Puzzles are a challenging and popular activity not just for kids but for adults as well. They offer a chance for people of all ages to work toward a goal and piece together a narrative. There is no question that wooden puzzles are an important tool that can help in children’s development. From animal jigsaw puzzles to ones featuring space, landscaping and more, you will find an endless range of kids wooden puzzle options to entertain and teach your children some valuable lessons. When you set out to buy wooden puzzle, keep in mind that there are puzzles suitable for kids of different ages. So, get your little one a simple model so that he/she can learn the process of solving the puzzle without getting frustrated. As they master the design they have, you can get them more complex designs with more pieces.
So, why should you invest in a kids wooden puzzle? Playing with puzzles helps kids to develop the three basic skills: physical skills by turning and figuring out the puzzle’s pieces until they make them fit into the big picture, cognitive skills as they realize how to solve the puzzle, and emotional skills because by solving it they learn patience. Each of these three basic skills comes with a range of more specific benefits.
- Physic skills – Wooden educational puzzles help kids to develop hand-eye coordination. This is a relationship between what their eyes see, what their hands do and what their brain relates to this information. Also, playing with kids wooden puzzles with more pieces can enhance their motor skills. On the other hand, small pieces and movements lead to better typing and handwriting skills.
- Cognitive skills – There is no better way for children to understand the world around them than letting them than solving a puzzle. The most basic wooden toy puzzles for kids feature circles, squares and triangles. Solving puzzles also boosts children’s memory as they have to remember the shape of the piece that doesn’t fit and use it later. Problem-solving is an important skill where the child uses critical thinking to solve the puzzle.
- Emotional skills – When children get a puzzle, their first goal is to solve it. Then, there is a range of strategies they need to develop to solve it, such as putting familiar colours and shapes in one pile for further reference. Apart from setting goals, this way kids will learn to be patient.
How to Solve Wooden Puzzle?
Solving puzzles helps to develop some amazing skills in children, but how can your child learn puzzle skills? If you want to encourage your little one to start using wooden puzzles for toddlers more often, here are few tips.
- The first step is choosing the most appropriate puzzle for your child’s age. For beginners and toddlers, the simple board shape wooden puzzles are the best choice. Once your kid starts mastering them, you can opt for a more complex one.
- Choose a puzzle that is related to your child’s interest. This will spike his/her motivation in putting all the pieces together.
Ensure that somewhere around there will be an image from the puzzle that the kid can see while trying to solve it. - Even for adults, finding the outside edges makes it easier to start solving the puzzle. Help your child find all the pieces with straight edges and let him/her try to put them together.
- Another helpful tip is to sort the pieces by colour. Depending on your child’s age they may not know the colours yet, but don’t worry – you can show them a piece and ask them if they can find other pieces that are similar in colour to that one.
- Use descriptive language as this make it easier for kids to solve a puzzle. Does a certain piece look like a leaf or a dinosaur? What colour is it? Look together for other pieces that look similar.
- Oftentimes kids can find two matching pieces but they may find it difficult to put them together. Do not let them give up. Instead, encourage them to spin the pieces and try matching them from all sides.
- If your child is a beginner in solving puzzles, then show him/her an example. Take a piece from the wooden baby puzzle toys and place it on the board on the right place. Or, if you need to pair pieces, take two of them and hook them together. This way your kid will have a clear picture of what he/she needs to do.
- Once your little ones get some pieces together, praise them on their good job. Clap with your hands, dance or do anything that will make them happy and will encourage them to continue further.
Where to Buy Wooden Puzzles?
Puzzles are some of the most popular toys for kids, which means they are easily accessible. You can find them in your local toy stores or you can purchase them online. Give your child the chance to continue learning from simple shapes of wooden block puzzles for toddlers to jigsaw puzzles, silhouettes and abstract shapes. If you are creative, you can try making a wooden puzzle at home – you can find a lot of patterns and tutorials on Pinterest or Youtube. Nevertheless, creating a puzzle from scratch requires the proper equipment, materials and skills and it might not be worth wasting so much time to do it when you can conveniently buy one online at great prices.
