Kids tend to do most of their learning through play, especially in their early years, so it’s important to provide them with toys that will facilitate this learning. With so many options, it can be difficult to decide what’s best for your child, but jigsaw puzzles still stand as one of the best options for any child. Let’s take a look at a few of the top benefits of jigsaw puzzles for kids.
Encourages Deliberate Thought and Reasoning
While many toys like action figures and art supplies encourage abstract, creative thinking, jigsaw puzzles teach the equally important flip side: deliberate, critical thinking. While many toys can be played with however your child wants, puzzles come with a goal: to assemble the pieces as a single, cohesive image. As your child plays, they’ll learn to slow down and think carefully about what has and hasn’t worked, and what they have yet to try, giving them the ability to take a more methodical approach to problem-solving.
Improves Fine Motor Skills
In addition to the thinking skills required to solve a puzzle, kids will also further develop their fine motor skills as they make the precise movements required to stick each piece of the puzzle together. Combined with other fine motor activities like coloring and painting, they’ll be able to learn skills like writing far easier as a result.
Encourages Patience Through Trial and Error
If your child was able to solve every puzzle you gave them without making any mistakes, they’d be the first. To solve a puzzle, they’ll have to try many different approaches and techniques, many of which won’t work out in the end. While this may be frustrating for them at first, consistent play will teach them an invaluable skill throughout their life: patience. By learning to keep going and adapt when things don’t go as planned on a smaller scale like a jigsaw puzzle, they’ll learn to keep a level head in stressful situations they may face later in life as well.
Improves Memory Skills on Subsequent Attempts
Finally, kids will learn to memorize solutions to puzzles they’ve solved before, improving their information retention skills and allowing them to use those skills in their everyday lives. By starting early, you can help build up memory skills that’ll last a lifetime.
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