Puzzle

Puzzles

When it comes to toys for toddlers, one of the best toys we can get is a puzzle. I was wondering when to give puzzle as a toy for Yvette when she was about to turn one. My doubt was finally cleared after I read this post.

Puzzle can greatly aid in their childhood education and help them develop skills that they can use later in their lives. There were plenty of benefits of puzzles (see below) and these benefits can toddlers to develop and grow both mentally and physically.

Puzzles Improve Motor Skills

Young children need to learn to grasp and hold objects. Puzzles can be a great way to develop and improve motor skills since they require a toddler to hold and manipulate a relatively small object. Try a peg or block puzzle which both have pieces a child will need to grab and hold on to in order to complete the picture or game.

They Improve Cognitive Skills

A toddler can improve their cognitive skills – in particular their problem solving and reasoning skills – with puzzles. They can help to teach colour and shape recognition, to get a better understanding of the relationship of a part to the whole and can even teach them things like letters, numbers, animal names and more depending upon the theme.

They Improve Hand-Eye Coordination

Puzzles require a child to place an object in a precise location. To fit the piece they usually must manipulate it, try it out, and move it around and finally fit it in its place. This is a great way to develop hand-eye coordination and to improve their skills as they master fitting pieces where they should go.

Types of Puzzles for Toddlers

There are a wide variety of puzzles for toddlers on the market today. Some of the most popular are block puzzles (which usually feature a single picture printed on wooden blocks), foam puzzles, plush puzzles made of fleece or fabric, games that require fitting a shape into a hole and many other styles.

(Source)

I brought two boxes of 2 & 3-pcs puzzle from Growing Fun.

The lady at the road show told me she introduced that to her boy when he was One. When I told her I plan to introduce this to my child when she turns 15 mth. She shared with me; there was no harm to start early.

After I did some research, I decided to give the 2-pcs transportation puzzle to Yvette when she was 1 yr 2 wks old.

Yvette wasn’t showing any interesting when it was introduced to her. She only interested to hold them and look at them. I took the opportunity to teach her those words associated to the puzzle too. (We gave this puzzle to her everyday.)

I observed.

Still, she’s not keen to put the puzzle together after playing for 3 weeks.

Was puzzle not her cup of tea? (Nic did highlight to me that some child just don’t like puzzles.)

I didn’t give up.

I read up again. Perhaps the 2-pcs puzzle was too difficult to Yvette? I decided to get her a simple wooden puzzle.

I managed to get a very simple puzzle from Kiddy Palace.

Yvette had been playing this puzzle since she was 1yr 1 mth 1 wk old. This has become a toy that she will play with it every day. She is able to match most colours (not shape for now) correctly though occasionally with some wrong. She is not able to fit all puzzles in yet but I believe the day will come.