Kids Jigsaw Puzzles

Chances are pretty good you are looking for a guide to pick out the kids jigsaw puzzles for Christmas this year. 

Here is a general guide (stated loosely) for children but it is not limited to these numbers because some children develop differently than others. Of course that does not mean as an adult you cannot do these.

Child                  Number of Pieces

Ages 2 - 3          4 to 12 Pieces

Ages 3 - 5          12 to 50 Pieces

Ages 5 - 6          50 to 100 Pieces

Ages 6 - 7          100 to 200 Pieces

Ages 7 - 8          200 Pieces

Ages 8 - 10        300 Pieces

Ages 12+           500+ Pieces

Holiday jigsaw puzzles are a very common activity for families. The 500 piece seems to be most favoured during the season.

And some of my fondest memories happen during this time. Every Christmas one was in the works by my own family. Those days are few are far between now as the children have their own families.

So that does not stop me from buying jigsaw puzzles for the grandchildren. I love kids jigsaw puzzles because they are so bright and colourful. It also gived me great pleasure to watch a child play so intensely with the pieces while putting one together.

Let's review some of the benefits;

  • they challenge the kids thinking
  • they increase the cognitive skills (big word means thinking, reasoning, remembering)
  • increases their problem solving skills resulting in reaching the finish line goal
  • busy hands are happy hands so picking up, putting down, sorting, moving pieces are a great source of development
  • the above step also increases the eye/hand coordination by constant repetition
  • it is one of the rare games that children work together most easily towards the same goal
  • upon completion the child gets a sense of achievement and pride with in  - that is a great self esteem builder which I am a BIG fan of for children.

Kids Jigsaw Puzzle Knitting Chicks 100 pieces JaCaRou Puzzles 4+ French/English 14-1/4 x 9.5" or 35.9 x 24.2cm

Speaking of kids jigsaw puzzle, this may be a great opportunity for me to share a NEW one that was sent to me as a gift. The Artist is Anie Maltais. She lives in Quebec, Canada. She has been self-producing her artwork for two years.

I have worked a few of her adult, 1000 pieces but it was a real treat to be one of the firsts to 'test' her kids line of puzzles. And I am so self assured that I am not shy to share my opinion.

I had FUN!!!! I do not have the opportunity to do a puzzle from this level so I imagined myself as a child working it.....for me it was not so much of the simplicity of the puzzle. It was more like, 'how would a child relate to this puzzle'.

I really felt there was enough space between the images but also enough to hold my attention to set up the next area. I think it has enough balance to hold  attention of the 4+ year old. It's colourful and bright. The size of the pieces are great and the quality of the puzzle should hold for many hours of fun.

Special thanks to Anie Maltail of JaCaRou Puzzles. 

If you are interested in supporting Anie Maltais as she continues to work tirelessly providing us with such wonderful images that gives us so many hours of pleasure, please CLICK HERE

I have captured a screen shot of her online store.... ;) 

Anie Maltais jigsaw puzzle JaCaRou puzzles

I hope you have an opportunity to share some time doing jigsaw puzzles with your kids.....they will be just as delighted as you will....that's coming from my experience....... ;)