The Best Puzzles for a Toddler’s Development

A puzzle may be an ordinary toy you give your toddler to keep him busy.

But its’ benefits go far beyond that.

Research studies have shown that puzzles play a very important part in a toddler’s development.

It develops spatial skills, facilitates hand-eye coordination, increases creativity, enhances problem solving skills, accelerates fine motor development, boosts confidence and self-esteem and advances social skills.

With all these many benefits, it’s only right to have your child play with puzzles as soon as she’s ready to play with one.

So what are the best puzzles for toddlers?

If this is your toddler’s first time playing with puzzles, start with a basic one like a shape sorter. You can then move on to wooden puzzles wherein one large piece like an elephant, fits into a cutout shape on the board. From there, move on to puzzles with more pieces.

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The Best Puzzles For Toddlers’ Development

You’ll never be short of choices when it comes to puzzles for toddlers. 

But if you want to increase the chances of your 2-year-old playing with the puzzle, choose images and shapes that interest him.

Here are some of the best puzzles for toddler’s development that I’ve found. These are big and chunky puzzles so your child will have no problem holding them.

Cubbie Wooden Shape Sorter: Easy Toddler Puzzle

Learning Journey Head and Tails: 2 Piece Puzzles For Toddlers

Melissa & Doug Mix n Match: Knob Puzzles

Toddler Wooden Puzzle Set: Chunky Puzzles for 2 -3 Year Olds

3 Ft. Long Traffic Jigsaw Puzzle: Jumbo Toddler Floor Puzzles

25-Piece Floor Puzzles: Animal Theme

Wooden Peg Puzzle: Toddler Alphabet Puzzle Set

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Toddler Name Puzzle

Puzzles are fantastic for toddlers because they combine fun with learning.

As little hands work to fit pieces together, kids improve their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and problem-solving abilities. They also learn about shapes, colors, and patience as they figure out where each piece belongs. Puzzles are a playful way to boost a toddler’s cognitive development and give them a sense of achievement once they complete the picture. Ready to find the perfect puzzle for your little one? Below are three more

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There are many different ways to make a toddler puzzle. Here are some pretty cool toddler puzzle ideas that you can do at home too.

Popsicle Stick Puzzles

All you need to make this puzzle are popsicle sticks, paint, drawing pens and a little creativity. It’s very easy to make too.

Toddler Photo Puzzle

Here’s another one that you can easily do using your child’s favorite movie character (or a family picture) and popsicle sticks.

I have made this one. And my advice is to make sure that the glue is totally dry and that you have a sharp utility knife to make the puzzle pieces clean and neat.

Feeling Faces Puzzles For Teaching Emotions

Isn’t it great what you can do with a paper plate? Just draw faces on it, cut it in half and you got yourself a puzzle.

Can Toddlers Do Puzzles?

Yes. The CDC Milestone checklist recommends that toddlers play with puzzles starting at 18 months.

How To Teach Toddler Puzzles?

Puzzles are great educational tools. But you don’t have to teach it. You play it.

What I mean is that the most important thing is to make it fun. Children easily learn this way.

When you first start to introduce puzzles to toddlers, here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Start with the most basic puzzle like a shape sorter or an image that slots on to a wooden board. It needs to be easy enough so she doesn’t get frustrated. Whenever she gets one right, clap and praise her. This gives her the signal that she’s doing the right thing. This boosts her confidence to keep doing it.
2. Show don’t tell. Don’t just put the puzzles in front of your child and wait for genius to happen. It’s true that some kids will figure it out, but most kids will need a little bit of showing from the start.

   Talk while you’re doing the puzzle. So if you’re putting in a square into a square space, say something like “Oh look! The red square fits in this square!”. You can then ask him if he wants to try it. If he does and he gets it right, make a big deal of it. If he doesn’t get it right, show him again (with enthusiasm in your voice).

   If he still doesn’t get it right and he’s looking a bit frustrated, stop the game. There’s always tomorrow. Give it another try the next day. And the next. And the next. Until he gets it!!! And then when he does, applaud him. Praise him for his effort. Praise him for his accomplishment.

3. Once your child get’s the hang of a one-piece puzzle, move on to 2-piece puzzles, then 4 then 6. Don’t just suddenly make a big leap to 24. A child needs to go through these steps to learn things and to enjoy the process, too.
4. Some toddlers just don’t like puzzles. Don’t overwhelm or force him to like it. Put it away for a week or two. And try again another day.

   Another thing you can do is for you to play with it, making sure he hears you talking as you do it. Then, don’t get him to do it right away. Leave it where he can see it. And one day, he might just pick it up and do it himself.

When Can Toddlers Do Puzzles?

This varies greatly between toddlers. The CDC Milestone checklist shows that your child can start playing with puzzles at 18 months. You’ll find that at this age, some toddlers are readily open to it while others would just see it as the next thing to chew on.

What Are The Benefits of Playing With Puzzles?

A study by the University of Chicago concludes that children who play with puzzles between 2-4 years old have more developed visuo-spatial skills.

This is the ability to perceive spatial relationships in respect to the orientation of one’s body despite distracting information.

This is a very important and highly-valued skill in a lot of STEAM professions. For example, a surgeon needs to highly visualize a person’s anatomical structure to know exactly where to insert a catheter through one’s chest without hitting the lung.

But it isn’t just in STEM professions that spatial awareness is useful. It is also important in playing sports, in dancing and even how to negotiate an obstacle course!

How do Puzzles Help A Child’s Development? 

What do Children Learn From Doing Puzzles? What do puzzles do to the brain? What skills do puzzles develop?

Allow me to say the obvious first. When a child plays happily with puzzles with a caregiver, he/she experiences a loving caring relationship. And for a toddler, there’s nothing more important than knowing that you’re loved, cared and protected (whether or not you know how to put a puzzle together!)

With that said, playing with puzzles also develops the brain and accelerates the development of your child’s cognitive skills.

As I’ve mentioned above, a lot of this has to do with the development of visual-spatial abilities. You see, spatial ability includes a lot of different other skills that are important in our day to day life.

Here are some of the skills that are developed in the process:

1. Develops Visual Perception
2. Strengthens Hand-eye Coordination
3. Develops fine motor skills
4. Develops gross motor skills

Apart from these, playing with puzzles also helps other skills

1. Improves problem solving abilities
2. Develops memory recall
3. Helps with language development
4. Boosts self-esteem and confidence
5. Develops creativity
6. Develops emotional and social skills

Conclusion

Puzzles greatly help with your child’s cognitive and emotional development. It’s a readily available tool that does a lot of wonders! 🙂