Certainly, you’ve heard of the benefits of the puzzle. The way this kind of game stimulates the brain is fantastic and ends up generating countless benefits for people of different ages.
Assembling the small pieces and being able to form a panel at the end is an excellent cognitive exercise for the elderly, adults, young people and children, especially those who are in the educational phase.
In general, the puzzle is good for memory and when applied at school, primarily in early childhood education, it greatly facilitates learning. Do you want to know more about the advantages of using this tool at school, what are its rules or what advantages does it bring to people who like to put a puzzle together? Continue reading.
5 benefits of the puzzle
1- Puzzle stimulates the brain
The first major contribution of the puzzle is at the intellectual level, as the puzzle stimulates the brain. Therefore, the development of cognitive skills is a great benefit.
The activity has a direct impact on the child’s ability to solve problems, increasing thinking and improving their skills. It is possible to stimulate the knowledge of numbers, colors, figures, maps, space, traffic and countless other fields of knowledge.
2- Puzzle is good for memory
Another relevant aspect for using the puzzle is that it is good for memory . This contribution is crucial for people with problems related to forgetfulness.
This happens, therefore, finding the fitting pieces for each other makes the person accumulate information about the formats and their possible pairs. Can you imagine inserting this activity for elderly people with memory problems?
See also: Why do we sometimes suffer from memory loss?
3- Puzzle develops motor coordination
There is a phase of childhood that little ones need to develop their motor skills. His arms and fingers are still unaware of distances and object manipulation.
Therefore, a puzzle aimed at this audience tends to stimulate motor coordination even in early childhood . The fact of trying to fit one piece into the other is a great incentive to control the movements of the arms, eyes and hands.
However, the puzzle needs to be geared to the specific age of the child, with larger, colorful pieces and very simple inserts. It also applies to adults or the elderly with coordination difficulties.
4- Puzzle provokes social interaction
The school period is an adaptation phase for the kids. The formation of friends and the identification of groups and the perception of society are important objectives for schoolchildren.
And to achieve this goal, the puzzle is a great tool for socializing . During play, children can interact, collaborate, compete, conquer, debate, share hits and misses with the whole class.
See also: Benefits of drawing
5- Puzzle fosters perception
This game also fosters the perception of schoolchildren. The skills of observing, comparing, analyzing and synthesizing ideas are assets that will serve in the education of each child .
These gains extend to adolescence and adulthood, being qualities highly valued in the professional fields. The perception of big business, of market opportunities can be born in childhood, with the right stimuli.
Origin of the puzzle
In the 18th century this toy was used in geography classes (Photo: depositphotos)
The origin of the puzzle is ancient. According to the toy store ‘Cia Brink’, there is no exact origin, but it is already known that in ancient China the Tangram already existed, which was nothing less than seven large pieces that together formed several different designs. They were the beginnings of the puzzle as we know it today.
After that, the game was perfected and in the 18th century it was already a joke among geography students who glued maps on small pieces of wood that were later cut and served as a fit. All this so that the little ones understand the spatial organization of the planet.
In the early 19th century, the puzzle was already one of the favorite toys for children in Europe. With the Industrial Revolution, this type of object started to be manufactured on a large scale , which contributed immensely to its popularization.
See also: Children’s Day: toy can be playful and technological
Puzzle types
On the market, the puzzle has several versions. And it is worth remembering that they can have several dimensions and not only those that are mounted on a straight surface and in one dimension.
The most traditional types of puzzle are: Bedlam cube, Magic cube, Sum cube, Pentaminós and Tangram. Find out more details about these puzzle models:
Bedlam cube
This game consists of 13 pieces that form a perfect cube (Photo: Reproduction | Wikimedia Commons)
It is a puzzle invented by Bruce Bedlam. Altogether, there are thirteen pieces formed by cubes. The idea is to assemble a 4 x 4 x 4 cube and be creative, as the challenge is to find one of the more than 19 thousand ways to do this.
Magic cube
This version is the most popular among puzzles in 3D format (Photo: depositphotos)
The magic cube is an old acquaintance of ours. Its official name is the Rubik’s Cube, a name that honors its inventor, Ernő Rubik from Hungary. It was invented in 1974 and was born big: it won the game of the year award. The 1980s were the culmination of this puzzle, which is still widespread today.
Sum Cube
This game has seven poly cubes that together form a cube (Photo: Reproduction | Pinterest)
This is yet another type of cube-shaped puzzle. It was invented by Piet Hein who created it after attending a quantum mechanics class. The game uses seven poly cubes that together form a 3 x 3 x 3 cube. These pieces form more than 240 ways of assembly.
See also: Polyhedra
Pentaminó
This game inspired the famous Tetris (Photo: Reproduction | Wikimedia Commons)
This puzzle is five squares organized in different ways. Altogether, there are 12 formats of Pentaminó. This puzzle inspired computer games from Tetris or Rampart.
Tangram
The tangram has only seven pieces that can form more than 5,000 figures (Photo: depositphotos)
This is the most traditional puzzle, compared to the most commercialized forms today. He was born in China with seven pieces and together they give rise to several figures. An encyclopedia goes so far as to claim that it is possible to assemble more than 5,000 figures. Undoubtedly, he was the inspiration for such popular puzzle games today.
The importance of the puzzle
As seen throughout this article, the importance of the puzzle is recognized by the countless benefits it brings to those who practice it, since the puzzle stimulates the brain, is good for memory, can be used in schools, especially in child education.
It is also a powerful game to help elderly people with reasoning and mobility difficulties, as well as people with some type of psychomotor disability. It is worth including the puzzle in the routine of activities of people of all ages and profiles.
