Puzzles in Early Childhood Education: Putting the Pieces Together

450 Words2 Pages
Puzzles have been a part of our childhood right through to adulthood. We just love the way they challenge our thinking and exercise our minds. But, puzzles become an important educational learning tool for the children because it provides many skills like physical, cognitive, problem solving, social, self-esteem, and eye and hand coordination. Playing puzzles has a lot of benefits and opportunities for the young children to be able to perform well in school and in their environment. NAEYC stated, “Children can work on puzzles themselves, without the help of adults or other children. They can also work together on large puzzles and practice compromising and getting along.” Teachers are only there to guide the children. At the Manipulatives Center, they usually get the puzzles and they’re really enjoying it a lot. Also, doing a puzzle with their classmate allows for the growth of social skills as they work together and communicate about what fits where. The act of manipulating each piece helps the children to solve a problem and to develop critical thinking. Puzzles come in a whole range of themes such as alphabet letters, animals, shapes, numbers and vegetables. Our theme is about post cards so we decided to make jigsaw puzzles out of post cards. They’re not only learning about the theme but also developing their skills on it. Children increase their visual spatial awareness and develop a deeper understanding about the theme. For instance, the student is having a hard time to recognize the alphabet letters. We let the child do the puzzles so he would be able to know the letters. But NAEYC said, “Make sure puzzles are suited for each child’s age and abilities.” We won’t give 48-piece of puzzles to a one year old child. Toddlers can only enjoy three or four-piece wooden puzzles. For five-year-olds , they can already handle large piece 18 to 35 pieces of puzzles.
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