The many benefits of jig saw puzzles

Last Updated on April 13, 2022 by lydiaf1963

Jig saw puzzles have many benefits for our health. If you were looking for an excuse to pursue a favorite past time, read on to find out more.

There’s a jig saw puzzle for everyone

In my childhood home it was some sort of landscape from an exotic local.

Every year for Christmas my mother bought a huge jigsaw puzzle. We’d set it up on the dining room table and work on it over the holiday break.

Sometimes we worked alone, other times in groups. If friends visited, they’d place some pieces, too.

Little did we appreciate the things we learned from this humble activity.

Working a puzzle requires the brain to work in concert with our hands and eyes. We recognize shapes, colors and patterns in the pieces to assemble the image.

We sort the pieces, we work mini puzzles within the larger one. It requires our attention and cooperation when working with others.

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that solving a puzzle lowers stress and improves your mood, even when the puzzle is frustrating. There are other benefits of jig saw puzzles as well:

• improved memory
• improved problem solving skills
• improved visual-spatial ability
• improved mood

Other benefits of jig saw puzzles

The puzzle building benefit I enjoy most is the break from screens of all kinds. It’s a calming activity for me.

The second favorite benefit is the opportunity to chat with whomever is working on the puzzle with me.

When my grandsons are visiting I show them how my approach changes as the puzzle moves along. Sometimes all it takes is to step back and look at the puzzle from another angle.

My goal is to help them develop a flexibility to their problem solving that will serve them later in life.

Puzzles Make Great Gifts Anytime of Year

Where I live the best time to purchase puzzles is around the holidays. I like to buy a couple that appeal to me personally to work on during the year. I pick up a couple more to give as gifts.

With online shopping puzzles are available whenever you feel like it. The advantage to shopping online is the wide variety available.

The rectangular landscape puzzles of my childhood have been joined by irregularly shaped puzzles, nefarious puzzles with little variation in color or pattern, 3D puzzles of famous buildings or whimsical machines and puzzles with repeating shapes.

There are also puzzles intended for families with small, medium and large sized pieces for small, medium and large hands.

What to do with finished puzzles

After reveling in the satisfaction of completing a job well done, what do you do when the puzzle is complete?

Once I became an adult I don’t recall a time when I did a puzzle for the second time. Some people like to frame their puzzles for display. There are special glues and frames for this.

I like to write my name and the completion date inside the box and pass the puzzle on for someone else to do.

What’s your favorite type of jig saw puzzle? Tell me about it in the comments below!