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Turn Off the Electronics: Bring In the Wooden Puzzles

In today’s fast-pasted, electronic world, it’s easy to forget about the simple things that we as parents can do to help our children learn and develop. Wooden puzzles might seem old-fashioned and boring compared to flashy video games, but don’t be fooled; playing with wooden puzzles is a top-notch way to help your child develop their minds and fine motor skills.

Choose the Right Puzzle

Before you rush out to buy every puzzle in the store, it’s important to keep a few things in mind. Children learn best when they are challenged enough to make it interesting but quickly lose interest if the puzzle is well beyond what they can handle. Start with puzzles that will be relatively simple for your child to solve, and then work your way up from there.

Infants and young toddlers will enjoy doing simple tray puzzles where the goal is to place one piece into the correctly shaped hole. You can add interest by finding puzzles that make sounds or play music, but even simple puzzles will be enjoyable. Once, they’ve mastered these simple puzzles, you can introduce wooden picture puzzles – the ones that come in a tray are best for beginners and are also easier to keep neat and tidy. Giant floor puzzles and simple cardboard puzzles can be added as your child’s skills grow.

What Your Child Will Learn

Even the simplest tray puzzle meant for babies involves a lot more skill than it appears at first glance! Here are a few of the skills that your child will start to master as he or she works on puzzles:

• Spatial temporal reasoning.  Figuring out which piece goes where and rotating it to fit is a wonderful workout for your child’s spatial abilities. Strong spatial skills are critical in adult life for everything from learning how to drive to being successful in a wide range of careers such as engineering and architecture.
• How to use trial and error to solve problems. Children who have the opportunity to make – and correct – mistakes learn an important lesson in problem solving. Each mistake is an opportunity to learn more and to apply that knowledge to finding a workable solution. Children who learn to be persistent and how to incorporate new knowledge as they work on problems  will have the skills they’ll need to achieve their goals in life.
• Fine motor skills and hand eye coordination. Rotating each puzzle piece and placing it just so is quite a feat! The more time a child spends on tasks that exercise his or her fine motor skills the better. This practice will make writing, typing and other tasks that rely on strong motor skills much easier to learn.
• Sharing and responsibility. Doing puzzles with friends, siblings or other family members requires quite a bit of cooperation and taking turns. Often, it’s also an exercise in learning how to manage frustration gracefully! Because puzzles become useless if the pieces are lost, children get a lesson in why it’s important to put things away and how to take care of their things.

When it comes times to purchase new toys for your children, don’t forget about classics like wooden puzzles. They might not be as flashy as an electronic tablet or handheld video game but they deliver a lot of entertainment and educational value for a very reasonable price.

More from Dinker and Giggles...

As a father of five, Jacob Maslow has learned quite a bit about buying toys! He currently works as a marketing director for Today’s Concept, which sells a wide range of household items including the award winning Melissa and Doug toys, puzzles and games.

The Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen

Here is a list of the 2012 “dirty dozen” and “clean fifteen". It's best to try and get the "dirty dozen" in organic, if possible. I have to admit, I'm less adamant about washing my local & organic produce than I am with the commercially grown stuff. However you really should wash all fruits and veggies before consuming! Here is a simple, cheap, & easy DIY produce wash.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 empty spray bottle (used up, empty all purpose cleaning bottles work great! And they are free!)

2TB baking soda

2TB lemon juice

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup water

1. Put the baking soda in the bottle first, then add the lemon juice, vinegar, and water slowly (make sure the kids are in view for the cool science experiment!). I like to measure out the water and vinegar in the same 2 cup liquid measuring cup, and pour them in together slow.
2. Gently swirl the bottle around with the top off to get all the gas out and let the fizz subside (do you like how scientific my choice of words is?! To be honest I don’t even remember all the science-y reasons vinegar and baking soda react, but I probably should learn them so I can, ya know, sound like I know what I’m talking about!)

To wash, just spray your veggies and let them sit a few minutes before scrubbing them up. I usually put my strainer in the sink and toss them in there to soak/drain. 

More from The Simple Mommy...

