Puzzles are fun-loving activities that children of all age groups tend to enjoy the most. Every child loves a little puzzle time activity to challenge themselves and implement their problem-solving skills in completing an entire puzzle game.
We live in a technology-driven time of computers and mobile games, despite which puzzles continue to be popular among children today.
Here are some aspects of why puzzles are considered useful for improving children’s skills and memory and also how it benefits their growth.
Physical Skills
Hand-Eye Coordination
It develops a relationship between what their eyes see, what their hands do, and what their brain envisions in fitting the puzzle accurately.
Gross Motor Skills
For younger children, large-sized puzzles that involve stacking blocks can enhance their gross motor skills (i.e., large movements of the body like catching a ball, arranging blocks etc.) to the point where they could work on developing their overall fine motor skills. Solving Puzzles help them to put their minds at work and figure out how to solve problems logically.
Fine Motor Skills
Similar to hand-eye coordination, small and precise movements like using fingers to get a puzzle piece in exactly the right spot can lead to better handwriting and typing skills for children. This also helps them to achieve perfection in whatever they do.
Cognitive Skills
Shape recognition – Learning to recognise and sort shapes is an important part of a child’s development. It can help them to understand and identify each piece of the puzzle before it can be assembled.
Memory – To help enhance a child’s memory, simple jigsaw puzzles and other puzzle games may help. For example, a child will need to recall the size, shape, and colour of various shapes to fit the necessary puzzle blocks to complete the entire activity. Through this, children can remember the shapes or pieces that don’t fit and will use them later on.
Problem-solving – A puzzle can’t be completed by cheating! Whether the puzzle piece seems to fit or not, a child uses vital thinking skills to solve it. Puzzle solving teaches children to analyse a situation and apply their minds in order to arrive at a solution to the problem.
Emotional Skills
Goal Setting – The primary goal of a child when solving a puzzle will be to construct it quickly. Then, the next goal will be to develop a series of strategies by putting familiar shapes or pieces in one pile for future reference.
Patience – Puzzles require time to complete the entire structure. Working through puzzles helps a child to practice patience before reaching the end.
If you are looking to develop your child’s skills and memory through fun learning get in touch with our front-desk!
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