Tag Archives: brain exercise

Challenge Yourself: Puzzles that Push You

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Do you feel the need to challenge yourself with your puzzling experience? For those experienced puzzlers, it might be time to try something new—something a little different, something that adds an exciting new component to the hobby you already know and love.

There are many ways that jigsaw puzzle designers have come up with to completely alter the puzzling experience. Sometimes they throw in some extra unneeded pieces, sometimes they give you a different image on the box. Whatever it is, it’ll push your brain even more—and we bet the added challenge will give you even more pleasure once. Well, after you get over the feeling that it’s just impossible, at least :)

These challenging puzzles will be spread out throughout posts over the next week as we write about the benefits of pushing yourself. We’ll try to start with the simpler challenges first, just to give you a taste.

American Native Flowers by Scramble Squares. 9 pieces.

9 pieces seems like a breeze, doesn’t it? Nope! In this puzzle, you must align all the squares so that the pictures match up perfectly in every direction—and there are 95,126,814,720 combinations that are possible for you to try with this 3 x 3 puzzle with four different rotations in each square. You’ll be rotating and replacing the images in the square over and over again as it nearly works, but not quite. Good luck!

3D Magna Puzzle – Planets by Ceaco. 16 magnetic pieces.

The illusion of depth and movement is an added challenge in this 16 piece puzzle. It’ll be tough just to decide where to begin! The bonus to this puzzle is that it comes with a magnetic tray, making it very portable. You can work to piece it together from anywhere!

Library by Ceaco. 42 pieces.

Instead of the shaped puzzle pieces you recognize, this image is made up of 42 sticks which you line up and rearrange inside of a wooden tray. An added challenge? It can make up to two images because it’s double-sided. Better choose the right side to lay your stick!

Spiral of Archimedes by Ceaco. 67 uniquely shaped pieces.

This puzzle was randomly designed, so it doesn’t have to make a lot of sense! Try to piece together these 67 pieces, all of which are uniquely shaped, in order to make a puzzle that has no straight edges and no overlapping images—yikes!

African Oasis by TDC Games. 234 pieces.

I hope your eyesight is good because this puzzle is part of the World’s Smallest Puzzle series. With 234 pieces and a finished size of 4″ x 6″ you’ll want to make sure you never misplace the tweezers that come with this miniscule but challenging puzzle!

Sea Otter Family by Cobble Hill. 400 pieces.

This puzzle’s unique quality isn’t intended to challenge you—instead it’s intended to help make the puzzling experience inclusive! There are small, medium, and large shaped pieces in this Family Puzzle series so that everyone feels like they can help, from the littlest ones to the biggest ones. However, the uniqueness of this may challenge you anyways!

Monarch in Flight by Paper House Productions. 500 pieces.

Completing the edges is a whole new experience with shaped puzzles! Additionally, there are some pieces hidden in here with surprise shapes—butterflies and flower shapes included.

11 Fun Brain Activities for Children

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Puzzles and brainteasers are great for helping young brains develop and grow. They teach problem solving skills, hand-eye coordination, sorting, pattern recognition and more! The best part? There are so many different types of puzzles and images on puzzles that they are certain to entertain as much as they educate. While puzzles will help develop reading, math and logic skills – they also provide a feeling of accomplishment and achievement when the puzzle is solved – which is why kid’s love to do them over and over – and might just give them a confidence boost too!

Putting together jigsaw puzzles and other types of puzzle brainteasers can also be a great family or group play activity, along with individual play. But how do you pick a good puzzle for your youngster? Here are few tips from an article in a Young Children periodical.

1. Small knobs for toddlers. Knobs or chunky puzzles help small fingers with coordination and strengthen the grips used for writing. These are the first puzzle children 2-3 year’s old will enjoy putting together over and over.

2. Children like puzzles of things they know, animals, shapes, story scenes and bright colors.

3. Well designed, sturdy pieces that will withstand some wear and tear are a must. Wooden puzzles from Melissa and Doug, for example, make great starter puzzles for younger puzzlers.

4. When they get bored – it just means they need a step up in challenge – find a puzzle with more pieces, without frames, knobs or trays, or with new topics like letters, numbers or anatomy.

Here are 11 Great Kid’s Puzzles and Games for Brain Development

Five progressive puzzles from 2 to 5 pieces. The pieces are larger, thicker and easier to handle, stimulating attention, curiosity and imagination in children 12 months and older.

