More Puzzles
There are many proven benefits to
puzzle playing, from early childhood to
adulthood!
In children, they have been shown to
develop problem-solving and logical
thinking skills, perceptual reasoning,
visual-spatial awareness, fine motor
skills, self-esteem, and creativity. In
adults, they have further been linked to
improved mood, better memory, and a
delay in the onset of cognitive maladies
(dementia, Alzheimer’s).
Math puzzles have the added benefit of
reinforcing mathematical concepts such
as congruency, symmetry, area,
perimeter, and geometry. More
importantly, they suffice to shift the
perspective of math being something
boring to something that is fun and
creative.
Most tiling puzzles are quite
mathematical in nature. Though
solutions seemingly arise from actual
play (trial and error), you can count on
there always being well derived
mathematical formulae to express the
solutions.
Tangrams are but one example of a tiling
puzzle. There are many more! Let’s take
a look at a few favorites...!