Top 3 tips to make teaching puzzle skills easier.
/I see a lot of frustration when it comes to teaching puzzle skills.
My clients don’t understand why their son or daughter can’t slot the pieces together.
Parents that I speak to compare what their child can do to what another child they know can do and I hear things like, ‘JoJo next door can do 24 piece puzzles and my son can’t even do a 4 piece puzzle yet!’ and ‘My niece has been doing puzzles since she was one and my daughter has no interest in doing a puzzle!’
First of all, I am not a fan of comparing one child to another. It’s not helpful and it’s detrimental to the child if they hear themselves being compared. Second of all, why do we have to put timeframes on everything?
Perhaps your child will be more interested in puzzles in a few months time rather than right now. Perhaps they are more interested in lego right now. Perhaps they are more interested in running around outside right now.
Here are my 3 top tips to make puzzle skills easier.
1. If you really want your child to be able to do puzzles from a young age, expose them to puzzles early on.
As in from as early as one year of age.
2. Start off with age appropriate puzzles.
Wooden peg puzzles are the ones we started out with when Joshua was one year old.
He was not a fan and it took him a few months to even show interest in picking up on of the peg pieces.
Then you need to be systematic with it. Move onto 2 piece puzzles, then 4 and then 6 etc.
3. Trust in the process.
Do even just a few minutes of puzzles every single day. Even if you just sit and do it yourself so that your child is watching you do it. Don’t get frustrated when they can’t do it/don’t want to do it. Allow them the time and space they need to develop the skills to be able to do it. Joshua is still not enthralled with puzzles. He always asks me to help him. And he is still developing the skills to be able to pick up one piece and slot it into the other piece. I still do puzzles with him every single day.
Parents always ask me this question…
“How many pieces will they be asked to complete in their Assessment?’
It’s irrelevant and not important.
It could be a 6 piece/12 piece/24 piece puzzle. It does not matter. What will be observed will be HOW your child completes the puzzle. Which strategies they use to complete the puzzle. HOW they complete the puzzle independently or as part of a group.
We support our students to become masters of completing puzzles so that they can go into any 4+ Assessment and complete any puzzle placed in front of them!
Sitting your child for their 4+ Assessment for 2026 entry?
