Why 1970s and 1980s Generations Are Re-Discovering Forgotten Pastimes Like Jigsaw Puzzles

It seems that history is repeating itself but it may not be all bad news. In the Great Depression of the 1930s, young people had to use imagination and thrift to occupy themselves. Some of the best-selling toys of the era were,jigsaw puzzles. These jigsaw puzzles, were mass produced cheaply. Some were even sold a bit at a time for a few pennies.

Now, the spirit of the recession-era is back in vogue. With money tight for many, evidence shows that those born in the 1970s and 1980s in particular, are looking to the past for pleasure. An evening with jigsaw puzzles, a bottle of wine and friends staying in, is becoming the norm. But what's more interesting is that it's also becoming trendy. Watercolour paints, card-making products and make-your-own models are also increasing in popularity with that generation.

What all these activities have in common is that they are relatively cheap to do. They can also help people forget their worries. Interesting pastimes, such as jigsaw puzzles, are often recommended by mental health professionals as a good way of re-building concentration and confidence.

These poor economic times have been tough but there could be good to come out of this poor economic period. Consumers, and in particular those in their 20s and 30s, are realizing that material values are not important, but family values are. Old pastimes, like doing jigsaw puzzles, are helping consumers re-evaluate their lives. Maybe this economic downturn may make the World a better place to live.

What Makes a Person Intelligent?

In traditional intelligence theories when one is asked the question “What makes a person intelligent?” the most common responses will often note a person’s ability to solve problems, utilize logic, and think critically. These typical traits of intelligence are sometimes grouped together under the heading “raw intelligence”. A person’s intelligence, traditionally speaking, is contained in their intellect. In other words, how we each understand, evaluate or respond to external stimuli, regardless as to whether it is a mathematical problem or anticipation of an opponent’s next move in a game, is our collective intelligence. Our intelligence therefore, is our individual, collective ability to act or react in a continually changing environment.

The principal problem in traditional intelligence theories is that they promote “fractured learning”. Many educational reformers have clearly stated that “taking tests merely shows that a student is skilled at taking tests”. At best, traditional tests focus on only about one tenth of an individual’s intellect. Note that Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison, two of history’s most famous examples of brilliant minds, were terrible at taking traditional tests, therefore terrible at “school” in general. Multiple Intelligences theory then, demonstrates that the ability to take traditional tests is almost entirely in the realm of the Logical – Mathematical
intelligence. This intelligence will be detailed later along with the Interpersonal intelligence, which imparts in some students the ability to second guess a teacher’s structuring of a test. Traditional IQ tests predict school performance with considerable accuracy, but they are only an indifferent predictor of performance in a profession after formal schooling.

In an interesting but controversial study conducted during the 1960’s by Biologist Marion Diamond, of the University of California at Berkeley, two sets of rats were raised in different environments; One set had toys to play with, playmates to romp with and a roomy box that was kept clean and fresh. The second set was put in solitary confinement; all alone in a much smaller cage with no toys to enjoy. After several weeks, Diamond measured the size of each rat’s cerebral cortex, the brain area which is responsible for higher nerve functions. The rats in the sociable, clean and stimulating environment grew brains bigger than the rats with the impoverished surroundings. “Does the enriched environment increase the dimensions of the brain, and does the impoverished environment decrease the dimensions of the brain?”, asked Diamond. “The answer, very clearly, is YES.” Similar results were replicated with cats, monkeys and later with humans. So a stimulating, enriched learning environment is crucial to mental development. If we likewise incorporate the varying student intelligences in our teaching activities, our success as well as our students success, will be markedly improved. That each of us possess all the intelligences, that they can each be developed further, that these multiple intelligences work together in a complex manner, and that there are, in fact, many different ways to be “intelligent” are inclusive in a study by Armstrong. Here briefly, in retrospect, are eight of the major intelligences of Howard Gardener’s theory and their relative traits:

Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence:
The capacity to use words effectively, either orally or in writing. It is highly developed in story-tellers, orators, politicians, poets, playwrights, editors, language teachers and journalists. Students with a high degree of this intelligence think in words; learn by listening, reading, and verbalizing. They enjoy writing, like books, records, and tapes, and have a good memory for verse, lyrics, or trivia. Getting into discussions, telling jokes and debating are also characteristics of this intelligence. Maya Angelou is strong in this intelligence.

