How to Pick a Wooden Puzzle for Your Child

When it comes to great traditional toys, you can’t go past a wooden puzzle. For generations parents and grandparents have been giving children wooden puzzles as gifts and we completely understand why! Puzzles play an important role in our children’s learning and as wooden toy experts, we’d love to share with you how to pick the right wooden puzzle for your child.

Why Should You Choose a Wooden Puzzle?

Each year, toy manufacturers invent new toys and each year, these new toys end up broken and unloved at the bottom of the toy box. Most modern toys are developed with plastic pieces which break easily or are designed to be used a few times only. However, wooden puzzles have been around for many years and have lasted the test of time, often being passed down between generations.

Wooden puzzles also help develop our children’s problem-solving skills. They need to manipulate the pieces to fit, so develop strategies to do this. Their cognitive skills are developed through building their visual spatial awareness playing with puzzles. They also learn about different themes and topics. Fine motor skills and hand eye co-ordination is also developed when playing with wooden jigsaw puzzles, as are their self-esteem and social skills.

Our wooden puzzles are made with wood sourced from renewable resources, meaning they’re all environmentally friendly. Unlike most pin puzzles which when pulled out become a choking hazard, our knobs are firmly attached with glue and screws. Best of all, all our wooden puzzles are incredibly well priced too!

Top Tips on Picking the Right Wooden Puzzle for Your Child

With so many different types available, it can be tricky to find the perfect puzzle for your child. It’s important to consider your child’s age and developmental stage when selecting a puzzle for them. As a guide, here are a few types of puzzles different aged children enjoy:

• Babies – as a baby is developing it’s open and close fist grasp, having something to hold is important. It is not recommended the infants under 18 months play with puzzles, due to their small parts though. But a wooden teething ring or wooden cylinder shaker would be a good choice instead.
• Toddlers – between 18 months and 3 years of age, children love to figure out how things work. Wooden puzzles with knobs are perfect at this stage, with kids developing their problem solving and perseverance skills. Our Wooden Farm House Knob Jigsaw Puzzle is a great starter puzzle for older toddlers.
• Pre-schoolers – preschool aged children love being big kids! Providing a puzzle which requires them to use several skills at once is great at this stage. Our Lower Case Alphabet Letters Puzzle not only teaches shape manipulation, but also colours and the alphabet too. Or for a more challenging puzzle, try the Large Fire Engine Jigsaw. It requires picture and shaping matching, almost like a big kid’s puzzle!
• School aged – school aged kids have plenty of great puzzles to learn with. Try our Wooden Tetris Tangram Puzzle for a fun way to challenge their brain. Or how about a Wooden Dr Bafflers Muddle Puzzle for a wonderfully challenging puzzle? It’s sure to be a hit!

Need Some Advice? We’re Here to Help!

Remember, we’re New Zealand’s top wooden puzzle shop! If you get stuck picking the right puzzle, we can help. Contact us now and we’ll help you by suggesting some puzzles for you to choose from.