FROM: HHS HealthBeat (July 2, 2012)
Solving puzzles early on
Kids who play with puzzles with their parents have a better ability to understand problems involving physical shapes and spaces. Researchers observed kids, ages 2 to 4, who played with puzzles, both simple shape problems and more complex jigsaw puzzles.
Dr. Susan Levine is a professor in the department of psychology at the University of Chicago.
“Through gesture, they can indicate that they need a straight edge piece and use those words and those kinds of interactions will lead to increasing children’s spatial thinking.”
Other research has found that the ability to solve puzzles at a young age relates to later success in math.
The study in the journal Developmental Science was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
