When the colder weather comes, it's a great time to break out the puzzles. Our two-year old is currently obsessed with 35-50 piece puzzles, but she masters them fairly quickly and needs a new challenge.
While we've quickly accumulated a fairly nice collection of puzzles, we can only store so many puzzles in our home. So, we were really happy when a friend whose daughter is also really keen on puzzles right now, suggested a puzzle swap to a group of moms.
Depending on how many people are involved, everyone gets a few new puzzles to work on for a few weeks. You could easily go through the rotation twice with just a few moms and make it through the winter!
What other things do you find it better to swap than buy?
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Your two yr old is obsessed with 35-50 piece puzzles?! Holy moley! Sorry I'm not addressing the issue of the post. I'm shocked at your child's skill.
My two years old barely manages 4 piece puzzles, with his parents cheering for him all along :D. I guess books could be nice to swap.
Thank god, I was worried I needed a developmental specialist. Books, board games, dvds, cds, how about dolls? I'm sure my daughter would love to "babysit" her friend's baby.
LOL, I agree with other posters, my 2 year old can do an 8 piece puzzle and he seems to be advanced compared to other kids in his play group so a 35-50 piece puzzle seems unreal! Hmm, maybe the author mistyped?
Same here. I agree. 35-50 at 2? That is really amazing.
My daughter is 3.5 and can't do anything close to a 35-50 piece puzzle! Although she could also care less about doing them too :)
sometimes when i see things like this, i wonder if the author actually has children or even knows any, or if they were just hired to write little tidbits to entertain us.
my son is almost 2, and i can't imagine him doing much more than throwing those 35-50 puzzle pieces around the living room.
My daughter is currently 2.5 and before she turned two, she mastered a 48-piece puzzle, possibly because she was doing it all the time.
Unfortunately, she doesn't really do puzzles anymore, so she doesn't do them quite as proficiently as she used to :)
Yep, you know if you start off the piece with any measure of achievement, that's all we crazy parents will focus on. Really, you have every right to throw that in there, but if you wanted us to pay attention to the point of the post, you could have just skipped the number of pieces. Anyway, it's a great idea, trading up, and I think we're going to use it. Thanks for the help with the long winter months ahead.
Children of 2 yr. DO NOT have the dexterity and attention span nor the visual discrimination skills to "master" a 48-50 piece puzzle. I have been working with kids for the last 13 years and never came across one who did. I'm not saying it is impossible - it is known of kids with Autism to be at that level.
You might have forgotten to add that it was "mastered" in 10 different sittings with "guidance"? I mean come on....you are only fooling yourself...
The swap idea is great and I often took part in "toy library" set ups. Works well.
Why refute the author's post? Why would the person lie?
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Anywho, I thought the new way of making a puzzle new, given the photo, was to paint over the puzzle! Painting over the puzzle with picture would definitely be for an older child, however.
I like the idea of painting over the puzzle.
my two almost three year old loves puzzles but needs help for even a 24 piece one.
painting over the puzzle is a genius idea!
Hi all. I authored this post and yikes- certainly didn't mean to start any controversy! Of course it took a number of sittings and guidance from me, but since that wasn't the point of the post- I didn't focus on it. She certainly does have great focus and she can do them by herself after a few attempts- that's all I can say! Hope people will focus on the idea of swapping puzzles or other toys and give it a try...thanks for the neat idea of painting the puzzle "tomorrow"!
You can also easily create a puzzle of your chosen picture/photos by printing them on cardstock paper and laminating them. All you need is chop it up from 2- 200 pieces and you are done :)! It wouldn't have the usual puzzle shape but other than straight lines you can cut waves too. Added visual interest :)!
To make it more challenging you can use black and white instead of coloured ones.
I bought my (at that time) 2yr old daughter a, I think 68pc Disney Princess puzzle at the dollar store. We did the puzzle together. Now, she can put together the princess faces all by herself. She just turned 3 and Grandma bought her a Dora 24pc. She does that one ALL by herself from the get go. Now one thing to note is that we do these puzzles several times a day. So she is VERY familiar with her puzzles. She takes to them very quickly!!
I think that is an excellent idea! Wish we find a smiliar swap! When my son was born, my daughter (then 2.5yrs old) became really interested in puzzles and I encouraged it as it gave me time to nurse the baby. Within a month she was doing 50-60 piece puzzles and now at 3.5 years old, she's doing 250 piece puzzles. Without guidance. The expense and storage are definitely issues for us!
To Zizibee- all children are different. My daughter also happens to be incredibly gifted in spatial awareness and does indeed possess the dexterity and attention span required to complete large puzzles :)