Puzzles are an important piece of the MCP curriculum. Hopefully you have a wide variety of puzzles at home, too. Puzzles are meant to be hard. Puzzles are meant to be challenging. Children get a real sense of accomplishment in completing a puzzle on their own.
We start off the year with four-to-six-piece puzzles, puzzles with knobs and handles. Super easy puzzles with a low level of frustration. These pictures are our more difficult puzzles. We move to more difficult tray puzzles and then 24–46-piece puzzles.
Puzzles provide a lot of learning for your child. Puzzles help with eye/hand coordination and small motor skills. Puzzles are great for logic and problem solving. The children often try to just randomly put pieces together without any thought. We teach them use the picture on the box for 'clues'. Some children already know how to look for the straight edges pieces to form the outline of the puzzle.
If you have a spot in your home, set up a puzzles area this winter. Puzzles are great for all ages, a fun family activity and fairly inexpensive. For more information on why puzzles are important in preschool---
