Puzzled

Happy National Game and Puzzle Week!

Oh sure, I sound all happy when I say that. But truth be told, I’m not a big fan of puzzles. By “not a big fan,” I mean they make me completely insane. I can stick with one for a while, but then I get irritated and want to toss the pieces across the room. Which brings me to the benefits of puzzles—children (and adults) benefit from solving puzzles in several ways. And the number one benefit below is clearly something I lack.

  1. Patience: A puzzle takes time. It teaches you to stick with a task until its conclusion.

  2. Fine-motor skills: Young children greatly benefit from grasping the puzzle pieces and pushing them into place. Hooray for strong fingers!

  3. Spatial skills: A person putting together a puzzle needs to manipulate the pieces, moving them in different ways to see if they fit the required space.

  4. Memory: When a piece doesn’t fit, you put it aside until you see the correct space available for that piece.

So knowing all these benefits, here’s what I’ve decided to do: I’m going to go out and get a Christmas-themed puzzle. And my goal will be to put that sucker together before the holidays without screaming or throwing any puzzle pieces. It’s good to have goals.

Do your students like puzzles? How about you?

 


3 thoughts on “Puzzled

  1. the kids love them but I hate them. LOl. I keep them out and change them frequently in the classroom because I do see the benefits of them. But for me No. Good luck doing that puzzle

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