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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Was your toddler good at puzzles? What are they like now?

44 replies

lottytheladybird · 02/12/2013 20:11

Hello! My DS is almost 19 months old and can complete 12 and 15 piece puzzles all on his own. I'm amazed that he has the fine motor skills to do this, let alone the mental capacity.

I'd be really interested to hear from anyone who's DC was really good at puzzles from a young age and learn about what they're like now. What does being good at puzzles mean, do you think? [Smile]

OP posts:

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stopgap · 04/12/2013 20:34

Mine (27 months) is absolutely useless at puzzles and shape sorters, and I have major problems with spatial awareness (even the simplest of puzzles confuse me).

But I had a reading age of 14 by age 6, and my 2.5-year-old son has me reading thirty or so books a day, so maybe he'll be another left-brained fool .

jamaisjedors · 04/12/2013 20:39

Both DS went through a stage of being v. good at puzzles at around age 2.

They do fine at school now, but I wouldn't say they were geniuses (or is that genii!?).

They are pretty good at logical thinking though but their father is a maths professor so that probably helps.

Kiwiinkits · 04/12/2013 22:43

My DD at 2 was excellent at puzzles. Not at all interested now, at 3.

ItsOkayItsJustMyBreath · 07/12/2013 14:17

Same here Kiwi. DS is 3 next month and this time last year was doing aged 3-5 yo puzzles by himself, this phase lasted about 3 months then he lost interest. He will occasionally do them now but he's not that interested anymore. He has been labelled as extremely advanced.

RawCoconutMacaroon · 07/12/2013 14:56

Ds1, exceptional intellect (tested at request of the school age almost 6, iq 165+), utterly refused to do puzzles, or colour in. This greatly vexed his nursery and early primary class teachers who seemed to find it a really big deal that he was "missing a stage" he's at Oxford now so I guess it didn't do him any harm!

Ds2,3 and 4 not keen on puzzles or colouring in either.

By colouring in I mean exactly that... They all hated pre drawn pictures. Happy to draw their own.

oopsadaisyme · 07/12/2013 15:13

Thinkabout Your post made me laugh out loud!!! Got to love a kid who know's how to totally rock 'jingle jangle scarecrow!! - that's so brilliant and lovely!! xx

oopsadaisyme · 07/12/2013 15:27

My 4 year old is and always has been brill at 'puzzles' but I'm so one for the kids develop at different times, ages, in different things, etc -

What totally reinforced my thinking about this was I was once waiting for a 'health visitor' check up at the docs, and there was an 18 month old girl there with her mum, and her 'speech' and 'understanding' was immense!! It was like that of a four or five year old, but she wasn't walking, so mum (had a little chat) was getting sent to a load of specialists and what not, there was nothing wrong with her physically) - my personal point of view, she'll probably just 'wake up and run' one day!!?

The brain must be a fascinating thing, developing in different ways at different times x

lljkk · 07/12/2013 15:37

I think it probably is a sign of intelligence, but then again I am intelligent enough to know that intelligence isn't that important.

I meet OP's child's puzzle skills & trump them with DD who was a good painter at 12-13 months. Childminder couldn't stop exclaiming about it.

DC who was poorest at puzzles is also least academic.

castlesintheair · 07/12/2013 15:50

My DS was very good at puzzles when he was a toddler and not talking much. Aged 5 or 6 he was found to have a visual memory of a 14 year old as part of his SN assessment so probably something to do with that.

At 12 he has no interest in jigsaw puzzles. His academic strengths are maths, languages, problem solving and he's musical. Sure it's all linked somehow. I'm just pleased he's normal.

oopsadaisyme · 07/12/2013 16:00

I think just nurture and support anything you think your child has an aptitude or ability towards, but don't go over mad if one thing seems to develop sooner than others, that may all change as they grow and develop -

The Brain is a weird and wonderful thing, its a total absorbing age!! Variety is the key, so they're good at puzzles, try 'singing and dancing', 'painting', everything and anything??

Don't just think 'yay, he/she is good at that, lets give more and more of the same, they may be brilliant at dancing too?? xx

MiaowTheCat · 09/12/2013 13:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sittingbythefairylights · 09/12/2013 15:09

my youngest (aged 6) is brilliant at puzzles, and also non verbal reasoning, lego, playing the piano etc. he is not, imo, as "deep thinking" as his older brother who was pretty rubbish at puzzles. just different wired brains.

MummyConstant · 09/12/2013 16:35

My little man has been good at puzzles since 19mo too, he is a whizz at them now. He has moments where he just sits and does his puzzles for about an hour or so. He is very good at working out puzzles in any context too - maybe he will be an investigator or something when he's older!

My little lady who is 18mo hasn't got the foggiest and just eats them.

Jiltedjohnsjulie · 09/12/2013 16:57

DS was hopeless and his friend was very much like your Lo. His friend is still very good at jigsaws and is average academically. Ds is getting an average score for a 14yo in maths. He's 9.

deliverdaniel · 09/12/2013 19:01

What would be considered to be normal skill at puzzles for a 2-3 year old? My DS could do a 36 piece puzzle just before his 3rd birthday. It never occurred to me that that was particularly good, but they call him the 'puzzle master' at preschool. What are they meant to be able to do at that age?

ShoeWhore · 09/12/2013 19:16

Ds3 was brilliant at puzzles too and now is pretty much bottom set for everything, although I think he's quite bright. His speech was delayed so I think he had a preference for activities that relied less on language - also he does seem to have retained a talent for spotting patterns.

MERLYPUSS · 10/12/2013 10:57

My DTs are nearly 6. DT2 does puzzles by looking at the colour/shape and does not refer to the box at all. He is better at maths than DT1 and worse at reading (poss dyslexia) and his writing is dire but he has good ideas for stories etc. Loves lego.
DT1 loves a puzzle but needs the box for guidance. He will sit and complete a 300 piece. DT2 flits about.
We are doing a 1000 piece one atm and it's a bastard.

curlew · 10/12/2013 11:01

Both of mine were, and still are, completely useless at puzzles. One is on track for 3 A*s at A level, the other is g&t for English and maths in year 8. Not sure what, if anything, that tells anyone.

I remember a friend's 3 year old trying to help my dd with a puzzle when she was 6, then pushing her out of the way and doing it herself......!

DoctorWhom · 10/12/2013 11:41

DD is also a puzzle whiz. I remember when she was 14m and just walking, doing one of those wooden ones - my uber-competetive boss was astonished and promptly declared that's what his similar-aged grandson was going to spend the weekend doing!

Now (2.3), she still loves them and can do 30-40 pieces without looking at the box at all. She loves numbers, sorting, stories and singing. HV was given a disdainful look when asking her to do the two-piece ones at her recent development check...

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