Puzzles from Melissa and Doug
These are among my children’s beloved “playthings”. Playthings in quotes because they’re really more a learning toy than anything else. They develop eye-hand coordination; they teach children to focus on details (will this piece match that piece, is it the same color, shape, etc.?). They can also teach cooperation if 2 or more kids are working on a puzzle. There are lots of puzzles on the market, but I particularly like these wooden ones from Melissa and Doug because they last a long time. The pieces are easy to grasp because they’re wooden, each piece being about 1/4-inch thick. Your child can go from the puzzles that only have a few pieces to the more complicated ones with 100 pieces.
There’s the standard ABC puzzle, this one not too standard because each letter has a picture of a word that begins with that letter! There’s also an ABC “book”, where you can turn the pages — great for car trips. My 6-year-old’s favorite is a box of 4 dinosaur puzzles with smaller pieces, each one coded with a shape at the back. And my now-9-year-old used to love this dinosaur floor puzzle (for dinosaur lovers ages 3 and up).
My kids have been enjoying these puzzles from the age of 3. At that age they may need a bit of help from an older sibling or an adult. It’s also a great time to help them develop their vocabulary. By guiding them and asking them questions, e.g., “Where are the corner pieces?” “Do you think this goes up there or down here?”, “Is this tree upside down?”, etc. you encourage them to answer and explain their thinking. When my kids visit a zoo or museum and finally end up at the gift shop, the puzzle area is the first one we visit. That’s when they’re usually psyched up about what they’ve just seen or experienced, so we get a souvenir that is not only durable but will feed their brains as well!
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POSTED IN: General Play Library Goodies
1 opinion for Puzzles from Melissa and Doug
Qadira
Jul 8, 2005 at 1:08 pm
My MIL got my toddler the latches box for our road trip- it looks great, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to enjoy playing with it. I too agree that they are well made toys.
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