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Wooden puzzles were first produced and used as an aid to teaching geography to British children in the late 18th century. Today, they are accepted by child development experts and educators to be an important learning tool for toddlers and preschoolers. Wooden puzzles are made by painting a picture on a flat wooden board and then cut into pieces using a jigsaw. The puzzle pieces are usually large, easy to handle and manipulate. The pictures often form shapes of animals, people, vehicles and sceneries.
For Toddlers. The benefits of playing with wooden puzzles are immense. They help toddlers develop the hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills needed for simple tasks like picking small objects with their thumb and index finger and more highly coordinated tasks like feeding themselves, turning pages in a book, grasping and moving a crayon to colour. Chunky, pegs, knobs and raised-piece form wooden puzzles are made especially to develop these skills.
For Preschoolers. Wooden puzzles also help preschoolers develop the strength and dexterity needed to perform self care tasks like brushing their teeth and fastening a button as well as problem solving and pre-reading skill. How is the latter so? When they play with jigsaw puzzles, they use the part of the brain function of reasoning, deduction, analysis and logical thought to distinguish the varying shapes of the puzzle pieces and match them to the correct slot or fit to complete the puzzle. The ability to differentiate shapes is similar to reading which is about recognising the small differences of written words.
Educational Wooden Puzzles. Wooden puzzles can also supplement traditional lessons. Alphabets, numbers and shapes wooden puzzles are made for this purpose. Children who are visual-spatial learners benefit from them as they can correlate the image with the information, like a picture of an apple with the word, “apple”. So do kinesthetic learners who learn by carrying out the physical activity with their hands. Special needs children will find wooden puzzles vibrant colours therapeutic.
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