Visual-Spatial Intelligence:
The ability to perceive the world accurately and to perform transformations upon one's perceptions. This is highly developed in guides, interior designers, architects, artists, fashion designers and inventors. Students with a high degree of spatial intelligence think in images and pictures, like mazes and jigsaw puzzles. They like to draw and design things, and enjoy films, slides, videos, diagrams, maps, charts. The daydreamers and those who may have strong opinions about such things as colors that go together, textures that are appropriate and pleasing and decorating are included in this intelligence. Pablo Picasso was strong in this intelligence.

Musical – Rhythmic Intelligence: The capacity to perceive, discriminate, transform, and express musical forms is most highly developed in musical performers, music aficionados, and music critics. Students with a high degree of musical intelligence learn through rhythm and melody, play a musical instrument, or May need music to study. They notice nonverbal sounds in the environment: the chirp of a cricket, rain on the roof, varying traffic patterns, and usually learn things more easily if sung, tapped out, or whistled. These people love music and rhythmic patterns and can often reproduce a melody or rhythmic pattern after hearing it only once. Various sounds, tones, and rhythms may have a visible effect on them (that is, you can see a change in facial expressions, body movement, or emotional responses). They enjoy singing and listening to a wide variety of music, and are often quite skilled at mimicking sounds, language accents, and others’ speech patterns, and recognizing different musical instruments in a composition. Paul McCartney is strong in this intelligence.

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence:
The capacity to use numbers effectively and to reason well. This intelligence is highly developed in mathematicians, tax accountants, statisticians, scientists, computer programmers, and logicians. Students with a high degree of this intelligence often reason things out logically and clearly; look for abstract patterns and relationships; frequently like brain teasers, logical puzzles, and strategy games. They also like to use computers and to classify and categorize. These people think conceptually and abstractly and are able to see patterns and relationships that others often miss. They like to experiment, solve puzzles and other problems, ask cosmic questions and think. They love the challenge of complex problems to solve and always have a logical rationale or argument for what they are doing or thinking. Albert Einstein was strong in this intelligence.

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: Consists of expertise in using one’s whole body to express ideas and feelings, and facility in using ones hands to produce or transform things. A highly developed intelligence in actors, mimes, athletes, dancers, sculptors, mechanics, and surgeons. Students with a high degree of bodily-kinesthetic intelligence process knowledge through bodily sensations; move, twitch, tap, or fidget while sitting in a chair or at a desk and learn by touching, manipulating, and moving. They typically like role playing and creative movement and generally like physical games of all kinds and demonstrating how to do something. They communicate well through body language and other physical gestures. They can often perform a task only after seeing someone else do it. They find it difficult to sit still for a long time and are easily bored if they are not actively involved in what is going on around them. Michael Jordan is strong in this intelligence.

Interpersonal Intelligence:
The ability to perceive and make distinctions in the moods, intentions, motivations, and feelings of other people. This Intelligence can include sensitivity to facial expressions, voice, and gestures, as well as the ability to respond effectively to such cues. Students with a high degree of interpersonal intelligence understand and care about people; like to socialize; learn more easily by relating and cooperating and are good at teaching other students. These people learn through person-to-person interaction. They generally have lots of friends; show a great deal of empathy for other people and understanding of different points of view. They are skilled at drawing others out in a discussion, conflict resolution and mediation when people are in radical
opposition to each other. Mother Teresa and Mahatma Ghandi were strong in this intelligence.

Intra-personal Intelligence:
Self-knowledge and the ability to act adaptively on the basis of that knowledge define this group. This is an intelligence which can include having an accurate picture of one’s strengths and limitations, awareness of one’s moods and motivations, and the capacity for self-discipline. Students with a high degree of this intelligence seem to be self-motivating; need their own quiet space; may march to the beat of a different drummer and tend to learn more easily with independent study, self-paced instruction, individualized projects and games.
These people like to work alone and sometimes shy away from others. They are self-reflective and self-aware and thus tend to be in tune with their inner feelings, values, beliefs, and thinking processes. They are frequently bearers of creative wisdom and insight, are highly intuitive, and are inwardly motivated rather than needing external rewards to keep them going. They are often strong-willed, self-confident, and definite, well-thought-out opinions on almost any issue (although they are sometimes off-the-wall). Other people will often come to them for advice and counsel, but others will sometimes view them as distant or weird. Emily Dickinson and Stephen King are examples of this intelligence.

