How to Pick Age Appropriate And Educational Jigsaw Puzzles for Kids

VICTORIA, Australia September, 2012 – Children love playing with toys of all sorts and one of the most challenging and rewarding educational toys that occupies children and is actually able to hold their attention is the age-old jigsaw puzzle. What most parents don’t know is that making the right choice when choosing jigsaw puzzles can mean the difference between whether it sits in a pile like the rest of the toys, or children actually engage with the puzzle and learn problem-solving skills from play time. www.oola.com.au/

Kelly Brough, Founder and CEO of online educational toy store Oola says, “Jigsaws and rearranging pieces to fit helps build spatial awareness in young children, and they can  also learn about matching colours and shapes as they distinguish between centre pieces and edge pieces to determine which ones go together.”

Oola has put together a jigsaw buying guide, in an effort to help busy parents choose the best jigsaw puzzles for their children and help develop their kids’ spatial awareness and pattern recognition, available at www.oola.com.au/blogs/news/5903469-kids-jigsaw-buying-guide/.

Here are a few tips on how to choose the right jigsaw puzzle:

• For 3 year old children: Puzzles should be between 12 and 36 pieces. Oola recommends Djeco silhouette puzzles like Goldilocks or the Sheep that come in attractive silhouette shaped boxes.
• For 4 year old children: Choose jigsaw puzzles with 60 pieces or less. Combine larger and complicated puzzles with simpler ones that enable children to build self-esteem and independence when they solve the puzzle on their own.
• For 5-7-year-old kids: Children this age are more interested in the picture so the jigsaw puzzle should be about something that they truly love or enjoy. Boys and girls have different tastes so variety is a must.
• For 8 year old children: Children this age have the attention span for a 200 piece jigsaw puzzle with slightly larger pieces than a standard adult puzzle. These puzzles encourage the use of fine motor skills when playing with the puzzle as this usually requires the careful arrangement of colour and pattern to complete the puzzle.
• For children 9 years old and beyond: Oola recommends opting for a 300-piece puzzle. The adult sized pieces in the Ravensburger 300 collection is a great intro to adult puzzles whilst giving kids a small enough piece-count that they can still finish them easily.

Contact Information

Kelly Brough

Founder and CEO

Oola

(61) 03 9005 5956

service@oola.com.au