Could puzzle play be the missing link to your learning?
Puzzles might seem old fashioned and a bit traditional but there’s a very good reason why their use has continued throughout generation after generation. Puzzles help to develop a whole range of key skills that little ones carry with them forever.
Problem Solving
While piecing puzzles together your children will have to think logically. You can’t cheat at a puzzle that’s a fact, a piece either fits or it doesn’t fit so your children need to take the time to think about where each piece has to go. Your children will use this skill in everyday life from things like plastic building blocks to doing their shoe laces. Children will become aware of the problem solving process and this should help reduce frustrations. 
Verbal Communication
Puzzles are a fantastic way to introduce loads of new vocabulary to your children. As your piecing together the puzzle, talk to them about what’s happening in the scene, what sound does that animal make and what to look for on the next piece. It’s hard to do a puzzle together in complete silence so work as a team. Remember doing a jigsaw puzzle is a great bonding tool.
Fine Motor Development
Grabbing the pieces of the puzzles and manoeuvring them around will strengthen hands and fingers so they can hold things and grip better in the future. This will help them with things like writing, buttoning clothing, zipping up their coats using cutlery and holding small items in general. 
Hand-Eye Coordination
Piecing together a puzzle takes lots of patience, precision and persistence, it can take a while for children to get the hang of this. Start with a puzzle made from chunky, easy to hold pieces with a large peg to grab like our sorting boards. Twisting and turning the pieces to try the fit will challenge the brain and aid hand-eye coordination.
Concentration and Memory
Give your children a head start with puzzles because we all wish we had a better memory, I’d love to remember why I went downstairs in the first place. Remembering how the puzzle should look at the end and how the pieces fit together will give your children's brain a fantastic work out all while they are learning to concentrate for longer periods of time. Sitting down and focusing on one clear task is a great way to improve concentration and relive stress.
Patience
Overcoming any challenge, especially puzzles, takes lots of time and patience. Doing puzzles on a regularly basis will teach children to persevere and persist until they achieve the goal which is very important in day to day life as we all know. Start out with a simple peg board then a 2 piece puzzle and slowly move up to puzzles with a larger piece count to keep challenging them. 
Why They are So Important
It’s a lovely way to build a bond and spend time with your little one. To top it off you're learning whilst having fun which in our opinion is the greatest way to learn. Puzzles cover a diverse age range from 1 to 100 you can find something for every age. So why not take a look at our Puzzle range and see if there’s something for you?
Let us know what your little one’s favourite puzzle is on social media… 