Golden Days

This year is the 60th Annual Golden Days Parade! Since living here for over 4 years, I have yet to make it to the festival. I think this year my brother, Amelia, and myself will go and check it out! Maybe we will win some of that prize money! ;) I'm all about gold mining and can't wait to go visit the local mine and learn how they do it. ( I'm sure my dad is jealous! )

Every July, Fairbanks celebrates the discovery of gold with a host of events including the competition for ugliest Frontier Feet and what is possibly the largest parade in Alaska.

The celebration marks the discovery of gold by Felix Pedro in 1902.

Attendees are encouraged to don turn-of-the-century garb for Golden Days. At the least, plan on wearing a Golden Days pin or garter during the four-day festival. Be warned: if you spotted without festive attire you can be sent to the famous Golden Days Jail.

This year the fun begins July 18 and runs through July 22.

Most of the action takes place along the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks and in Pioneer Park, a historic theme park to the west of the city center. 

The culminating event of the festival is a parade on Saturday, which features more than 100 entries. 

Another highlight is the Rubber Duckie race down the Chena River on Saturday afternoon. This year there will be more than $25,000 in prizes. The ducks are dumped into the river at the Wendell Street Bridge and race to the Cushman Street Bridge downtown. 

Most of the Golden Days events are kid friendly, but others were designed with adults in mind.

Thursday is the senior citizens luncheon, and event dedicated to Fairbanks residents who have helped make the community what it is today. Friday night is a comedy night, with a series of acts for the 21-plus crowd at Pioneer Park.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Fairbanks celebrates founders quirky traditions at Golden Days 

Summer in Alaska

My little brother is visiting this month from Oklahoma. I asked him to come because we are MOVING, and I needed some extra help packing & such. We have decided to move to Washington state while Mia is so young to be closer to family. I am so excited, but sad to leave beautiful Alaska at the same time.

My brother, ( JD ), Amelia, and myself went out by the lake for a little outdoor time. JD surprised me by knowing more about my camera than I do! He took some AWESOME pictures on our little adventure.

Going Wild

Hi everyone,
       It's Monday again and I figured it was time for a new post! I'm in my second Color Theory class right now, starting week 2 so hopefully I'll have some time to post this week, because it's almost identical to the last CT class. :)
        I'm officially moved into "Amelia's Room". We had the 3rd bedroom as Aarons computer room, and my craft room but his computer gets SOO hot I couldn't stand it. So, we put Mia's toys in with his computer. Kept her bed and dresser in her room and moved my butting table and sewing table in. I love it now! The next few weeks I'm woking on a dear friend on mine, Kate's, order of mama cloth. She sent me some lovely fabrics and now all I have to do it cut them out and sew them up. I think cutting fabric is the absolute worst part of the process. I wish I had a die cut machine so I could just crank them out and they'd each be perfect. :) Hmmmm.. If you're a special someone you should take a hint here ( Accuquilt Pro with custom dies would make an awesome xmas gift!)

       The other day I met up with a friend and took some photos of her and her son who is 5 months old and SUCH a cutie!

Next up I'll be working on cloth diapers for him! Squeeee!

Other than that- not a lot going on. We are holding off on a lot of things like planting our seed starters because Aaron still hasn't gotten work yet. He takes his State Test on the 18th and after that can be picked up for work! It's been 5 months so I hope it happens SOON! :D

I also plan to join The Alaska Club when he gets back to work. It's a full gym with daycare so I will be able to go an hour a day and have Mia taken care of. They also provide nutritionists and personal trainers.

In other news- We have decided to go PALEO! I feel it will be the best life choice I've made in the last year. Nothing man made, no dairy, no gluten.. I've just bought 2 new books about it and I'm excited to learn more! 

We also signed up at http://www.paleoplan.com/

Which provides weekly menus already planned and a FULL shopping list! :) I think it will help us stay on track, and at $9.99 a month, you can't beat it!

Get started with Paleo Plan's simple tools and get weekly delivery of our shopping lists, meal plans and recipes.

We make following the paleo diet easier by doing the planning and organizing for you. All that's left for you to do is download them, and cook.

FFS Giveaway!

Hi everyone!
I have a very cute, retro kitchen wet bag to giveaway. Free For Shipping! :) Use the Rafflecopter Entry Form, there are just a few easy buttons to push!

Ends 4/20/2012,, winner will be contacted within 48 hours with paypal info.