Naturalist Intelligence:
Environmental knowledge and the ability to identify and categorize plants, animals and nature on the basis of that knowledge. The Naturalist Intelligence can include having an accurate picture of the ambient environment, awareness of the interrelationship of natural elements, and the capacity for self-analysis of these elements. It is found most highly developed in archeologists, animal handlers, animal trainers, veterinarians, biologists, racehorse jockeys, zoologists, environmentalists, wilderness guides and naturalists. Students who have a high degree of the naturalist intelligence seem to be nature-oriented, seek to be outdoors or in the elements and learn more easily with nature-related study and environmental projects and activities. They like to collect items from nature, study them, and group them. They tend to be aware of subtleties in appearance, texture, and sounds that those weaker in this intelligence may not grasp. Charles Darwin, Jacques Cousteau, and John James Audubon were strong in this intelligence.

One of the great promises of Multiple Intelligences theory in education is that it will help us to find individual pathways into and out of our students’ minds. Recent advances in educational psychology and research in applied MI theory offer educators a real possibility of developing the potential of all students. Both educators and students should derive from Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence theory that all people are different and learn differently, and that we should respect, value, and nurture that diversity.

Reference Websites:
Reference website for multiple intelligences links and activities:
[http://surfaquarium.com/im.htm]

Exploring Multiple Intelligences: New Dimensions of Learning
[http://www.multi-intell.com/]

Multiple Intelligences Resources
http://www.theatreinmotion.com/resources.htm

Basic MI Theory
http://edweb.gsn.org/edref.mi.th.html

Multiple Intelligence Theory: Principles
http://www.harding.edu/~cbr/midemo/prin.html

Multiple Intelligences: Theory and Practice in the K-12 Class
[http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/ieo/bibs/multiple.html]

Task Card Overview/Multiple Intelligences
[http://www.metronet.com/~bhorizon/teach.htm]

Association for the Promotion and Advancement of Science Education activities website - http://discoverlearning.com/forensic/docs/index.html

Naturalist Intelligence – Sea World / Busch Gardens website for students
http://www.seaworld.org/animal_bytes/animal_bytes.html

Decorate Your Home With Interactive Decor Accessories

Most people use the words 'accessories' and 'show pieces' interchangeably. They may not be altogether wrong in their assumptions as show pieces are in fact accessories; however accessories are not necessarily always showpieces. The major difference between the two is that showpieces are to be looked at and not touched; whereas accessories are accessible.

If you have school-going age children, put all traditional home décor ideas on hold for a while and try re-orienting your decorating mind. Instead of putting out your porcelain figurines and forever admonishing, "Stand far and look! Do not touch!" why not have on display interactive accessories that are accessible to children. Whether on the wall or on the table, these interactive accessories encourage inquisitive minds to "Come on over and have a look. Go ahead and touch me too".

Interactive accessories don't just sit in a corner looking fabulous. They promote interaction between family members and can also teach children a lot, in a fun and interesting way.

Still puzzled? Think world maps, jigsaw puzzles, coffee table books, photographs and children's artwork and you'll immediately realize their potential as interactive home décor accessories.

Replace your conventional home décor with these ideas for interactive home accessories and see what a difference it makes:

Jigsaw Puzzles
Replace your designer centerpiece from the centre table in the living room with a large 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle and watch the whole family get more and more involved as bits and pieces come together right in front of their very eyes. Did you think most children considered jigsaw puzzles old-fashioned? On the contrary, any child would happily give up their X-Box or Play Station time for a chance to spend time doing something with their family. Put out a 1000-piece double sided jigsaw puzzle for twice the fun!

