The staff at CretaBlog just can't get enough of puzzles lately. Sudoku and crosswords are great for adults, but much too difficult for children to enjoy. But that doesn't mean your child can't have fun with a different sort of puzzles: jigsaws and tangrams!

Tangrams and jigsaws are very interesting educational toys. The different colors of their various pieces help train children's perceptual thinking, and the process of assembling these puzzles not only improves their concentration and ability to resist distractions but also allows us to spend quality parent-child time together.

When you first introduce jigsaw puzzles to playtime, your child will be interested because of their novelty. They'll feel satisfied just by looking at and playing with the various patterns. However, when the jigsaw puzzle becomes more complex and difficult to solve, their interest will start to fall off. In order to encourage them to keep exploring and discovering, let's use Piaget's cognitive development theory to provide some creative ways to play that take the mental development of your child into consideration.

• Activity 1: Your Child in Charge
• Activity 2: Get Competitive!
• Activity 3: The Sky's the Limit

Activity 1: Your Child in Charge

How do you let your child build a tangram puzzle that is entirely their own? It's easier than you might think! 👇

• First, take a square piece of cardboard ①, then divide it into two triangles ②.
• Divide the two large triangles in the jigsaw puzzle along the midpoint of one triangle ③.
• Then draw a median line to divide the middle triangle ④.
• Next, make room for the small triangle ⑤.
• Then make room for the square ⑥.
• Finally, mark off another triangle and the parallelogram ⑦.

Your child can also doodle and draw their favorite patterns on the puzzle in pencil, crayon, or marker. After creating the puzzle, your child can experiment with moving the shapes around to further deepen their understanding and knowledge of tangram puzzles.

Activity 2: Get Competitive!

As your child's skill and confidence with tangram puzzles increases, you can "compete" with them to put an exciting, challenging twist on things. You can compete to see who can create a pattern faster, or whose puzzle looks more like the pattern after the designated time is up. Many children thrive when presented with a friendly challenge. Don't forget to let them win now and then!

Activity 3: The Sky's the Limit

Now that your child is familiar with and confident in playing with tangram puzzles, encourage them to put their imagination to work and get creative. Let them describe an object, like a car or a spaceship, and lead you in putting it together. This is a great way to exercise their language and logical, orderly thinking skills at the same time.

Feel free to branch out from tangram puzzles, too! Shaped blocks are good for younger children, and constructive toys like Megabloks and Lego are great for older ones. As their skills grow, let the possibilities grow with them.

Remember : when children learn through play, it develops a deeper and more meaningful connection to the subject than any number of worksheets could ever achieve. We hope you and your little ones have fun with these and many other activities listed here at CretaBlog. See you next time!