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Jigsaw Puzzles for Toddlers | A to Z of Toddler Activities

March 29, 2018 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Google+ A to Z of Toddler Activities,Toys, Books, Activities

Jigsaw Puzzles for Toddlers | A to Z of Toddler Activities | Baby & Beyond

If you have read some of my earlier posts, you would know that I am a big believer in learning journeys designed as play. Jigsaw puzzles for toddlers are a perfect example of this, where the child is encouraged to learn problem solving through play.

 

N has inherited a love for jigsaw puzzles for me. I so love jigsaw puzzles, that I included them in the return gifts bag for both his first and second birthday! Of course a 2 year old is still too small to be able to solve jigsaw puzzles on his own. So this is an activity that I have to be very involved in. We do 3-4 puzzles everyday (or as many as he asks for). Once he develops the required skills, it will be a great activity for him to play independently.

 

We started with knobbed puzzles (also called identification trays) at around 15-18 months. Then we moved to self-correcting puzzles. Now we do classic jigsaw puzzles having 4-9 pieces.

 

Jigsaw Puzzles for Toddlers | Baby & Beyond

Types of Jigsaw Puzzles you can play with your toddler:
1. Knobbed puzzle or identification tray – self correcting & easy to grasp
2. Classic jigsaw – all pieces have the same basic square shape
3. A slightly simpler version – each shape is unique so the puzzle is self-correcting

 

This is how we play:

I show him the completed picture on the box. Then I point out the part of the picture we are looking for. I ask him “Can you please help me find the pink flower?” or “the eye of the panda”. He is usually able to observe the picture and identify the matching piece of the puzzle.

He still doesn’t understand which direction to put the piece in. Also he still hasn’t developed enough dexterity to interlock the jigsaw pieces, which frustrates him at times. So  I have to hold it in place for him and he presses it down. But he gets really excited once he sees that the whole picture is getting completed.
Skills Developed: Fine motor skills, cognitive skills (shape recognition, memory, colour and pattern matching), problem solving, patience
Jigsaw Puzzles for Toddlers | A to Z of Toddler Activities - Baby & Beyond

Jigsaw Puzzles for Toddlers | A to Z of Toddler Activities – Baby & Beyond

If you are a parent of a toddler, you know that one of the most frequent questions we have almost on a daily basis is how to keep our toddlers engaged, or what sort of learning games activities can be planned for our kids. There are limitless resources available online, but most of them require extensive planning or DIY. Knowing the attention span of a toddler, I have often found that the time I spent in planning these activities was far more that the actual time he spent on the activity itself!

This post is part of a series I am doing on A to Z of toddler activities in 100ish words each. The idea is to share simple, skill-based activities that you can do easily at home with little to no pre-planning. Wherever any resources are required, I’ll guide you on where you can find those as well.

You can find the complete list of activities here.

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