Teach Your Toddler To Do Puzzles

If you teach your toddler to do puzzles, you will be doing much more than just a fun activity with your child.

The steps below will help you introduce your toddler to the joys of doing puzzles. Most importantly, have fun with your child!

1. One Piece Puzzles and Peg Puzzles
2. Two Piece Puzzles
3. Four Piece Puzzles
   
4. Tips And Related Pages
   

One Piece Puzzles and Peg Puzzles

For toddlers who have no idea what building a puzzle is about, or for children from deprived backgrounds, you often need to first introduce them to the concept of fitting things together.

1 piece puzzles are a good introduction to this concept.

Making use of a shape sorter will also help your toddler learn to perceive and match shapes as well as the concept of fitting things together.

If your child is overwhelmed by all the shapes, place just a few shapes at a time and make it "easy" for your child!

Wooden Peg Puzzles are also excellent. Start by showing just one piece at a time, placing it next to the correct hole and helping your toddler place it in.

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2 Piece Puzzles

Once your child understands how peg puzzles work, the next step is introducing the concept of completing a picture.

Have your child complete a variety of 2 piece puzzles, then move on to 4 pieces. Perhaps you and your friends can each buy a different set and take turns sharing them for variety?

i know a mom who pasted pictured from magazines on the back of her existing set of two-piece puzzles, to make a whole new set of pictures!

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4 Piece Puzzles

Toddler puzzles often come in sets with a 4 piece, a 6 piece, and a 9 or 12 piece in one box. Mastering one 4 piece puzzle does not mean your child will be ready to tackle the 6 and 12 piece puzzles (though some kids learn quickly).

It is better to try a few different 4 piece puzzles to teach your toddler to do puzzles, before moving on to puzzles that are more challenging.

The steps below are not meant to be done all in one sitting! Your toddler's temperament, visual perceptual abilities and concentration will determine how quickly this skill will be mastered.

Progress at your child's pace and keep it fun!

But most of all, have fun with your child! Give lots of praise and encouragement each step of the way, and remember, you do NOT have to accomplish all of the steps above in one day or even one week.

Once your child has mastered 4 -piece puzzles in the way described above, introduce puzzles with more pieces.

For your convenience, I have linked to similar products on Amazon - I receive a small commission if you purchase something through the links below, which helps support this site. However, you are under no obligation to purchase anything!

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Tips And Resources To Teach Your Toddler To Do Puzzles

• Swapping puzzles with friends is a good way to get access to different puzzles to keep your child interested!
• I used to leave peg puzzles lying all over the house for my toddler, with the pieces close to the correct hole, so all he had to do was slide them in. He soon grasped the concept!
• Don't rush your child onto the larger puzzles - leave a partially completed one lying out and let your child gain confidence in completing it.
  
• Read my next page about teaching puzzles that are more complex.
• Try my easy activities for Form Constancy, Figure-Ground Perception and Visual Discrimination to help boost your child's ability to complete puzzles.
• read more about the importance of visual perceptual skills and how they develop
  

Thank you for visiting my site! I truly hope you found it useful and that you now feel empowered to teach your toddler to do puzzles!

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