Puzzle Hut

Jigsaw Puzzles: Food For The Mind, Heart, And Soul

Jigsaw puzzles are normally viewed as learning toys. They are said to do wonders for one's mood and mind. Yet which assumption is right and which one is not?

What Educators Say

Jigsaw puzzles are somewhat food for the brain, professionals believe. At various phases, they stimulate the learning process. Continuous play enhances a person's inherent ability to reason, analyze, deduce, sequence, utilize logic, and solve problems. They also promote efficient coordination of the hands as well as the eyes.

What Parents Observe

An eight-year-old can't differentiate east from west or name the southern states. So you have her solve a puzzle. She succeeds in putting together all the disconnected states and places them into their rightful locations in the U.S. map. Will this assure your kid's A+ score in a geography examination?

Yet, the chances are your kid is simply an average kid. He or she may learn something out of it, yet it's often short term. Your kid may forget them for such a long time. Unless, well, he or she performs it a lot of times. The ending, though, is that he or she only gets to memorize the locations of these pieces in the jigsaw puzzles.

What Experts Advise

Puzzles, while helpful, do not produce wonders. If your kid is working on the puzzle, she may be preset to finish it, not really on where the states are definitely found. The key then is to develop their educational worth. This can be done by making it a portion of a larger learning goal. But you can increase the advantages of the jigsaw puzzles by making them part of more educational toys available. This way, the learning your child achieves would not be limited by the them alone.

Why They Help

Jigsaw puzzles can be indeed enriching for a child as it's enjoyable to do and he can get to learn better through what he sees. He will be shocked seeing how tiny pieces can complete a whole.

Another benefit, is their strong appeal to kinesthetic learning. Kinesthetic learners are educated through activities including hands-on application. These typically involve simulation and on-the-spot problem solving.

A lesson must be incorporated to the jigsaw puzzle. As what experts believe, these puzzles should belong to an overall educational objective. For a puzzle to be significant to a kid, it should be connected to the data the child already has. The whole experience would become more meaningful if the memory is really retained.

Truly, your brain becomes more energetic as well as healthier with puzzles. Yet again, they can also provide warmth to your heart as well as soul.
Author - Will Kamer

Play And Learn With Educational Jigsaw Puzzles!

Jigsaw puzzles have been entertaining children and adults for centuries. Wooden puzzles were originally created by painting a picture onto a flat piece of wood, then using a jigsaw to cut out the pieces. A man named John Spilsbury is credited with making the first commercial jigsaw puzzle around 1760. His educational puzzles were of maps, and were used to aid in teaching young children geography. As the children put the pieces of the puzzle together, they were able to learn where different countries and regions were. Because of ease of mass production, many modern jigsaw puzzles are made from cardboard. Puzzles for younger children may also be made of brightly colored plastic or foam. These puzzles have larger pieces, which are easier for young hands to manipulate. Simple wooden puzzles, often three dimensional, are also common. These puzzles have large, easy to manipulate pieces and often form animal or human shapes.

Jigsaw puzzles can be great educational tools. For very young children, they help problem solving and motor skills, while teaching them the forms of animals, people, and much more. Puzzles for children were the primary form of jigsaw puzzle until 1900 or so, when the first more complicated puzzles were produced for adults. It is common for adults to glue down a completed jigsaw puzzle to save their work, whereas children are more likely to take it apart so that it can be put back together again. Doing jigsaw puzzled develops several functions of the brain at once. Reasoning, deduction, analysis and logical thought are exercised in the completion of jigsaw puzzles, as well as physical hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness. This is the case for all jigsaw puzzles, not just the ones marked "educational."

Jigsaw puzzles can be an important part of the learning process for children, though they should be supplemented with other material. In order to maximize the educational value of a puzzle, it needs to be a part of the learning process, not all of it. A geography puzzle, for example, does not by itself provide all of the information to pass a geography test. The advantage of using puzzles to supplement traditional lessons is that some children are spatial learners. They can better grasp facts when they have some object to move and correlate with their lessons. Visual learners can also benefit from jigsaw puzzles. By seeing the image go together, the information contained within it is better absorbed. Jigsaw puzzles are a fun problem to solve. They can make learning fun and help information to be better absorbed by children. The interesting shapes and process of putting puzzle pieces together, help develop important skills for later life.

