“There is dignity in struggle. It gives the soul muscle.”
Is your child curious about puzzles? Have they been inspired by watching older siblings working on multi-piece puzzles? Or maybe they’ve discovered them on their own? Puzzles provide an opportunity to hone an array of important skills like patience, persistence, planning, attention to detail, memory, and problem solving–in addition to fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. They are also a wonderful (and usually quiet-ish) activity for children to enjoy independently once they gain confidence, experience, and reach a certain stage of development. It can be tricky to know how to support kiddos as they learn this new skill so I thought I would break it down into steps and provide some tips from many years of sitting alongside young children as they discover the joy (and magnificent challenge!) of a great puzzle.
Things to remember:
Wait until your child is interested and motivated
Acknowledge that all kiddos have different interests and while you can provide materials for children to explore, it’s not up to you to decide what they’ll be interested in or how they’ll play with it
Children will vary on how much direct support they need based on a host of factors including their frustration tolerance, mood, etc. (A very patient, independent puzzler)
Acknowledge the challenge, “This is really tricky, huh?”
Let them stop if they get frustrated or want to move onto something else (nothing feels more like work than something “fun” you’re forced to do)
It can be *so hard* to step back and allow the child to connect all the pieces themself (not only because it’s easy for us and/or hard to see them struggle but also because we often don’t prioritize play for ourselves and we use our child’s play as an opportunity to meet that need) BUT there is so much value in observing attentively, sportscasting, and scaffolding the skills kiddos will need to meet challenges throughout their lives
If they have older siblings and are around puzzles with more pieces than you think they can handle, I like to let them try them (if they ask and if I’m feeling up for it). Yes, it will involve them dumping out 48 pieces (or more) but I prefer to let the experience inform rather than telling them “No, you’re not ready for that.” If they ask again after this I will say, “Oh it looks like this puzzle is for kids who are 5 or older, I think it may have too many pieces, remember yesterday when you dumped out that puzzle and it had too many?”
Remember, if they’re used to you intervening a lot (or doing it for them) they may protest with a change of events and plead with you to do it for them. This doesn’t mean you need to, though!
Progression of puzzles:
Start with shape sorters or super simple single shape puzzles before gradually increasing the number of pieces
For beginners I prefer puzzles with many different unique elements, images, and colors rather than one single image with limited colors (the simpler the color palette, the trickier, generally)
Shape sorters (for infants)
Two piece puzzle (*usually called “beginner puzzles”)
Three piece puzzles* (or this) *see above photos of different ways to present the puzzle, based on the child’s experience level, left to right shows a progression of difficulty
Twenty four piece puzzles
Thirty six piece puzzles
… and so on
Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
Steps:
Find a plain backdrop like carpet or a plain (not patterned) sheet
Help them lay out the pieces face up (if they’re very new to a puzzle with more pieces than they can handle all at once I like to separate out some pieces so it isn’t as visually overstimulating; I’ll often discreetly slide them back into the mix if I can tell a child is looking for one)
Lay out the box so they can see what the puzzle will look like once completed and talk about what you notice
Ask them to pick an element to start (“Oh that firetruck has such a long hose, should we start there?) (Also, they may not want to do it in the order you would, e.g. border first… trust their process!)
Help them notice colors/patterns/shapes
If they’re stuck on a specific piece help them notice, “Hmm, looks like this piece will have red and yellow” or ask, “Have you tried flipping it?”
A smile or “You found that piece!” is all that’s needed to let kiddos know we’re paying attention and see what they’re doing
…and finally they completed it!
Instead of responding with a simple and not very descriptive “Good job!” (Five Reasons to Stop Saying “Good Job" by Alfie Kohn) we can match their enthusiasm and recognize their efforts and reflect on their excitement or pride… “You did it! You put all of the pieces together! That took a long time but you really stuck with it!” The ultimate goal is for children to feel empowered to take on challenges with confidence and acknowledge and applaud their own efforts, instead of relying on external praise.
Have you had any questions about how to support your kiddos with their puzzling efforts? If I haven’t answered them here, please post them in the comments below!
“ A puzzle challenges the player to get from a problem to a solution.”