How Puzzles Help Cognitive Development

To begin with, Cognitive Development means how kids explore, analyze, and think about the world around them. The way they figure out things.  With cognitive development, kids improve their knowledge, fine motor skills, problem-solving abilities, which help them to identify and understand the world around them. 


There are 4 main areas of kids' development: cognitive, physical, language, and emotional(social).

The foundation of kids' successful mental and physical growth is the early development of their cognitive skills. How can you as a parent help your kid to improve cognitive skills? Here is a simple list to follow and practice daily with your babies: 

  • Allow your kids to explore and play with toys by themselves. Try different matching games for kids.
  • Give your kids simple but educational toys to play. Such as puzzles, sorters, busy boards. etc. 
  • Talk more to your baby by naming different objects around to learn and analyze. 
  • Ask open-ended questions. The ones that cannot be answered with a "yes" or "no". 
  • Answer your kids' "why" questions in a clear and concise manner.
  • Sing with or to your baby.
  • Read together stories and books and retell or/and discuss them with simple questions.
  • Broaden and support the interest of your kids. For example, if your baby likes butterflies, then learn more about their lifespan and habitat, watch an educational movie, or simply go outside and watch their lifestyle and routine.
  • Another way to enhance your kids' cognitive skills is to ask kids alternative questions and then discuss the answers with the following "why" question. 
  • You may also describe some common life tasks and talk over the ways to carry them out. 

If you feel that you lack time for such parent-child activities, then spend some time and choose the quality developmental toys for your kids. One of the best-known toys that help early cognitive development is wooden puzzles. There are different types of wooden puzzles and choosing the right one will have a tremendous effect on your baby.

Puzzle play develops basic skills such as shape recognition, goal setting, concentration, attention, patience, and a sense of achievement. With simple matching games, your kids will build sold foundation for analytical thinking. 


Constant cognitive development will faster information processing of your kids, their intelligence, reasoning and language skills, and even their memory capacities. 

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