Getting dressed won't be such a puzzle once zipping, buckling, snapping, lacing and tying, and other dressing skills are mastered. Each skill is contained on a separate, wooden puzzle piece for easy practice. Develop fine motor and life skills with this great activity. For ages 3+.

Hear the sounds of six favorite vehicles when the two wooden cubes are properly placed in the wooden tray! Find the halves that match and hear six different, realistic sounds. Develops visual perception and fine motor skills. For ages 2+

Easy to grasp, thick chunky pieces fit perfectly into a background tray and help teach kids as young as two about life under the sea! For ages 2 and up.

From Acrobatic Alligator all the way to Zigzag Zebra, this colorful wooden alphabet puzzle has beautifully detailed pictures. When the piece is removed, a full color illustration with a matching image helps children find every letter its home. For ages 3 and up.

 

Ideal for travel, this wooden magnetic board includes three interchangeable animal habitat cards, farm, sea and savanna, and 26 magnetic, wooden play pieces for educational and creative play. For ages 3 and up.

Designed for hours of play and ideal for travel, this wooden magnetic board includes 120 colorful geometric magnets. Younger children (3+) will enjoy using the shapes to replicate the 12 geometric pictures included, while older children will enjoy creating mosaic patterns and pictures directly on the magnetic board.

Fun and fact filled card games for kids of all ages! Features great topics like Lost Civilizations, The Human Body, Earth Science, Sports and more! For ages 8 and up.

PlaySmart Digits in a Box Puzzle Game. First, spill the ten digits (0-9) from the box and give them a scramble. Then, place the pieces back in the box so that the lid closes flat. There are over 4000 possible solutions. For ages 6-8.

The incredible inner workings of the human body are beautifully portrayed in this double - sided educational floor puzzle. One side of this 100 - piece cardboard puzzle features the skeletal structure, and the other side shows internal organs and the circulatory system. For ages 8+.

Generative jigsaw puzzles designed by Nervous System

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“These puzzles marry the artistry of traditional wooden jigsaw puzzles with the possibilities of new technology. Custom software generates a different cut pattern and image for every puzzle. The images are printed on archival paper, mounted on birch plywood and laser cut at our studio in Somerville, MA.” See the whole process here.

Nervous System is a design initiative that aims to “explore a design approach that related process and form in contest of interactivity and openness, focused on generative design methods using both algorithmic and physical tools to create innovative products and environments.”

Excerpt from their site:

“The first was a trip to Paris. A tip from a travel guide sent us to Puzzle Michèle Wilson, a small shop specializing in traditional wooden jigsaw puzzles. As you enter, an artisan sits to your left cutting a tidy stack of plywood sheets with a scroll saw. She isn’t following a prescribed pattern and hence each time she cuts, she creates a different puzzle. The results are dissimiliar from the gridded bits of cardboard we knew in childhood. The pieces were all unique shapes, incorporating funny curves, spirals and even surprise pieces shaped like recognizable figures. Freed from the constraints of mass production, puzzles were suddenly more exciting and creative.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more about these Generative jigsaw puzzles by clicking here. We also have traditional wooden jigsaw puzzles for sale with all sorts of different types of imagery. Fine art, animals, landscapes and more great beautiful works of art on this type of puzzle. Check them out here: http://www.puzzlewarehouse.com/wooden-jigsaw-puzzles/

 

New & Popular

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We have added literally thousands of new items since January, with all of our favorite brands releasing new puzzles and games – so we thought we would collect all of our favorite new items, as well as the ones we have sold the most of since bring them in – so you know what jigsaws are currently hot on the radar!

1. A License to Life 
Ravensburger, 500 pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.  Busy Bee Quilting Club
SunsOut, 300 pieces. This one is not new, but it one of our highest sellers, and it has been discontinued by SunsOut – so we have ordered up extra – better grab it while you can!

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Great article: Jigsaw puzzles a tool for healing

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A 77-year old woman completed more than 60 jigsaw puzzles – which are now displayed in an assisted living community – as part of her recovery from suffering a severe stroke on Thanksgiving 2010. This article is a heartwarming tale that gets to the heart of what we’re all about here at the Puzzle Warehouse: family, fun, and keeping a sharp mind. Read the full article here.