10 Fun New Ways To Play With Puzzles

6/12/2020

Toys lose novelty sooo quickly, amiright? Wooden puzzles that were once a favorite get relegated to the bottom of the basket, or worse, a closet to collect dust until they head to Goodwill. If you have wooden puzzles in those places, let's bring them out and chat new ways you can use them! Because puzzles are so versatile, and incredibly easy to revamp in fun, new, exciting ways that boost interest, AND sensory motor development.

Here are 10 fun new ways to play with puzzles:

1. Puzzle Mix-Up

Pour out the pieces of multiple puzzle boards on the floor and mix them up! Your kiddo will have to rely on their problem solving and visual spatial skills to figure out which piece goes in what board!

2. Tactile Bin Search

Create a sensory bin by filling a plastic storage container, a large tupperware, or an old-school lunch box like me with rice, dried beans, oatmeal, popcorn, whatever, and hide puzzle pieces inside. Have your kiddo go searching in the bin for the pieces then place them in the puzzle board. Some great variations on this activity:

Hide other objects in the tactile bin to increase the challenge of visual discrimination
Hide pieces from 2 different puzzle boards in the same bin for your kiddo to find and figure out which board it belongs to
Use salad tongs to search through the bin and collect the pieces for fine motor and grasp development

Have your kiddo try to find the pieces in the bin while closing their eyes and only relying on their sense of touch

3. Puzzle Hunt

Create a scavenger hunt by hiding puzzle pieces around the room on high and low surfaces. This supports development of whole body movement, visual scanning, spatial relations, and attention.

4. Puzzle Unwrap

Wrap up puzzle pieces in newspaper, craft paper, wax paper, etc for your kiddo to unwrap and place in the board. This supports fine motor development, dexterity, problem solving, frustration tolerance, and attention. I like to use textured paper for an extra tactile sensory component.

5. Puzzle Road

If you have any transportation themed puzzles, this is a great modification! Draw a curved road on a piece of paper and have your kiddo drive the puzzle pieces from left to right on the road. This supports skills including visual tracking, left to right directionality, crossing midline, bilateral coordination.

6. Puzzle Without Vision

Put a blind fold over your kiddo's eyes and invite them to try to complete a puzzle without looking! This is a great way to repurpose knob puzzles for younger ages.

7. Puzzle Race

Race to see who can finish their puzzle first! This helps build tolerance of losing, an important social skill. Alternatively, you could challenge your kiddo to do the puzzle as fast as they can and time it, then have them try to beat that time with each next trial.

8. Log Roll Puzzle

Here's a great vestibular activity! Place the puzzle board and puzzle pieces 10 feet away from each other, and have your kiddo gather one puzzle piece and log roll it over to the board, then log roll back to gather their next piece. Log rolling is an incredibly easy way to activate the vestibular system, which is an important sensory experience for developing balance, appropriate muscle tone, coordination, core strength, and fine motor skills. Watch your kiddo's response to log rolling closely, and make sure they do not get too dizzy or overwhelmed.

9. Puzzle Search

Place puzzle pieces in a pile of other toys or objects, and have your kiddo search through the pile without touching anything until they find a puzzle piece. This is great for visual scanning, visual discrimination, spatial skills, and impulse control!

10. What can your kiddo come up with?

Ask your kiddo what new idea they can come up with. How can they use this puzzle differently? What can they do with the pieces? What can they do with their body? Encouraging kids to come up with new ideas is sooo important for development and learning.

There ya have it! I hope those puzzles of yours get more play time. I would love to see it in action, and hear what comes out of #10! Share on Instagram and tag @steps2grow, or comment below!

Happy puzzle playing!

Air hugs,