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By Marina-Neiman
Jigsaw puzzles have been entertaining children and adults for centuries. Wooden puzzles were originally created by painting a picture onto a flat piece of wood, then using a jigsaw to cut out the pieces. A man named John Spilsbury is credited with making the first commercial jigsaw puzzle around 1760. His educational puzzles were of maps, and were used to aid in teaching young children geography. As the children put the pieces of the puzzle together, they were able to learn where different countries and regions were. Because of ease of mass production, many modern jigsaw puzzles are made from cardboard. Puzzles for younger children may also be made of brightly colored plastic or foam. These puzzles have larger pieces, which are easier for young hands to manipulate. Simple wooden puzzles, often three dimensional, are also common. These puzzles have large, easy to manipulate pieces and often form animal or human shapes.

Jigsaw puzzles can be great educational tools. For very young children, they help problem solving and motor skills, while teaching them the forms of animals, people, and much more. Puzzles for children were the primary form of jigsaw puzzle until 1900 or so, when the first more complicated puzzles were produced for adults. It is common for adults to glue down a completed jigsaw puzzle to save their work, whereas children are more likely to take it apart so that it can be put back together again. Doing jigsaw puzzled develops several functions of the brain at once. Reasoning, deduction, analysis and logical thought are exercised in the completion of jigsaw puzzles, as well as physical hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness. This is the case for all jigsaw puzzles, not just the ones marked “educational.”

Jigsaw puzzles can be an important part of the learning process for children, though they should be supplemented with other material. In order to maximize the educational value of a puzzle, it needs to be a part of the learning process, not all of it. A geography puzzle, for example, does not by itself provide all of the information to pass a geography test. The advantage of using puzzles to supplement traditional lessons is that some children are spatial learners. They can better grasp facts when they have some object to move and correlate with their lessons. Visual learners can also benefit from jigsaw puzzles. By seeing the image go together, the information contained within it is better absorbed. Jigsaw puzzles are a fun problem to solve. They can make learning fun and help information to be better absorbed by children. The interesting shapes and process of putting puzzle pieces together, help develop important skills for later life.
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Marina Neiman, author and mother of two, writes for www.1888Toys.com – Educational Toys Store, featuring broad selection of educational toys, develpmental games and educational jigsaw puzzles for children.

An Introduction To Suduko And Suduko Game Information Sites
By Mary Murtha -
Sudoku is the latest puzzle craze to sweep the nation. If you search through various blogs and Sudoku game information sites, you will find that many people refer to this challenging game as the new Rubix Cube. If you grew up in the 80’s it would be difficult to forget the six-sided and six colored square, but Sudoku is doing just that.

If you think that Sudoku is a new game you would be incorrect. In fact, it was created in 1979 and published in an American puzzle magazine. The game was created by Howard Garns, a former architect. The craze hit Japan in 1986 but did not take the center stage until 2005 when websites, puzzle books and even significant media coverage made Sudoku game a worldwide sensation.

If you conduct a web search for Sudoku game you will find it has a massive following. The Internet has become a perfect haven for those logically inspired sleuths dedicated to filling in the boxes and solving puzzles. There are tons of websites dedicated to the game. There are also contests where contestants can actually win money or prizes. Contests, however, usually have to be done in person because there are computer programs available that can solve Sudoku game puzzles in a snap.

Sudoku is actually an abbreviation of the Japanese phrase suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru. Translated, it means the digits remain single. Normally, an ordinary Sudoku game puzzle is a 9 x 9 grid divided into nine 3×3 subgroups. Some of the cells have numbers and clues in them. Others are empty. The goal of the game is to pencil in the missing numbers in a logical fashion, but remember, each number one through nine can be used only once.

The difficulty levels of Sudoku game are varied. Puzzles can be crafted to fit highly experienced players or pure novices. Even the very young can get in on playing Sudoku game. If you found yourself a fan of the Rubix Cube back in the 1980s there is a good chance the Sudoku game craze would be right up your analytical alley. Give it a try and who knows, you might get hooked!

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To learn more about the Sudoku Game and Sudoku Puzzles visit www.sudokudome.com