Even your guests are sure to enjoy trying to piece the puzzle together every time they come over to visit. Nobody will even notice the absence of the gorgeous centerpiece that you've taken away to accommodate the puzzle.

World Maps
Unless every inch of your wall space is already used up to hang picture frames and what not, you don't really need to remove anything. Just find a spot on the wall that is highly visible and hang a world map at a little lower level. Just pointing to any one country or city on the world map opens up endless windows of discussions. Tell your kids some interesting facts about the place they've pointed to- the geography of the place, an interesting historical anecdote or perhaps their culture.

In another area, hang up a frame map of your home town. Challenge your kids to identify places they have visited and if you spent your childhood in the same town, regale them with interesting stories of "your days" and what used to be very few years on the ground.

Photography
Expect to pay a portion of your wall into an interactive album. You can change the display according to the occasion. For the birthday of your child, see the photos of all the previous parts. Their children and their friends and all parents, whether you are certain that the explosion of the memory of fun times that everyone has. It also serves as a good way to see how the children have grown over the years.

Other times, I am arandom assortment of photographs of the immediate family with various friends and extended family. Photographic walls evoke a lot of bittersweet memories and make for a very emotional interactive décor accessory.

What Makes a Person Intelligent?

In traditional intelligence theories when one is asked the question “What makes a person intelligent?” the most common responses will often note a person’s ability to solve problems, utilize logic, and think critically. These typical traits of intelligence are sometimes grouped together under the heading “raw intelligence”. A person’s intelligence, traditionally speaking, is contained in their intellect. In other words, how we each understand, evaluate or respond to external stimuli, regardless as to whether it is a mathematical problem or anticipation of an opponent’s next move in a game, is our collective intelligence. Our intelligence therefore, is our individual, collective ability to act or react in a continually changing environment.

The principal problem in traditional intelligence theories is that they promote “fractured learning”. Many educational reformers have clearly stated that “taking tests merely shows that a student is skilled at taking tests”. At best, traditional tests focus on only about one tenth of an individual’s intellect. Note that Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison, two of history’s most famous examples of brilliant minds, were terrible at taking traditional tests, therefore terrible at “school” in general. Multiple Intelligences theory then, demonstrates that the ability to take traditional tests is almost entirely in the realm of the Logical – Mathematical
intelligence. This intelligence will be detailed later along with the Interpersonal intelligence, which imparts in some students the ability to second guess a teacher’s structuring of a test. Traditional IQ tests predict school performance with considerable accuracy, but they are only an indifferent predictor of performance in a profession after formal schooling.

In an interesting but controversial study conducted during the 1960’s by Biologist Marion Diamond, of the University of California at Berkeley, two sets of rats were raised in different environments; One set had toys to play with, playmates to romp with and a roomy box that was kept clean and fresh. The second set was put in solitary confinement; all alone in a much smaller cage with no toys to enjoy. After several weeks, Diamond measured the size of each rat’s cerebral cortex, the brain area which is responsible for higher nerve functions. The rats in the sociable, clean and stimulating environment grew brains bigger than the rats with the impoverished surroundings. “Does the enriched environment increase the dimensions of the brain, and does the impoverished environment decrease the dimensions of the brain?”, asked Diamond. “The answer, very clearly, is YES.” Similar results were replicated with cats, monkeys and later with humans. So a stimulating, enriched learning environment is crucial to mental development. If we likewise incorporate the varying student intelligences in our teaching activities, our success as well as our students success, will be markedly improved. That each of us possess all the intelligences, that they can each be developed further, that these multiple intelligences work together in a complex manner, and that there are, in fact, many different ways to be “intelligent” are inclusive in a study by Armstrong. Here briefly, in retrospect, are eight of the major intelligences of Howard Gardener’s theory and their relative traits:

Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence:
The capacity to use words effectively, either orally or in writing. It is highly developed in story-tellers, orators, politicians, poets, playwrights, editors, language teachers and journalists. Students with a high degree of this intelligence think in words; learn by listening, reading, and verbalizing. They enjoy writing, like books, records, and tapes, and have a good memory for verse, lyrics, or trivia. Getting into discussions, telling jokes and debating are also characteristics of this intelligence. Maya Angelou is strong in this intelligence.

