Puzzles are great ways for your child to learn some problem solving skills. They are essential for development and growth. You must pick a puzzle based on your child’s developmental stage. Here are some tips on teaching your child puzzle skills:
Pick the right puzzle for your child to play with. You must choose a puzzle based on the age and developmental stage of your child. You can start off with easy shapes for toddlers and move along depending on the age of your child. You can then try out large puzzles when you see your child actually completing the easy ones quickly. Try to find puzzles which are connected to things which your child likes. Djeco toys have a great selection for you to pick out which will encourage your child to be more motivated to make the puzzle too.
Teach your child to replicate the image
Replication is key for your child to learn how to build puzzles. You can get your child to look at the puzzle image on the box and try to recreate it back with the puzzle pieces. Try to teach the child to locate the outside edges. You can get your child to start off with finding the pieces which will make out the straight edges opposed to the curvy ones. Try to get them to see which ones have the same colors and put them together.
Use descriptive language
Descriptive language is key to puzzle making. Get your child to look at the puzzles and describe what the puzzle looks like. You can ask questions like does it look like a dinosaur or tortoise? Do you think this looks like grass? What colors are on this? Get the puzzle pieces which match the description you just mentioned and place them one after the other. This will make sure the child understands that these images go into the large picture making process. Try to use language which will get the child to spin the pieces around when he or she can’t understand how the puzzle fits. You can get your child to try all the pieces of the puzzle before actually giving up.
Simplify the process
Try to make the puzzle making process easy. Do not get puzzles with too many pieces in them. You child will not know where to start and where to end with the puzzle making. You can add more pieces as you go along. Try to show the pieces first and see if the child understand how it all works. Djeco toys are great as they have the Djeco Wooden puzzle duck Bildi which is easy for small children to work on.
Remember puzzle making skills are crucial for your child’s development so don’t give up so easily when your child is finding it difficult. Get some easy puzzles first and then slowly try out difficult ones!