About the Author - Marina Neiman, author and mother of two, writes for www.1888Toys.com

Creating A Family Tradition-Jigsaw Puzzles

Do you find it difficult to spend time together as a family?

There are so many pressures and activities that can take away from the sense of family that was commonly experienced 50 years ago. Parents often both work, and their commute can be tiring and long. For children there is school and homework, TV, video games, and the computer to juggle with. This does not include outside the home activities such as belonging to sports teams and organizations. All of these factors mean that the family is not together so often. Many activities that occupy children nowadays are individualistic or non-social. Electronic forms of entertainment are now normal, but the disadvantage is that they are not conducive to social interaction and relationship building.

Parents increasingly have to plan to set aside time to spend as a family. During these times it is a good idea to plan activities that involve everyone. A great way of bonding is to do an activity where everyone works together to accomplish a project.

Doing a jigsaw puzzle together is a good example of this and has many benefits. Working on a jigsaw puzzle is a practical activity that all ages can participate in some way. Even younger children can be encouraged to help. They can sort the pieces into like colors, or look for particular pieces. They feel such a sense of accomplishment when they find the piece and help complete the section.

For children, a jigsaw puzzle has several learning applications. It develops spatial awareness and hand eye coordination. There are analytical, abstract, and concrete thinking skills that are needed to become adept at doing a jigsaw puzzle.

While the family is together around the puzzle, a relaxed natural environment is created for conversation and relationship building. It develops a sense of team as all participate.

Doing a jigsaw puzzle is also a great introduction to other types of hobbies and crafts that involve using hands and creating something. For the upcoming generation these types of crafts and hobbies are in danger of dying out as electronic entertainment increases in popularity and use.

I have fond memories of doing jigsaw puzzles with my family as a child. It became a family tradition especially during the winter months. Today, however, this can still be done but without the inconvenience of losing the use of the dining room table until the puzzle is completed. There are now puzzle mats and other new storage possibilities now available.

In comparison to the jigsaw puzzles that were around when I was a child, the jigsaw puzzles are far more interesting and appealing. There are shaped puzzles, glowing, educational puzzles, and more complex puzzles for the experienced puzzler such as 3D and two sided puzzles.

Create a tradition for your family. Plan now and buy some jigsaw puzzles to bring out on a rainy or cold weekend and have a refreshing bonding time as a family.

About the Author - Barbara White, a jigsaw puzzle enthusiast, has a passion to revive family traditions. Visit her online blog, forum and store at thepuzzlemania.com

The History Of Crossword Puzzles

The first book of crosswords was published in 1924. It became a best-seller and crosswords replaced mahjongg as the most popular American game. Crossword puzzle design and solving is an excellent way to sharpen focus. Regardless of whether design and or solve numerous crossword puzzles, you will learn one more way to enhance memory and creative expression. Some even say that crossword puzzles help keep Alzheimer's at bay.

Nearly all word games improve spelling, the appeal of word-games is very easy to understand. Crossword puzzles encourage logical thinking and correct spelling. Some of crossword clues are straightforward and only require a wide vocabulary. However some contain devious clues, where there is always a logical link between the clue and the solution.

Some of crossword clues are straightforward and only need a wide vocabulary. While other clues induce a probability distribution over viable targets, which must somehow be respected along with the constraints of the puzzle. However devious the clue, there is always, in a well-set crossword puzzle a logical link between the clue and the solution. At best, clues induce a probability distribution over viable targets, which must somehow be respected along with the constraints of the puzzle. Some have begun using computers to solve crosswords, while others solve crosswords using the familiar and time-honored tradition of putting pen to paper. Crosswords encourage people to use dictionaries, both specialized crossword dictionaries as well as collegiate and unabridged dictionary volumes. Some believe that the pen and pencil mode indicate a degree of confidence in solutions and problem solving. Crossword puzzlers should always remember, that just because you wrote something down, doesn't make it right.