Visual-Spatial Intelligence:
The ability to perceive the world accurately and to perform transformations upon one's perceptions. This is highly developed in guides, interior designers, architects, artists, fashion designers and inventors. Students with a high degree of spatial intelligence think in images and pictures, like mazes and jigsaw Puzzle. They love to draw and design things, and enjoy films, slides, videos, graphics, maps, diagrams. The dreamers and those who can provide strong opinions about things that go together like the colors, textures that are suitable and attractive decoration and are included in this intelligence. Pablo Picasso was strong in this intelligence.

Musical - Rhythmic Intelligence: the ability to perceive, discriminate, transform and express musical forms is the most developedin musical performers, music aficionados, and music critics. Students with a high degree of musical intelligence learn through rhythm and melody, play a musical instrument, or May need music to study. They notice nonverbal sounds in the environment: the chirp of a cricket, rain on the roof, varying traffic patterns, and usually learn things more easily if sung, tapped out, or whistled. These people love music and rhythmic patterns and can often reproduce a melody or rhythmic pattern after hearing it only once. Various sounds, tones, and rhythms may have a visible effect on them (that is, you can see a change in facial expressions, body movement, or emotional responses). They enjoy singing and listening to a wide variety of music, and are often quite skilled at mimicking sounds, language accents, and others’ speech patterns, and recognizing different musical instruments in a composition. Paul McCartney is strong in this intelligence.

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence:
The capacity to use numbers effectively and to reason well. This intelligence is highly developed in mathematicians, tax accountants, statisticians, scientists, computer programmers, and logicians. Students with a high degree of this intelligence often reason things out logically and clearly; look for abstract patterns and relationships; frequently like brain teasers, logical puzzles, and strategy games. They also like to use computers and to classify and categorize. These people think conceptually and abstractly and are able to see patterns and relationships that others often miss. They like to experiment, solve puzzles and other problems, ask cosmic questions and think. They love the challenge of complex problems to solve and always have a logical rationale or argument for what they are doing or thinking. Albert Einstein was strong in this intelligence.

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: Consists of expertise in using one’s whole body to express ideas and feelings, and facility in using ones hands to produce or transform things. A highly developed intelligence in actors, mimes, athletes, dancers, sculptors, mechanics, and surgeons. Students with a high degree of bodily-kinesthetic intelligence process knowledge through bodily sensations; move, twitch, tap, or fidget while sitting in a chair or at a desk and learn by touching, manipulating, and moving. They typically like role playing and creative movement and generally like physical games of all kinds and demonstrating how to do something. They communicate well through body language and other physical gestures. They can often perform a task only after seeing someone else do it. They find it difficult to sit still for a long time and are easily bored if they are not actively involved in what is going on around them. Michael Jordan is strong in this intelligence.

Interpersonal Intelligence:
The ability to perceive and make distinctions in the moods, intentions, motivations, and feelings of other people. This Intelligence can include sensitivity to facial expressions, voice, and gestures, as well as the ability to respond effectively to such cues. Students with a high degree of interpersonal intelligence understand and care about people; like to socialize; learn more easily by relating and cooperating and are good at teaching other students. These people learn through person-to-person interaction. They generally have lots of friends; show a great deal of empathy for other people and understanding of different points of view. They are skilled at drawing others out in a discussion, conflict resolution and mediation when people are in radical
opposition to each other. Mother Teresa and Mahatma Ghandi were strong in this intelligence.

Intra-personal Intelligence:
Self-knowledge and the ability to act adaptively on the basis of that knowledge define this group. This is an intelligence which can include having an accurate picture of one’s strengths and limitations, awareness of one’s moods and motivations, and the capacity for self-discipline. Students with a high degree of this intelligence seem to be self-motivating; need their own quiet space; may march to the beat of a different drummer and tend to learn more easily with independent study, self-paced instruction, individualized projects and games.
These people like to work alone and sometimes shy away from others. They are self-reflective and self-aware and thus tend to be in tune with their inner feelings, values, beliefs, and thinking processes. They are frequently bearers of creative wisdom and insight, are highly intuitive, and are inwardly motivated rather than needing external rewards to keep them going. They are often strong-willed, self-confident, and definite, well-thought-out opinions on almost any issue (although they are sometimes off-the-wall). Other people will often come to them for advice and counsel, but others will sometimes view them as distant or weird. Emily Dickinson and Stephen King are examples of this intelligence.

