Can Jigsaw Puzzle Play Make Your Child Smarter?

This is a wonderful article by Nora J. Campbell. The reason I like this article is because she stresses how jigsaw puzzles play an important roll in the cognitive development of your child. Sadly, many children grow up not knowing how to go about obtaining objectives. Enjoy the article below.



Can Jigsaw Puzzle Play Make Your Child Smarter?

Perhaps. Did you know that almost everything children learn during the early childhood years is accomplished through play? The toys your pre-schooler plays with are actually important tools in his or her development. And jigsaw puzzles are one of the best toys for a child's cognitive development. Most pre-schoolers really enjoy constructive play, especially building projects with a finished product at the end. That's why wooden toys like jigsaw puzzles and blocks are ideal for children at this age.

Many educators today agree that the skills needed to complete a jigsaw puzzle are fundamental. The humble jigsaw puzzle can help stimulate your child's concentration and logical thinking processes. Jigsaw puzzles can teach reasoning and problem solving skills as well as hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness.

If your child is a kinesthetic learner, he or she will derive even more benefit from jigsaw puzzle play. Kinesthetic learners do best when there's lots of hands-on activities involving touching, forming or shaping things with their hands as a part of the learning or problem-solving experience.
Besides being loads of fun, jigsaw puzzles can help your children develop their ability to pursue and achieve objectives.

Since solving a jigsaw puzzle is an activity a child can easily share with friends, siblings or other family members, it's also a great way to introduce your child to team activities where more than one player is working toward a common goal.

What's more, jigsaw puzzle play can easily facilitate a broader learning experience. Whether it's a pre-schooler just learning his colors or a fifth grader learning about the cosmos, the subject matter and difficulty level of the puzzle can assist and reinforce a pre-schooler in learning colors or an older child in learning the planets in the Milky Way.

Puzzles are also great for seniors. It's a low-stress, yet highly effective way for seniors to help keep their cognitive abilities sharp as long as possible. Jigsaw puzzles can be fun and beneficial for just about everyone. Certainly for kids of all ages and seniors, and also as a way to relieve stress for busy adults or stressed-out moms and dads. The jigsaw puzzle is truly a unique, inexpensive and entertaining resource.

Nora Campbell is a former educator and avid writer. She has utilized educational games and toys with her own children and now maintain an informative blog concerning traditional and educational games, toys, and other useful family resources.

Nora invites you to visit her blog at: http://www.jigsawpuzzlepiece.com Your comments, feedback and suggestions are welcome.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nora_J_Campbell

Write it down,

Carma

The Lucrative Educational Market: Where Do You Fit In?

Announcing....... This Week's Teleclass for Members of the Children's Writers' Coaching Club at the National Writing for Children Center

If you've ever wanted to break into the children's educational market but just didn't know how, here's your chance to learn everything you need to know about this lucrative market.

On Thursday, February 28, 2008, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time, Rita Milios presents:The Lucrative Educational Market: Where do YOU Fit In?.... Session 1 in the Writing for Children’s Educational Markets Series

The children’s educational market is a HUGE writing niche. Whether you write fiction, non-fiction, books, articles or activities/crafts…whether you have teaching experience or not, there is a “place” for you in this vast marketplace!

• Explore the many opportunities available for writers, including: books, workbooks, student activities, teacher pages, hi-lo (high interest, low reading level) and ESL (English as a second language) books and materials, test-prep and test assessment materials, science experiments, art projects, reading passages, nonfiction articles, creative nonfiction, fiction stories and more!
  
  
• Learn the benefits (and challenges) of writing for these markets from a seasoned pro with more than twenty years experience.
  
  
• Take the Education Writer’s Self-Discovery Quiz to see if YOU have what it takes to be a children’s education writer.



• Have your pressing questions (such as “How much can I expect to be paid?”) answered fully and frankly.
  


• Gain access to valuable “insider information” that can save you hundreds of hours in time and gain you thousands of dollars in potential earnings.

Join Rita Milios, author of more than thirty children’s books, test assessment materials, workbooks, ESL materials–and all of the different kinds of educational materials mentioned above–in this fast-paced, crammed-packed, value-laden class.

To take part in this teleclass, join the Children's Writers' Coaching Club here

I hope you join us.
Write it down,
Carma