All in all, crosswords are very inexpensive, intellectually stimulating, calls for no partner and, most importantly, helps one forget the stresses and tensions of modern living. Intellectual stimulation is sought by the very intelligent and crosswords offer a release from mental tension. Creative crosswords afford little of that intellectual excitement that a more complicated crossword does. Crossword puzzles are very popular in many countries.

About the Author - Francesca Black works in marketing at the Puzzle Place puzzle-place.nets

A Sudoku Strategy Or Just A Puzzle

I never realized that I had a Sudoku Strategy until I looked around the Internet. It is surprising to think how such a simple game has built up such a huge following and is taken so seriously. Just a 9 square grid, where you place the numbers 1-9 without repeating them horizontally, vertically or in any of the 9 squares. It sounds easy but the puzzles come with varying difficulties.

Apparently I use more than one Sudoku Strategy. I start out by looking for the 3 x 3 grids or lines with the most numbers already entered and then find the missing numbers by a process of elimination across the grids or lines. That is called 'scanning' and works well for the easier Sudoku puzzles. When I reach a dead end with the more difficult games I use a strategy called 'marking up'. If I have a choice of more than one number I pencil in the numbers in a corner and delete them as used. That works well for the easier and medium difficulty Sudoku puzzles. The hard ones I do not attempt unless I am feeling particularly masochistic.

Howard Gamms from the US who sold the rights to Dell Publishing in 1979 developed the modern Sudoku puzzle. Howard Gamms called the puzzle 'Number Game' and the 'Sudoku' title came about because it became popular in Japan before it rose in popularity worldwide. If you go back further into history you find that 'Magical Squares' were around in the eighth century and figured to be a strong medical talisman. As with modern day Sudoku diagonals, rows and columns all have to add up to the same amount and no single number can be repeated.

If you do puzzles on or offline it is said to help with anti-aging. The theory is that games and puzzles exercise your brain and help to slow down the normal aging process of loss of memory and other age associated declines. The theory is not scientifically backed but I can see the reasoning behind it. I know that I have always felt sharper after doing any type of puzzle and as I am now into middle age I would like to think that I can do something to help myself to stay sharp and it has got to be a good thing if you enjoy doing it.

There is even lots of money to be made from Sudoku. Our newsagents now carry several different publications for Sudoku puzzlers, and unlike most magazines and newspapers they are not funded to any great extent by paid advertising. There are Sudoku products including electronic games and you can win money in contests on and offline.

Recently the first ever US National Sudoku championship was held in Philadelphia. The winner of the most difficult level Dr. Thomas Snyder from California won $10,000 and will represent the US in the 3rd annual world championship in India next year. $10,000 seems an awful lot to win for such a simple game but I doubt I would have a chance. Dr. Snyder completed the advanced number puzzle in just 7 minutes 9 seconds. I think that I would have to practice an awful lot to get anywhere near that speed for an easy puzzle never mind an advanced one.

You can now get Sudoku games for your iphone, Palm Smartphones and handheld PDAs. Online games are plentiful, ranging from basic puzzles of ranging difficulty to flash games. I have come across different variations such as Top Hat Sudoku, Magic, Sumdoku, Addoku, Kakuro, Samurai, Wordoku and Killer. The last one was self explanatory and I doubt I would be up to it.

My Sudoku Strategy techniques would be severely tested if I attempted all of the possible 5,472,730,538 uniquely different Sudoku puzzle grids mathematicians Frazer Jarvis and Ed Russell have counted. It does not seem much but if you just do one puzzle a day it would take you just over 14,993,782 years to complete all of them. Not possible of course, but I wonder if the huge amount of variations has something to do with the growing popularity of Sudoku.

