The simple wooden puzzle has been entertaining generations of children for hundreds of years. These traditional wooden toys were originally made by painting onto a piece of flat wood and then using a jigsaw to cut up the piece of wood into interconnecting pieces.

In 1760 the first commercially made wooden puzzle is recorded as being made by John Spilsbury. These puzzles were designed as being educational and the designs were of maps. He used these wooden toys to teach children geography. As his pupils fitted the pieces together they would naturally become familiar with the different countries and continents.

These days, many modern puzzles are made from paper but when choosing puzzles for young children, wooden puzzles have a lot of advantages. The most basic is that the large pieces are easier for a child to handle. Large three dimensional pieces are easier for small hands to manipulate and are often designed to show animal or human shapes.

As educational tools, a wooden puzzle can help young children develop sound motor skills and develop their ability to problem solve. They will also learn about the people, animals and other images that are on the jigsaw. Doing a puzzle helps the brain to develop deduction, reasoning, logical thought and the ability to analyse, which is why even in adulthood jigsaw puzzles hold their charm. On a physical level they improve hand-eye co-ordination and develop spatial awareness. However, one must not forget that all this learning is often an unnoticed process by children. For them, a wooden puzzle simply means hours of fun.

To see our range of wooden toys contact us at My Natural Wooden Toys.