Showing posts with label Puzzle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Puzzle. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Toddler's First Puzzles: The Next Step

So your toddler's mastered 3pc, 4pc, 5pc, and 6pc puzzles - what's next? Don't make that eager trip to Hobbes just yet! 24 pc puzzles and beyond may still be too much to handle for your little puzzle master. Thankfully, there is a puzzle between 6pc and 24pc - a 15 pc puzzle! I discovered this type of puzzle at the toy section of Landmark Department Store. It comes in three types - Justice League, Disney Princess, and Winnie The Pooh. The puzzle pieces are large and well suited for toddler's hands. There's also a picture at the righthand corner to serve as a guide. My daughter enjoyed  the feeling that she's now able to work on "big" puzzles! We helped her build the puzzle for the first couple of weeks and now she's able to build it on her own.

Another alternative is to get a 24pc puzzle with large pieces and set up all the corner/edge pieces on the frame. That way, your toddler will only need to figure out the remaining 8-piece puzzle in the middle.

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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Toddler's First Puzzles!

My 2.5 year old daughter sees me working on puzzles all the time and wants to try it out for herself. So I figure, why not? Brain food and good practice for hand-eye coordination and control.

I bought her JOYTOY'S Spelling Fun set, which contains 16 3-piece puzzles. The puzzle pieces are large and easy to handle. Best of all, each piece corresponds to a letter that spells out the word depicted by the puzzle such as D-O-G, C-A-T, P-I-E, S-U-N, etc. What better way to introduce your little one to basic words and spelling?

My baby took to this puzzle set immediately and it was also quite a hit with the other toddlers in the playroom. I started by laying out one puzzle at a time and teaching her how to properly fit the pieces together. Once she mastered one puzzle, I began to mix the puzzle pieces for 3 different puzzles for her to distinguish and build, one puzzle at a time. The next day, I gave her a mix of 4 puzzles and so on until she can identify and build a mix of at least a dozen of the puzzles.

Eventually, I bought her a 4-in-1 puzzle that consists of a 3-piece, 4-piece, 5-piece, and 6-piece puzzle to increase her level one step at a time. She is now able to dump all of the puzzle pieces and rebuild it on her own.

JOYTOY Spelling Fun costs less than P200 for the whole box of 16 puzzles. I bought it at SM department store. There's also a 4-letter-word set available to start introducing tots to C-A-K-E and D-U-C-K.

4-in-1 puzzle sets are usually found alongside party favors and are a good deal at only P50!

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