Today is National Puzzle Day and this is something that we are quite excited about!
In my household we are very low on electronic entertainment. It isn't because I am anti-technology, far from it, but because I don't want to have just those resources available for the boys.
Where we Home Educate we often have our days packed with lots of exciting things that do not revolve around electronic entertainment and games.
As a parent (including a Home Ed parent) puzzles play a massive part of our free learning and games here. However, with my many years as a Primary school teacher and as an Early Years co-ordinator puzzles always played an integral part and for valid reasons as they provide many skills and mental learning benefits and opportunities such as:
Hand-Eye
Coordination
When
children flip, turn, remove, etc. pieces of the puzzle, they are learning the
connection between their hands and their eyes. The eyes see the puzzle, and the
brain then envisions how the puzzle needs to look or what piece needs to be
found and placed.
Fine
Motor Skills
Similar to
the way hand-eye coordination is achieved, puzzles provide the opportunity for
children to develop fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are obviously necessary
for everyday activities like handwriting.
Problem
Solving
The skill
of effective problem solving is a valuable and important one. As a child looks
at various pieces and figures out where they fit or don’t fit, they are
developing this vital skill. A puzzle, after all, can’t be completed by
cheating; it either fits or it doesn’t.
Memory
Simple
jigsaws and other types of puzzles may help enhance a child’s memory. For
example, a child will need to recall the size, color and shape of pieces as they
work through the puzzle. If a piece doesn’t fit, the child sets it aside; but will
need to remember that piece when it is needed.
Setting
Small Goals
As a child
works on a puzzle, they will often develop a strategy to work the puzzle faster
and more efficiently. They may do all the edge pieces first or sort them into
piles according to colours or shapes.
With all of this in mind, and our love of puzzles, we were thrilled then to be contacted by Orchard Toys to take part in #NationalPuzzleDay
Who are they?
Orchard Toys started out making blocks and stencils for a local nursery school. Now, over 40 years later, they ship to over 50 different countries around the world and are recognised as a leading manufacturer of educational games and puzzles both in the UK and globally.
As for their puzzles, they have a variety of jigsaws from 2-pieces for first learners as young as 18 months old through to challenging 150-piece jigsaws for older children and adults.
Their whole ethos is something that resonated with me; education and fun!
We have had the chance to review 2 of their puzzles.
Pirate Ship
The Pirate ship puzzle has 100 pieces and is aimed for children aged 6 - 9 years. The picture, colours and ability is perfect for any primary child.
One thing that I loved is on the back of the box you have these different sections which turn the puzzle into a additional learning and fun experience.
A great example of how to start and take part in the puzzle as well as examples in case you get stuck.
A conclusive section to help discuss what you can find. This is great for creating more logic whilst you hunt down different characters and complete different activities.
A fabulous way to connect your thinking in different ways as well as creating positive reinforced questions and story telling.
I love this last bit as it allows you to go off and find our more and engage in education and fun in a different way!
Now it is time for the puzzle. We are pretty much the dump and sort kind of puzzle makers.
James likes to find odd pieces that fit together, William enjoys finding the edges and I like to work between the two and find ways to complete the puzzle where possible.
Because of the colours, pictures and shapes of the puzzle it really didn't take us long to start having an image take shape in front of us.
It didn't actually take the three of us that long (40 minutes in total)
Both the boys and I loved completing the puzzle. The colours and pictures are brilliant and we often stopped to see which funny scene we had created before we carried on.
The main feature that I particularly loved was the overall shape. Usually you find puzzles have square pieces and a squared finish but this, as you can see above, didn't. It made completing the puzzle a lot harder and yet still quite fun.
Above are some of the extra details that had us laughing. A pirate doing a puzzle really made James laugh and the cat with an eye patch and a parrot eating a banana with its wing had William chuckling away.
World Map
The world map puzzle has 150 pieces, is aimed for children aged 5 - 10 years and comes with a replica map poster.
Admittedly this puzzle was a lot harder than the pirate ship and I will explain why whilst I go through it. Yet, despite it feeling harder we still had a brilliant time completing it!
As you would expects, the map holds 7 continents (6 clearly separate and Antarctica just about) and each is colour coordinated to make it easier to complete.
Due to the colours you could separate and collect each coloured piece and go from there. What you will find however is the different oceans and the amount of pieces you need to complete that.
Finding and connecting the colours and animals was immensely fun though and it allowed us to stop, comment, explore and discuss the different animals and where they are found.
The other main aspect here is the size of the puzzle. We have an average sized dining table and, as you can see below, the puzzle covered most of it. This made putting sections together more difficult if you don't have them in the right place as every time we moved a completed section it broke apart.
Once completed (took us almost an hour) the puzzle was breath taking and amazing!
Just like the pirate puzzle, the map had varying piece shapes which did add to the difficulty but again it wasn't so hard that it was impossible.
Like most of Orchard toys puzzles the educational side, fun side, colours and small attention to detail makes this a puzzle that is always a winner.
The animals spread across the map made this a brilliant puzzle that the boys and I both enjoyed making.
Orchard toys state that they aim to encourage knowledge and understanding of the world around you, link with national curriculum and helps to develop concentration and observational skills. That is a bold statement and as a teacher and parent I often find it is difficult to have those things and still be fun but they wholeheartedly do from experiencing these puzzles.
The boys loved them and so did I and I would suggest that you go pop along and check out some of their other wonderful puzzles out.
Giveaway
The Giveaway will run for 7 days and will end at 12am on the 05/02/17.
So please follow the instructions on the rafflecopter below to enter! You can find my usual competition terms and conditions by clicking the blue writing here: Competition Terms and Conditions
I was given this product for free to review. My opinions are my own and I am under no obligations to give a positive review. Please see my full disclosure at the bottom of my blog)
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