Naturalist Intelligence:
Environmental knowledge and the ability to identify and categorize plants, animals and nature on the basis of that knowledge. The Naturalist Intelligence can include having an accurate picture of the ambient environment, awareness of the interrelationship of natural elements, and the capacity for self-analysis of these elements. It is found most highly developed in archeologists, animal handlers, animal trainers, veterinarians, biologists, racehorse jockeys, zoologists, environmentalists, wilderness guides and naturalists. Students who have a high degree of the naturalist intelligence seem to be nature-oriented, seek to be outdoors or in the elements and learn more easily with nature-related study and environmental projects and activities. They like to collect items from nature, study them, and group them. They tend to be aware of subtleties in appearance, texture, and sounds that those weaker in this intelligence may not grasp. Charles Darwin, Jacques Cousteau, and John James Audubon were strong in this intelligence.

One of the great promises of Multiple Intelligences theory in education is that it will help us to find individual pathways into and out of our students’ minds. Recent advances in educational psychology and research in applied MI theory offer educators a real possibility of developing the potential of all students. Both educators and students should derive from Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence theory that all people are different and learn differently, and that we should respect, value, and nurture that diversity.

Reference Websites:
Reference website for multiple intelligences links and activities:
[http://surfaquarium.com/im.htm]

Exploring Multiple Intelligences: New Dimensions of Learning
[http://www.multi-intell.com/]

Multiple Intelligences Resources
http://www.theatreinmotion.com/resources.htm

Basic MI Theory
http://edweb.gsn.org/edref.mi.th.html

Multiple Intelligence Theory: Principles
http://www.harding.edu/~cbr/midemo/prin.html

Multiple Intelligences: Theory and Practice in the K-12 Class
[http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/ieo/bibs/multiple.html]

Task Card Overview/Multiple Intelligences
[http://www.metronet.com/~bhorizon/teach.htm]

Association for the Promotion and Advancement of Science Education activities website - http://discoverlearning.com/forensic/docs/index.html

Naturalist Intelligence – Sea World / Busch Gardens website for students
http://www.seaworld.org/animal_bytes/animal_bytes.html

Online Games For Jigsaw Puzzle Lovers!

Online-games present a number of ways to enjoy a more comfortable and convenient. Most of these games are free and require no complicated setup to play them. You just have to connect to the Internet and start a game he or she is interested there are infinitely many kinds of online games, which included the interest of players with different inclination for fun and entertainment. Here you can find card games, adventure games, strategy games, Barbie games,coloring games and many other types of options to entertain yourself.

Amongst all these games the online puzzle games are extremely interesting. You simply love to indulge in them as they have several benefits for you and have the power to entertain all. Here are some great attributes of the jigsaw puzzle games which makes them so popular amongst the best gamers:

1. Fun for All. These online games can be played by all players regardless of their age or gender. Boys as well as girls love to play them as they have something of interest for all. In fact, many grown ups also enjoy playing puzzle games as they are so intriguing and challenging.

2. Free of Cost. Most of the games that you find online are free of cost. You have to pay nothing to enjoy these wonderful games and have a great time.

3. Great variety. The online jigsaw puzzle games are available in great variety. You can find hundreds of websites which offer these games and each site has lots of puzzle options. It is this endless array of puzzles which enable gamers with different interests to play with what they like the best. The popular categories of these jigsaw puzzles include animal puzzle, cartoon puzzles, Disney puzzles, map and transport jigsaw puzzles. There are also nature jigsaw puzzles, holiday jigsaw puzzles in addition to country jigsaw puzzles. Not only this, each category of puzzles has lots of sub categories, providing you with nonstop fun.

4. Great for Learning. These online games are also a great way to perk up your knowledge or enable your kid to learn new things. As the puzzles include pictures of new places, animals, objects, nature etc., one gets to learn new things constantly. Thus they serve as a great mode of entertainment as well as learning.

