"First Puzzles are Hard, Then You Turn them Easy"
I've always felt that classic jigsaw puzzles held a special place in our classroom. They stand out as uniquely directive in that there is, in the end, only one right way assemble them. Yes, of course, a child might have other ideas. Someone might, say, build a tower with the pieces or something and once a group of children used puzzle pieces as a kind of currency in the game they were playing, but for the overwhelming majority of children I've taught, puzzles, be they on table tops or on the floor, say to children, "sit down, concentrate, and solve me."
Certain toys tell children how to play with them. Balls can be used for all sorts of things, but among the things they say most loudly is "throw me," which is why, if you don't want balls flying around the classroom, we tend to restrict balls to the outdoors. Puzzles are not usually the most "glamorous" thing in the room and they are often overlooked. Frequently, a child engaged in more active play will simply cruise by, dump all the pieces out their frames, then walk away, leaving a jumbled pile of pieces from several puzzles in a messy heap. It's one of the most common ways children use puzzles towards something other than the right answers that are built CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: "First Puzzles are Hard, Then You Turn them Easy"
