The Values of Puzzles & Manipulatives
Physical
- Develops fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination
- Helps develop handwriting dexterity
Mental
- Stimulates conversation and increases vocabulary
- Develops thinking, matching, and recognition skills
- Allows left-to-right sequencing when puzzle pieces are placed on the left side of
the puzzle
- Challenges preschoolers when puzzles vary in difficulty
- Develops problem solving skills as preschoolers discover one or more ways to use
the materials
- Provides opportunities to associate, match, classify, and sequence
Social/Emotional
- Encourages social interaction and cooperation
- Provides opportunities for teacher and child to talk
- Promotes self-confidence and satisfaction by working with different materials
- Provides opportunities for preschoolers to work alone
- Provides opportunities to learn responsibility for returning materials to the shelf
- Enhances feelings of satisfaction, self-confidence, and competence
Spiritual
- Provides opportunities to hear Bible story conversation, verses, stories, and songs
- Provides opportunities for preschoolers to work together, requiring cooperation
and sharing
- Allows preschoolers to make choices
- Develops Bible reading readiness1
1. Thomas Sanders and Mary Ann Bradberry, Teaching Preschoolers: First Steps Toward Faith (Nashville: Childhood Ministry Publishing, 2002), 94.