It's puzzle time? It's PUZZLE TIME!

HAPPY 2014!!!!  I hope for it to be full of joy and success for all of us; you and me and all the children we work with!

Over the holidays our family had a "puzzle-a-thon."  We have lots of puzzles that mostly just take up cupboard space.  For everyone's Christmas Eve, I gave them each a puzzle.  The whole family really got into the spirit of it.  My two married daughters and their children did lots of puzzles at their homes.  My three single kids and my husband and I did a bunch here.  It was a lot of fun!

Why do puzzles?  Or, rather, why should you do puzzles?  Well, I've heard that it's very good for our brains.  Cognitive thinking and all.  It greatly strengthens the focusing ability of both young and old!  But this blog focuses on the young.  

These winter puzzles were a hit.  They're 100 pieces each.  Even my rambunctious 6-year old grandson could do these with very little help!  The following puzzles are great for children ages 2 - 6.  All five of my grandkids who have been or is in this age group loves doing them.  Now the 3 and 5-year old grandsons are in to these.  As soon as they walk in the door, I hear, "Can we do puzzles?"  Just night before last, the 3-year old sat at my feet after our family dinner and wanted to do one of these puzzles, while the older kids were in the kitchen doing these winter ones.  He did one with a little help.  I knew he didn't believe he could do it himself.  After we finished the puzzle, I had him do it again, and he figured it out all by himself.  It was so much fun to sit and watch him discover that he could look at a puzzle piece, picture in his mind where it would fit either along the edge or how it aligned next to another puzzle piece.  "Oh, hey, this can go right here by that!" he would say with that same sparkle in his eye that children have when they realize they can read a word!  And now he can get out the puzzles and entertain himself for a long time.  Do you know that little 3-year old boy sat there and did at least ten puzzles mostly by himself!

Doing puzzles seems to be a tradition for many families over the holidays.  If your family didn't do any, may I suggest that you do some during the dark and dreary month of January when kids can't get outside and play much.  It really seemed to keep everyone motivated when I told them to keep doing puzzles and take a picture of them all to show what they had done for the "puzzle-a-thon." The dollar store has a lot of good 16 - 66 piece puzzles for kids.  Give it a shot!

Doreese