Blaise's puzzle
First of all, happy Mother's Day to all you moms!
Blaise (3 1/2) has been excited about the "Scary Monster Movie," AKA Monsters, Inc since my mom brought it for Isaac and him to watch a month or so ago when she came over to take care of them for a day. And he had was able to put a 24 piece puzzle together with only a little help soon after he turned 2 1/2. So when I saw a Monster's Inc 60-piece puzzle at a garage sale, I bought it.
I took it home and tried to put it together while he was having quiet time. I struggled with a couple pieces almost right away, since the puzzle is so dark and so many pieces look the same, so I boxed it back up and put in on the basement stairs to bring it down to the basement. I planned to bring in out again in several months. Before I could hide it in the dark recesses of the basement, Blaise found it on the stairs and asked to bring in up and put it together. Though I thought putting the puzzle together would lead to quite a bit of frustration on both our parts (Blaise because he wouldn't be able to do it, and me because Blaise would be frustrated), I bit the bullet and brought it upstairs. To my pleasant surprise, he did great!
It also turned out to be a great learning opportunity for him. First, we sorted the pieces into ones with a straight edge and ones without a straight edge. By the end, he had the concept down. I placed the first few around the edge then helped him to match up the pieces so that he continued the "edge" around the picture, looking at other clues to help find the right pieces.
Then we sorted the rest into pieces with Sully's fur and pieces without. He got the sorting idea down right away this time. Again, with some help, he learned to match the shapes of the puzzle pieces and the colors to create Sully.
He was nearly done with Sully when it was time for bed. The next morning, we finished Sully and put together Waternoose. He did even better the next day and needed fewer cues. All together, he placed every piece except the initial three or four at the top edge of the puzzle.
He was pretty proud of his creation.
Blaise (3 1/2) has been excited about the "Scary Monster Movie," AKA Monsters, Inc since my mom brought it for Isaac and him to watch a month or so ago when she came over to take care of them for a day. And he had was able to put a 24 piece puzzle together with only a little help soon after he turned 2 1/2. So when I saw a Monster's Inc 60-piece puzzle at a garage sale, I bought it.
I took it home and tried to put it together while he was having quiet time. I struggled with a couple pieces almost right away, since the puzzle is so dark and so many pieces look the same, so I boxed it back up and put in on the basement stairs to bring it down to the basement. I planned to bring in out again in several months. Before I could hide it in the dark recesses of the basement, Blaise found it on the stairs and asked to bring in up and put it together. Though I thought putting the puzzle together would lead to quite a bit of frustration on both our parts (Blaise because he wouldn't be able to do it, and me because Blaise would be frustrated), I bit the bullet and brought it upstairs. To my pleasant surprise, he did great!
It also turned out to be a great learning opportunity for him. First, we sorted the pieces into ones with a straight edge and ones without a straight edge. By the end, he had the concept down. I placed the first few around the edge then helped him to match up the pieces so that he continued the "edge" around the picture, looking at other clues to help find the right pieces.
Then we sorted the rest into pieces with Sully's fur and pieces without. He got the sorting idea down right away this time. Again, with some help, he learned to match the shapes of the puzzle pieces and the colors to create Sully.
He was nearly done with Sully when it was time for bed. The next morning, we finished Sully and put together Waternoose. He did even better the next day and needed fewer cues. All together, he placed every piece except the initial three or four at the top edge of the puzzle.
He was pretty proud of his creation.
Comments
How fun when our children are determined and have success. Persistence is great.
Have a great week!
Julie