About the Author - For a free online Sudoku puzzle visit gameskill.co.uk

Puzzle of the Week - Puzzle Bobble

Improve Your Aptitude With Free Online Puzzle Games

Puzzle games are a genre of games loved by most hard-core gamers simply because of their ability to challenge a person's ingenuity. Generally, a puzzle is a game has some mystery attached which you have to uncover in order to resolve it. It demands both attention to detail and basic common sense to resolve. Some of the types of puzzles are disentanglement, sliding, logic and word puzzles

Puzzles have their serious side and have been used time and again to resolve real life problems in the mathematical and scienctific research. However, most people play puzzles for fun and to improve our brain capability. It is not uncommon to see people on public transport concentrating on one puzzle or another in order to resolve it. The feeling of accomplishment when a puzzle is completed can make a game addict of most of us. It is also generally believed that those who do puzzles can help stave of certain brain illnesses such as Alzheimers in later life.

In the early days, puzzles were brought to us in the form of board games which you could by from the shops or you could find puzzles at the back of newspapers or better still you could buy a book of puzzles. Nowadays however, you can find all kinds of puzzles to play on the internet. Most of these are fun, entertaining and a learning experience for people of all ages. In fact you are likely to find any type of puzzles and be able to resolve it without using a pen. If it is Sudoku you like you can find a play it online.

Famous puzzles such as Sudoku, jigsaw puzzles, Knight's Tour, Missing Square, Tower Of Hanoi and even Rubik's cube can all be found and played online. One of the advantages of playing online is that, there are now many gaming platforms offering these games for free. You do not need to carry a physical object - be it a book or board game - in order to resolve your favorite puzzle. With just a few mouse clicks you can just as well get the job done.

Playing free puzzle games has now become popular. Instead of going to the nightclub with may cost anywhere from $10.00 and $30, some young kids and teenagers are simply visiting their local cyber-cafes for an adrenaline rush of free PC puzzle games. Another advantage is that, you can meet people from everywhere in world who share similar interests. Some of the favorite online puzzles games are the Cartoon Quizz, Great Mahjong, Master Checkers, Quiz Time With Chron Series, Jig and Koala Checkers.

In conclusion, the internet has changed the way we play games in general and puzzle games in particular. no longer do we need to solve those well loved puzzle games on paper. For game lovers, going online is an exciting adventure and the number of games are increasing all the time.

Sudoku – The Hottest Puzzle Craze Since Rubik’s Cube

Sudoku is the addictive number puzzle that has taken the UK by storm and is now taking over the rest of the world. Since it first appeared in The Times in late 2004 its popularity has grow so that it appears in most UK newspapers and has spread to countries from India to Canada, Australia to South Africa.

So what is Sudoku all about? Sudoku is played on a nine by nine grid which is divided into nine smaller squares. The object of the puzzle is to fill in the digits from 1 to 9 so that it appears only once in each column, row and small three by three square. You are given some of the numbers and you have to use logic and deduction to find the position of the other numbers.

Simple? Well, it depends! A Sudoku puzzle can vary from easy to absolutely fiendish. Certainly the more numbers you are given to start off with, the easier the puzzle, but it also depends on which ones the puzzle setter offers. Traditionally there should be no more than 30 numbers given.

Sudoku first appeared in a US puzzle magazine in the late 1970s, but was then picked up by Japanese publisher Nikoli who dubbed it Su Doku or ‘Solitary Square’ and the puzzle-hungry Japanese loved it. From there it was discovered by The Times and the rest is history.

Sudoku is solved simply by logic; there is no maths required. You may at first be able to fill in a couple of numbers where it appears in every column and row but one. Next you may need to mark up possible candidates in the empty squares until only one possibility remains. Like so many puzzles there will be times when you stare hopelessly and others where the answers jump out at you.

The sudden popularity of Sudoku may be due to many things. It requires just enough brainwork to give a feeling of satisfaction when the puzzle is complete, without taking up huge amounts of time and it requires no special knowledge unlike for instance crosswords, which may require a wide vocabulary.

For hardcore Sudoku fans there are now even more difficult versions. There are sixteen by sixteen square versions which include letters as well as numbers, and a three dimensional version called the Dion Cube.

