Puzzle Activities

   Puzzles are a great free time activity in our house. Coop loves to problem solve, so figuring out puzzles is right down his alley and an activity that keeps his attention for long stretches of time. Can you say Mommy magazine break?!  I wanted to make sure that he kept his love of puzzles without getting frustrated until he learned to master the harder ones that had more than 10 pieces. He is a perfectionist and if he thinks he can't do something he won't participate in whatever the activity is even if you tried to bribe him.

  I came up with an idea idea. What if I could give him another way to match the puzzle piece to its correct place in the puzzle. I removed all the pieces and numbered the actual puzzle base where each piece goes. I used a permanent marker but i'm sure you could use a pen or pencil. Just stay away from washable markers cause they will bleed. 

  I then numbered each puzzle peice with the matching number of where it goes. The easiest way to do this is to put the puzzle together then take one piece off at a time to number it.

   I handed him the puzzle base and placed the pieces down next to him. I told him that he could now match the numbers on the board with the numbers on the puzzle pieces and he would create an awesome picture!

 
  He jumped right in and was increasingly excited with each piece that he put together! I loved his conversation with each piece as he went.
  "Okay, this is a..... 5! You go..... HERE!"

  Seeing how much confidence this gave him was priceless. Look at his face! I like that I can do this with numbers, letters, shapes, and eventually sight words. I'm hoping he will be a puzzle solver for a long time!