Puzzles are good for you

We regularly buy jigsaw puzzles for Little Bird, he started with wooden peg puzzles, then 2 piece ones featuring animals and dinosaurs or cars and trains. Gradually we are up to 6-10 piece ones which is super as his fine motor skill delays meant that for a long time he struggled to even pick the card pieces up and place them together. We are moving forwards but there are some puzzles with too much detail that are hard for him to visually scan and build up to a big picture. However, we try and encourage him to do jigsaw puzzles every day for they are good for his concentration skills and his visual perception.

There is also another keen jigsaw puzzle fan in the house and that is Daddy Bird. He always has a puzzle to do and if he has some spare time in the evening will he'll drag the puzzle board out from under the sofa and complete a bit. Little Bird and I have also bought him puzzles for Christmas - keeps him out of trouble :)

So we recently had the opportunity to have a look at one of the Wasgij jigsaw puzzles that are new to us but very intriguing. Wasgij puzzles add a whole extra concept into the fun of a jigsaw and originated as a puzzle where the picture on the box is not the puzzle you have to complete. Instead there are clues and the puzzler has to put themselves in the position of the character shown on the box and work out what the picture may be.

Well over the years, the range expanded and there are other puzzle concepts now. The puzzle we received was the Wasgij Mystery Only Fools and Horses 1000 piece puzzle. You complete one scene and then the next is the same scene but a few minutes later. DB set upon the puzzles finding all the edge pieces and then grouping together similar coloured pieces - all very methodical.

DB especially enjoyed this puzzle as it was humorous and made a change from the puzzles we usually get which are scenery, boats and animals. The caricatures are really well drawn and we love the quirky detail in the scene.



Puzzles are also great for the memory and a great way to improve short term memory when you search for a particular piece. They get the brain working and left side communicating with the right side so improves connections and great for your mind. Dopamine a neurotransmitter is released whilst engaging in the problem solving of a jigsaw puzzle and encourages better brain functioning and mood regulation. So puzzles are good all round and perhaps I should start doing them too.

This morning I found that DB had complete the puzzle so onto the next one now as he has the jigsaw bug! This is a great activity for him to work on with Little Bird and helping him so that one day he'll be doing 500+ pieces too.

** Collaborative post with Hobbycraft where we received a Wasgij jigsaw puzzle to try**