Toddlers and Puzzles

My two year old loves to go to the library.  Her method of picking out books is usually tearing a random collection of 10 or 15 books off the shelf.  Not Daddy's favorite method but it gets the job done.  Our local library has a relatively large kids area with a play kitchen, doll houses, train sets, puppets, and several other games.  My kids love to spend an hour playing and reading every time we go to the library.  One of my two year old's favorite activities is putting together puzzles.

My daughter working on a puzzle.

The library has several 8-10 piece toddler puzzles with large, hard pieces.  She loves to grab these one by one and put them together.  She always brings them over to me and wants me to help her.  This melts my heart some knowing that she wants her Daddy's help.  I let her do as much of the puzzle as possible, but she hasn't really gotten that pieces can be rotated to make them fit.  In fact, she can get a bit frustrated at times when a piece doesn't go where she wants it to go.  I help her out by getting the puzzle piece close and then she puts it in place.  The best part is when she says "I did it, Daddy", every time she successfully places a piece.  

Puzzles are also a great way to develop critical thinking skills in young children.  Kids have no idea they are actually learning and developing these skills.  All they know is that they're having fun!  If you have puzzles around the house or puzzles at the library, make it an activity to put them together with your son, daughter, nephew, niece, etc.  Puzzles are a great replacement to TV on a rainy day or a ridiculously hot day.