National Puzzle Day
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When the oh so dark days of winter seem like too much, be sure to pull out some puzzles of all kinds to pass the time and to have fun with your children. There are so many ways to celebrate National Puzzle Day!
Jigsaw Puzzles
Jigsaw puzzles help with spatial orientation and fine motors skills for children of all ages. Traditional jigsaw puzzles can introduce new scenes and fun images to kids. Most people build jigsaw puzzles starting with the borders, and this simple task can help a child with sequencing skills. Jigsaw puzzles help build sorting skills, as a child determines if a puzzle piece is part of the existing picture based on the color, the image, or the shape.
Wooden puzzles with knobs help children with their pincer grasp and overall fine motor skills. The puzzles can be educational, helping a child learn where the states are or numbers.
Word Puzzles
Word puzzles help grow a child understanding of vocabulary, spelling, synonyms, and parts of speech.
We love Mad Libs whether you play with paper and pencil, iTunes, or Google Play. Mad Libs are a fun way to create silly stories and involve a number of people.
Crossword puzzles help with a child’s writing skills, as well as increasing vocabulary and spelling. Crossword puzzles also help a child self-correct their spelling. If your child writes “PUPY” for a five-letter word for “young dog,” then your child will soon realize that one more letter is needed.
Number Puzzles
Has your child been introduced to Sudoku? Sudoku has tons of built-in ways for a child to see if the number will work because a number can only appear one time in the row, column, and grid of nine. Kid friendly Sudoku books can help a child formulate planning and problem-solving strategies. This version of the fun number game actually substitutes numbers for colors using the same principle.
3D Puzzles
3D puzzles like tanagrams help your child with spatial manipulation and color matching.
While construction sets or Legos might not seem like a puzzle, they sure can be if one has to follow directions in order to make the creation.
Puzzles like Rubik’s Cube and a Snake Cube Twist Puzzle challenge your child to problem solve in order to create the desired grid of color or shape.
If you’re puzzled about your child’s speech and language milestones, let SpeechWorks help. Contact us at 262-490-5653 or online today.
Jann Fujimoto, MS CCC-SLP, loved her Sesame Street Grover wooden puzzle. Today, she is a speech-language pathologist and owner of SpeechWorks where she helps children in Oconomowoc, Watertown, Dousman, Delafield, Hartland, and Pewaukee become confident communicators.
