Why your toddler needs to play with puzzles

Why should you get some puzzles for your toddler?

Play is essential for toddlers – it’s how they figure things out. They need opportunities to play with good toys and materials and use their imagination. Puzzles fit the bill! They provide lots of learning – from matching colors and shapes to persistence in problem solving.

As soon as your little one becomes interested, you can give them some big piece puzzles to handle and manipulate.

Just like everything in child development, there are stages of puzzle play. So knowing what puzzles to provide at different ages is good for parents to know. Puzzles develop memory skills, as well as an ability to plan, test ideas and solve problems. In short, puzzles will help prepare your child for lifelong learning.

This video describes the different kinds of puzzles and what’s good for different ages. Take a listen!

Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you can get all the Play School videos when they release!

Puzzles support both fine motor and cognitive development.

Here are some benefits of puzzle play…

• Simple puzzles help children develop perseverance and problem-solving skills.
• Picking up, moving and twisting the pieces of a puzzle helps children to develop finger strength and hand-eye coordination.
• Playing with these puzzles encourages children to look at pictures carefully, going over them from top to bottom and from left to right. Through doing this, children will notice visual similarities and differences.
• Puzzles develop memory skills, as well as an ability to plan, test ideas and solve problems.
• The experience of completing a puzzle can also help your child to learn to accept challenges, overcome problems and deal with frustrations.