There are benefits to doing Sudoku puzzles too – the sort of exercise which the brain gets from logic puzzles can help to stop memory decline, make you smarter and even halt the progress of Alzheimer’s disease. Teachers are even giving simple versions of the puzzles to pupils to help develop their logic skills. So next time you see one of those nine by nine grids in your newspaper, give it a go. Your brain might just thank you!

Educational Jigsaw Puzzles, How Educational Are They?

Many companies advertise their products as being educational. How much of this terminology is sales promotion and jargon, and how much is fact?

As an educator for many years, I can say with authority, that there is educational value in all types of jigsaw puzzles. The skills acquired and practiced in completing jigsaw puzzles are a foundational part of successful learning. Doing jigsaw puzzles develops several functions of the brain simultaneously as a child has fun and also learns. Most notably developed in this learning process are the abilities to reason, deduce, analyze, sequence, and develop logical thought and problem solving skills. Physically, eye-hand coordination and spatial awareness are also required to complete a jigsaw puzzle.

Putting these benefits aside, I want to look particularly at the jigsaw puzzles that are labeled “Educational”. These puzzles are designed to teach a specific learning objective. Some examples of these might be a jigsaw puzzle map of the world, or of the solar system. The manufacturers claim that such puzzles will teach a child those specific facts. What educational value in reality do these types of puzzles contain?

Firstly the degree of the educational value of these types of puzzles is dependant on how the puzzles are used in the learning process. For example, let us suppose that the learning objective is to learn about the geography of the United States of America, specifically the position of the individual states. You buy a puzzle picturing all the states and their position in the country, and give it to the child to do. Will the child ace a test on the States? Probably not! I’m sure that some learning will take place, but it will be limited and a few weeks later very little of the learning would be retained. To the child the learning process of doing that puzzle would be similar to any jigsaw puzzle that they do. Their focus on the states and where they fit is limited to the process of completing the puzzle.

In order to maximize the educational value of a jigsaw puzzle, it needs to part of the learning process, but not all of it.

Children have different styles of learning and an advantage of a jigsaw puzzle is that it does involve using more than one type of learning aptitude in the process of completing it. The most obvious learning style for a puzzle is the visual. In doing a puzzle of the USA the child will see the overall shape and also how the various states fit together to complete the whole. Jigsaw puzzles involve both the global (big picture) and analytic (details) aspects of learning. Puzzles are also good for the kinesthetic tendencies of learners. Kinesthetic learners learn best by practical hands on activities. For those with a auditory preference in learning, conversation about the learning and the correlations in the puzzle combined with the overall learning objectives, needs to happen at the same time as the puzzle is being done.

However the greatest educational benefit comes when the jigsaw puzzle is done as part of the overall learning objective. A jigsaw puzzle can be used to introduce a new subject as well as reinforce learning that has already occurred. The educational value increases to the extent that the subject of the puzzle is meaningful to the knowledge the child already has. To the degree that the child can correlate his prior knowledge with the puzzle experience, the more educational value is gained.

The jigsaw puzzle can also create new learning experiences. These experiences can then be developed in many other ways for an overall learning experience. For example, in doing a puzzle on American Geography, famous landmarks located on the puzzle could then be looked up and researched in books or on the Internet. Stories can be read or told about historical events that occurred. The actual size of an American state could be explored by working out how long it would take to travel across by car or train. The learning possibilities are endless.

Some educational puzzles such as ‘Faces and Places’ and ‘The Map of the Solar System’ ,produced by the Great American Puzzle Company come accompanied by a guide book that can be used to get the maximum educational benefit and value from the jigsaw puzzles.

In conclusion, it can be said that all jigsaw puzzles have educational value to some extent. The puzzles that are advertised as ‘educational’ can be of great educational value if introduced, not in isolation, but as part of a specific learning goal that has both relevance and purpose for the child.

Any time spent doing a jigsaw puzzle with your child will make it a more meaningful and memorable experience. Don’t just give your child a present of a jigsaw puzzle-instead give your child an educational experience and a memory that will last a lifetime.

About The Author - Barbara White, of Beyond Better Development http://www.livingbeyondbetter.com