Kids have short attention spans. It requires a lot of activities and tools to sustain their attention and interest for a considerable time. Puzzles are great learning tools for kids especially the young ones. There are also perks to using puzzles in many different creative ways depending on the age of the child.
Puzzles can help spark curiosity and wanderlust on the child.
When the family plans to go on a trip, it can be an educational trip for the kids. For them to be more interested in the history, culture, and heritage of the place, puzzles can be a great tool. Weeks before the planned trip to Europe, you can play with a train wooden puzzle with your child. You can introduce the train as the means of transport from one country to another in Europe and tell her all the historical and cultural landmarks that the train may pass by.
Puzzles can offer socialization opportunities for the kids.
Socializing is important for the child’s development. Often they do this through play. It’s the social skills they learned that can help them become more functioning members of society. It is important for parents to teach their children social skills at a young age. Playing with puzzles can be an opportunity to teach, have fun, and show examples of socializing.
Puzzles teach children independence and self-reliance starting from following instructions.
It is critical for everyone to be able to follow instructions. This will teach your child to understand and follow detailed information, abide by a sequence of information, and to ask for clarification if ever they find anything questionable. Puzzles come with numbered, ordered, and visual instructions which will cater to different cognitive skills. Puzzles also help hone the kid’s hand-eye coordination, motor skills, concentration, agility, and a better understanding of spatial relationships. There are puzzle types for a child of any age.
There are three major skill types that a puzzle can help develop in a child. These are physical skills, cognitive skills, and emotional skills.
For physical skills, puzzles can pave the way for the children to learn gross and fine motor skills as well as hand-eye coordination.
When it comes to emotional skills, the children will understand more about setting goals and patience. For cognitive skills, puzzles can help children to have a better understanding of their environment and surrounding world. They will also learn about problem solving and recognizing shapes. Their memory will likely be enhanced by puzzle playing as well.
There are different approaches to solving a puzzle. They are also like board games that contain rules and require strategy building and social skills when done with other kids. Varying the puzzle’s level of difficulty will encourage the child to step up and eventually scale up in his or her skills.
