Toddlers are at an early development stage where learning happens on multiple levels. They will be learning physical skills like fine and gross motor skills, emotional skills like patience and persistence, and social skills like communication and teamwork.
If you are looking for an activity to teach these various life skills, while keeping them occupied then puzzles for toddlers are the best option!
Puzzles for toddlers are colorful, fun- filled and a great way to entertain and engage them. Toddlers enjoy playing with puzzles like kids of other age groups, and to keep their interest sustained giving them age appropriate puzzles is crucial.
Puzzles for 3 to 4 years olds is a favorite tool for both parents and teachers as it offers innumerable benefits for the toddler’s early childhood development.
10 reasons why puzzles are good for your toddler
1. Learning shapes and colors: Puzzles for toddler’s development are generally self correcting and the kids can solve it by matching the edges. For this, toddlers use the knowledge of basic shapes and colors they learned from their teachers and parents. Puzzles help them with shape recognition.
2. Fine motor skills: Toddlers get better at holding things with their hands, wrists and fingers while playing with puzzles. Puzzles for preschoolers help develop their fine and gross motor skills and prepare them to hold pencil or crayon to help in their study.
3. Hand - eye coordination: Developing good hand-eye coordination is important for the toddlers when they start learning to write. Puzzle games for preschoolers are an interesting way to teach that. While solving the puzzle, kids have to see the spot where it goes, identify the shape and move the piece with their hand. This is allowing toddlers to use their hand, eye and brain together, thereby developing hand-eye coordination.
4. Spatial awareness: One of the benefits of puzzles is that they help develop your toddler's spatial awareness. This means that they can understand and visualize the world around them better. Puzzles for 3 year olds give them the ability to understand and manipulate the relationships between objects in space.
Experts say this knowledge of manipulating objects in space increases the intelligence of kids more than their age.
5. Problem solving skills: Solving a puzzle itself is solving a problem. The puzzle pieces are all mixed up and toddlers have to segregate them and arrange them according to the colors and shapes. Hence, puzzles for nursery students can be used to teach counting, matching, and sorting which are important problem solving skills for toddlers.
6. Creative thinking: While solving the puzzles, they visualize the shapes that fit the puzzles, using deduction and reasoning. They try multiple combinations to solve the puzzle. Therefore, puzzles help to develop creative thinking in the toddlers.
7. Building confidence and Self-esteem: Toddlers get a great sense of accomplishment when they solve the puzzle from start to finish on their own or by taking your help. Adding it to their list of achievements, it builds the confidence and self-esteem of the toddlers.
8. Teaching patience and perseverance: Puzzles are an amazing way to help your toddler develop emotional skills. By working on a puzzle, your child will learn how to handle frustration, how to persevere, and how to enjoy the process of problem solving. This process teaches toddlers patience and perseverance.
9. Memory and concentration: Solving puzzles is a fun activity to increase the attention span, focus and concentration of toddlers. It trains them to develop concentration as they have to be involved and present in the moment without getting distracted to finish the puzzle.
Toddlers have to remember the shapes and patterns of the puzzle pieces to solve the puzzle, thereby increasing memory retention. Puzzles are important for preschoolers as they help improve their memory and concentration.
10. Social skills and teamwork: Encouraging toddlers to solve puzzles with their siblings or friends helps in building their social skills and communication. It teaches them to work as a team when trying to resolve the disagreement they have among themselves and by asking for help when they need a piece of the puzzle.
Jigsaw puzzles for preschoolers are an incredible educational tool to learn cognitive, physical and emotional skills which will be of great help even after growing up.
Gradually you can increase the complexity of the puzzles when toddlers learn to solve the puzzles by trial and error.
Puzzle games for preschoolers are an amazing bonding activity for kids and their parents. It is a great time to relax when they are winding down after an active play session. Parents or teachers can use puzzles as a means of encouraging children to ask questions.
Kutuki’s range of puzzles not only give your child these benefits while solving the puzzle but also act as a curiosity inducing tool. With our puzzles, preschooler’s not only complete the puzzle but also use them to learn about specific themes and discuss them. The Kutuki range of puzzles include :
- Kutu’s Underwater puzzle - Take your little-one on an underwater journey and show them different kinds of sea creatures!
- Modes of Transport in India puzzle - Show your preschooler the popular modes of transport in India.
- The Festivals of India puzzle - Vibrant puzzle that captures the most festive moments in our country!
- Kutu, Ki and Minku! - Put together this colorful puzzle and join Kutu, Ki and Minku for a fun day at the park!
Laugh, have fun and relish the time of completing the task together while your toddler is on their way to becoming an intellectual individual in the future.