they can even guide them verbally as to how to do it. Then eventually, as children are comfortable doing it alone, the parent can stop helping and leave them to do it on their own. Eventually, kids will be able to concentrate without any intervention and finish the task at hand.
Puzzles are the best educational toys to help children build their fine motor skills, memory, self-esteem, problem-solving, and many more. These skills will further help them in life at every stage. It is also fun for parents to interact with their children and teach them life lessons. Parents should keep increasing the level of difficulty as the kids grow older. Puzzles teach kids how efforts are important to achieve any goal in life.
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