Daddy Duty: Isabella's puzzling new hobby has big benefits
A few months back, my mom bought a box of small puzzles that each had three or four pieces, and they featured pictures of simple things like vehicles, animals and objects.
Isabella immediately gravitated toward one with a school bus on it. She’d set it next to her toys, and she’d want to take it in the car with her.
I can only hope someday my now 3-year-old will be as excited when she actually has to ride a school bus.
Anyhow, those simple little puzzles spawned a love for a new hobby that continues to grow.
Isabella fell in love with a large fire truck puzzle at her daycare.
When we pick her up, if she’s putting that puzzle together, we have to wait for her to finish it or she’ll refuse to leave.
She now has puzzles of varying sizes everywhere she goes. Our house is filled with puzzles, and there are puzzles at both of her grandparents’ houses.
She’ll put them together, take them apart and build them again. She’ll ask my wife or me to do a puzzle while she builds a different one and she races to try and beat us. She quite often wins.
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As I watch her skillful little hands work, I can see the determination on her face. It has me thinking she could be a future engineer!
OK, it may be a bit early for that, but I did some research and found that puzzles are even more beneficial than I realized.
Cambridge University lecturer David Whitebread told the Daily Mail in London that playing with puzzles and building blocks alongside parents is more beneficial to toddlers than learning to read and write at a young age.
The key being “alongside parents.”
Whitebread said it was important for parents to play with their children, as these youngsters were more likely to enjoy solving problems, and were better equipped to cope with failure.
I also found several areas of development with which these puzzles are helping.
According to learning4kids.net, puzzles help with cognitive skills, problem solving, fine motor development, hand-eye coordination, social skills and self-esteem. I’ll give a summation of how each helps:
Cognitive skills: Because of the range of themes and topics, it increases a deeper understanding of these things.
Problem solving: Completing a puzzle sets a single goal to achieve. It helps with reasoning skills and developing solutions, which later can be transferred into their personal/adult life.
Fine motor development: Children are required to pick up, pinch and grasp pieces and move them around, manipulating them into slots, sorting them and fitting them into the correct places.
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Hand-eye coordination. Playing with puzzles requires a trial and error process that involves a lot of hand and eye manipulation. Isabella is great at realizing a piece doesn’t fit, and she works to find the right one.
Social skills: As kids work together to complete a puzzle, they will discuss where a piece should go and why, take turns and share and support each other when handling frustration, then share the joy of finishing the puzzle. This might be a little ahead of a 3-year-old’s scope. Right now, Isabella wants to do it herself. Teamwork will come at a later age.
Self-esteem: The accomplishment of achieving a goal brings so much satisfaction to a child. It provides a boost to their self-confidence and self-esteem as this prepares them for other challenges in life. When Isabella finishes a puzzle, she’ll often proclaim: “I did it!” Then she’ll immediately tear it up and start over.
I’m glad Isabella has already found this skill at a young age. It’s something that will help her develop more complex skills as she grows.
Who knows? Today she’s building puzzles. In the future, maybe she’ll build rockets.
Contact Walters at 321-242-3681
or twalters@floridatoday.com.
