Puzzles are the most popular toys for children of all ages because they’re fun and give them a sense of achievement once completed. They are so versatile as they come in different shapes, sizes, and levels of difficulty and can even be accessed online too. Follow the link for jigsaw puzzles on sale and choose from a wide variety of options featuring cute animal pictures and popular cartoon characters for younger children, and complex landscapes and famous artworks for older children and adults.
Puzzles have been a beloved pastime for generations, providing not only hours of entertainment but also numerous benefits for children’s mental and physical development This article will explain the mental and developmental benefits of puzzles for children.
1. Improved Concentration
Restlessness and lack of attention are common problems among children. Researchers have found that the time a child can concentrate is 2 to 5 times multiplied by his/her age. For example, a 5-year-old can concentrate on tasks for a maximum of 25 minutes. Playing puzzles is effective in helping children to improve concentration.
Concentration is the ability to focus on the task until it’s over. Assembling puzzles allow children to concentrate on the same task from the start to the end. Make sure you choose puzzles that are appropriate for your children in terms of age.
2. Motor Skills
Playing puzzles teaches children motor skills like hand-eye coordination. Putting puzzles together enable your child to use his/her eyes and hands in a coordinated manner.
This pattern is stored in the brain. Better hand-eye coordination comes in handy in the pursuit of certain careers in the future. For example, surgeons need better hand eye-hand coordination.
3. Problem-Solving
Puzzle games teach children problem-solving because when they fit the pieces together, they acquire skills they can use to solve real problems.
They have to look at the pieces, segregate them, and then look for pieces that fit together. Children also learn there’re different ways of solving puzzles; no specific formula is needed. In real life, it teaches them that there’re multiple ways of solving problems. Moreover, if they cooperate with other children in assembling puzzles they share strategies. This teaches them how to collaborate.
4. Cognitive Skills
When your child plays puzzles for 5 year olds online it improves his/her cognitive skills. Putting puzzles together enables children to understand the world around them.
Puzzles for 5-year-olds mostly have animal and natural themes. This helps children to develop a natural understanding of the world around them by arranging that world in puzzles.
Playing puzzles also enable children to recognize shapes because most games use basic shapes like triangle, squares, and circles. Children can move to more complex games like jigsaw puzzles as they advance in age and skills.
5. Spatial Awareness
Spatial awareness is the ability to tell how you fit in space and the manner objects relate to one another. Puzzles allow children to develop this ability and understand how objects and patterns change when one is moved.
Initially, children assemble puzzles through trial and error. However, with time, they learn to assemble the puzzle mentally because they developed spatial awareness.
6. Natural Knowledge
Most children’s puzzles have natural and animal themes. For example, some have geographic features like maps or extinct animals, for instance, dinosaurs.
Puzzles are designed to cover a variety of natural topics that enable your child to learn about world geography and its flora and fauna. Some school programs use puzzles to teach children zoology, but you have to explain the images of the animals in the puzzles.
7. Learning Language
Puzzles can be a great tool for teaching children new words. Puzzles for 5-year-olds may have images of plants, geographic features, and animals the child doesn’t know.
When you explain the images to children, they learn new vocabulary. To help your children learn vocabulary through puzzles you can go for those that are designed to teach language.
No doubt playing puzzles online is beneficial for children because it helps them learn and develop mentally. Let your 5-year-old child play with puzzles online to reap the benefits.