Holiday Hints: Blocks and Puzzles

We created our Holiday Hints to highlight developmentally beneficial tools for young children.

Instead of selecting less meaningful toys this holiday season - or leaving gifts from loved ones to chance - start here!

This list is simply a guide. You definitely don’t need to purchase these specific items to see the benefits. You can find similar options on Amazon, at Target, at resale shops, in family storage, etc.

Blocks: wooden blocks are fantastic and often overlooked or underused. I suggest you have some variety of block sizes and weights to support your child in developing their hands in different ways. Magna-tiles are another great tool - but I do want to suggest you encourage thoughtful handling. Wooden magnetic tiles are also an option. Legos are not my favorite. This is because work with Legos supports a limited range of fine motor skills, and can lead to product-driven, close-ended activity instead of the development of genuine creativity. Parents often feel very proud of whatever advanced age set their child is currently working with; I suspect Lego likes it that way. If your child is working exclusively with Legos, I really encourage you to think about utilizing other constructive tools at home. That said, I’ve included a lego-style alternative for more open-ended, creative, exploration.

Puzzles: start with 10 - 20 piece puzzles and move upwards from there as your child’s capacity grows (20, 36, 48, 75, 100 - not more at this age unless you absolutely see the capacity and inclination in your child). I have included naturalistic puzzles and I encourage you to seek out puzzles with realistic imagery. Many contain a lot of visual detail that is both too much and too fantastical, and as a result encourage overstimulation and frustration. The learning potential from work with puzzles is substantive. Organized work with quality puzzles will help your child develop visual sequencing and processing skills and fine motor dexterity. Be mindful of how you use puzzles - be orderly, and handle pieces with care.