Classic Entertainment With Childrens Jigsaw Puzzles

Childrens jigsaw puzzles will never grow old. They're too much fun and they teach well, too - which proves the very salient point that learning is always more rewarding than just chucking stuff around. Watch a child with the latest movie tie in toy and watch a child with a jigsaw. You'll see exactly what we mean.

The thing about jigsaw puzzles is, they're as tactile and interesting as a collection of pieces as they are rewarding as a finished picture. When a child starts playing with a jigsaw puzzle, he or she is just as interested in the individual shape and milling of the pieces he or she is using, as he or she is in the potential of those pieces to be put together to form a finished article. Then some kind parent or older kid points out that childrens jigsaw puzzles are made of several of these interesting shapes, which can be fitted together... the wonder on the child's face is a pleasure to behold. He or she will spend hours working out which bit fits with what other bits, until the picture is finally complete - and then quite happily smash the thing up in order to do it again.

No wonder childrens jigsaw puzzles are still classics. It's all about maintaining the interest of the player - in a way that a lot of modern toy ideas simply can't match. A child learns several very important things from playing with a jigsaw puzzle: things that translate as learning skills throughout their formative years. That's a sort of interaction that your latest cuddly toy TV character can't give. Example: when a child breaks up a jigsaw puzzle, and tries to put it back together again in different ways, he or she starts to learn how to differentiate between right and wrong solutions. Childrens jigsaw puzzles work by fitting shapes together in a particular way. When a child breaks one up and tries to put it together differently, he or she has used play to explore the properties of the jigsaw - and to realise that although the individual bits are made to fit with each other, there's only one "right" way for them all to fit.

That kind of mental training comes in extremely handy in later life, during maths classes, for example, or out doing the shopping. Money, after all, is just a pocket full of little pieces that can be put together to make a single sum - and you have to learn the ways to make the right sum if you're going to be any good at budgeting when you grow up. Childrens jigsaw puzzles impart the beginnings of that skill.

Children are often seduced by the bright colours and loud noises of the latest "fashion toy". Any parent will tell you, though, if you watch: they always go back to the puzzle toys. The jigsaws, the shapes in the boxes - the games and things that get their minds working. It's common knowledge that the logic of a child is much purer than that of an adult - their predilection for keeping useful learning toys classic suggests that the tastes of a child are more sophisticated, too.

3D Jigsaw Puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles have always been fascinating; the concept of putting small pieces together to make a beautiful picture provides a certain thrill. The more difficult the puzzle, the greater the sense of adventure and challenge. Jigsaw puzzles are still one of the most popular games even on the Internet. With colorful animations, varying difficulty levels in a single game and availability of hundreds of patterns, jigsaw puzzles are attracting a lot of new players as well. These puzzles come with different difficulty levels such as easy, average, and difficult.

The three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles are the most challenging as well as exciting. The designs are unique and include almost any theme under the sun like fairytale fantasies; natural beauty comprising of flowers, globes, maps, space, landscapes, ocean, beaches, plants; festivals such as Christmas, Easter, Halloween; or everyday things like school, automobiles, sports, summer, traveling, weather; and movie-based themes like Lord of the Rings, Mickey Mouse, Finding Nemo and Winnie the Pooh; as well as enthralling castles, buildings, airplanes, ships, world-famous landmarks, and even huge forests, whole cities and even the Empire State building! Some even glow in the dark. The sizes also vary greatly ranging from 150 pieces to 3000 pieces or even more, with varying difficulty levels. Prices range from $8.00 to $45.00 or more. The smallest puzzle measures around 6"x7"x8" while the largest may be as large as 60"x50"x25".

Another model is the wooden 3-D jigsaw puzzle. Wooden puzzles are made of high quality plywood and are suitable for people of all ages. They also make unique gifts. Some of the popular designs in this are whales, air crafts, carousels, roosters, crocodiles, elephants, dolphins, cars and buildings. Prices of these puzzles start from $5.00.

Most of these 3-D jigsaw puzzles can be bought from games stores. They can also be purchased online. There are several sites that are offering these puzzles for sale. These can be viewed, compared, and even ordered online.