jigsaw guidance please

[creations]

I can see that sorting is more useful for much larger puzzles, and also that it is more fun not to sort them but to get on with fitting matching pieces together. It's working so much better for us.  There really seemed no point to sorting other than that's what I'd been taught and shown, it obviously works better to wait until the child sees a purpose to the sorting and feels it is a helpful method in starting the puzzle, otherwise it's just an obstacle in the way of fun

I can't even imagine getting to the point of 500+ pieces!  What fun!  Did you try those 3D puzzles too?  That's a whole other category I have no idea about.

[Erin M]

We've never tried the 3-Ds, I think more because they seem to take up so much more room!  I remember doing a few when I was around 13 (was always huge into puzzles!) and thinking they were not that interesting because relatively speaking they weren't as challenging as the bigger regular puzzles.  I bet they might be better for dd1 though...might have to get one and see if she likes it!

[creations]

OK, I'm back.
So, it's been a month since I first asked about jigsaws. He did all the new ones, including the 100 piece then stopped, didn't touch one for about two weeks. Now he's back on them and doing between 4 and 10 per day, sometimes the same set (a book set or box set) over and over in a day but will also do both 54 piece jigsaws a couple of 45 piece and a 25 piece all in one day!
The 45 piece is taking all of 5 mins or less and the 54 piece just 10 mins. It's not exactly a challenge although I can see he enjoys them.

So, my question is this. Do I need to be getting more so he has a bigger variety (different 54 piece puzzles maybe?) or just let him keep repeating these until he passes out with boredom before I introduce more?  The 100 piece is asked for on occasion but rarely tackled, I'm starting to wonder if it's the picture he doesn't like so much (Disney princesses which he appeared to like initially but now I'm not so sure), but don't know, maybe it's because it's 100 pieces and it takes some effort, or it could be that every time he asks for it he is already too tired to cope with something more difficult (he's just dropped his nap 2 weeks back).

Any thoughts?  (I sort of hoped we could spend a bit longer doing these puzzles whether independently or together)

[*Liz*]

Personally I don't think you need to increase the level every time, part of the joy of puzzles is new pictures.

Jigsaws are something you can often get in charity shops or car boots.

Jacob often does 'easy' jigsaws when he is tired. He likes those ravensburger boxes with 4 different jigsaws in - I think they are 12,20,24 and 36 pieces - if I sort them into sets he does them quite quickly though.

[TB9]

We have just built up her puzzle stash by buying her a new puzzle as a soecial treat every now and then.  She also goes in spurts and one afternoon will do all her bigger floor puzzles and take over the living room, and then not touch them for a couple of weeks.  At this point we have enough that when I do buy her a new one I try to make sure it is at the higher end of what she is capable of, so she will be challenged by it and wont grow out of it so quickly.

[Hedgehog17]

Would he be interested in a sliding tile puzzle instead? It's more of a challenge and also works fine motor in a different way 

I'm giving my DS a simple one next week to see how he gets on.

[creations]

I almost never go into charity shops but did go in several yesterday and only saw really boring pictures (the sort I'd tag as 'old lady' puzzles) which were 500 pieces. I'm clearly not going in the right shops, I was amazed too by how little kid's stuff there was (none in several shops) only one shop had anything for kids.  Where does it all go?
The puzzles from the £ shops and 99p shops have turned out to be lovely quality (unexpectedly) so it's not costing much to get a few, just a case of keeping looking out for different pictures then.

HH do you have an example of the sliding puzzle?  I know what you mean but just had a look on amazon and couldn't find anything other than numbers.  Did you buy on-line or from a shop?

[Hedgehog17]

Hi Creations,

I got DS these little owl puzzles from Yellow Moon: http://www.yellowmoon.org.uk/3-little-owls-sliding-puzzles

He loves owls, moons and stars, will just have to see if he can manipulate the tiles as they are quite small!

[creations]

Ooh I've never seen that site before.  Thanks

[Erin M]

Personally I don't think you need to increase the level every time, part of the joy of puzzles is new pictures.

Jigsaws are something you can often get in charity shops or car boots.

Jacob often does 'easy' jigsaws when he is tired.

^^^^^all of this

[michaeljacknnugg]

Just adding that my DS now very rarely does jigsaws, apart from a couple on the iPad. They take up a lot of space and don't sell on well, so I won't be buying any more for a while!

[creations]

Yeah, I don't think I'll be spending lots on expensive jigsaws, but if I ever find any in the charity shop I wouldn't mind getting those and the ones from the £ shop are surprisingly good quality if I can find new pictures.  I don't mind at all about selling on, at the point he is totally done with them I'll just send them on to a good home through free-cycle.
My mum has told me the library used to have a jigsaw collection, not sure if they still do it, but our local libraries are closing down and the one that will remain is a PITA, middle of town and costs me several £ to park which makes it more expensive to borrow a jigsaw than to buy one - really daft.