Last Updated on January 25, 2024 by Gamesver Team and JC Franco
When you see thousands of unbuilt jigsaw pieces, do you get excited or scared? While building a jigsaw puzzle may not be everyone’s cup of tea, assembling one can be relaxing, especially when you have experience building them.
Everyone knows that puzzles come with a wide array of benefits, especially for children, but did you know that adults too can benefit from jigsaw puzzles? From the calming sensation of fitting one correct puzzle piece to exercising your brain, building jigsaw puzzles comes with many benefits.
If you enjoy playing with jigsaw puzzles, you can take it up as a hobby. If you’re not someone given to building puzzles, try building along with others. Assembling puzzles with others is a great way to connect with family and friends.
Let’s delve into why it’s a good time to start puzzling.
These are 20 advantages of Jigsaw Puzzles:
1. Building jigsaw puzzles can improve your concentration.
How good is your attention span? When you’re putting pieces together, you need to focus. Puzzling is the perfect tool to work your concentration muscles.
Whether you want to build or choose one for your kid, make sure the puzzle is age-appropriate. Extensive and challenging puzzles can make kids impatient. You also don’t want to select puzzles that are too easy, causing boredom.
2. You get to work on your patience.
Finding the exact puzzle piece you’re looking for can take time, especially when you must sort through numerous parts. This process of searching is an opportunity for you to develop patience. In addition, organizing similar designs together will aid you along in completing your puzzle, reducing frustration.
3. You develop spatial awareness.
Spatial awareness is being aware of yourself and objects surrounding you in a particular space. Examining different pieces as part of a larger image allows you to improve your spatial reasoning skills.
For example, as you analyze the shapes and colors to determine which pieces will fit together, you slowly do this internally instead of physically trying every part out.
4. Kids can strengthen their eye-hand coordination.
Toddlers develop their eye-hand coordination through a lot of practice. For example, they see where a piece can go and follow up by moving that specific piece into place. By building puzzles, they get enough exercise getting their eyes and hands to work together.
5. Building jigsaws gives toddlers the ability to recognize shapes.
Recognizing shapes is an integral part of children being able to read and write and form their letters.
For example, some Jigsaw puzzles consist of geometric shapes, which help kids to identify basic shapes. Children realize that the outside edges of a jigsaw form a straight line, for instance, and they understand why these pieces won’t fit inside a puzzle.
6. It improves your short-term memory.
Improving your short-term memory is one of the advantages of building a jigsaw puzzle. For instance, a flash of a specific color can remind you of another section on which you’re working. As you recall where specific colors go, you train your brain to make speedy connections which helps you to improve your short-term memory.
7. You can build on your own or with others.
Have you tried assembling puzzles on your own or along with other puzzle fanatics? Of course, if puzzling is your hobby, you won’t mind building by yourself, but having a few people working together can be fun. Especially when working with thousands of pieces, it’s great to have help.
8. Building a jigsaw is a great way to relax.
Even though you must concentrate and use some brainpower, puzzles are entertaining. When you do need to break away from the mundaneness or busyness of life, you can always take some time to calm down by puzzling. It is a great way to relax.
9. It provides you with a sense of accomplishment.
Finishing a jigsaw puzzle gives you a sense of accomplishment, but even if you’re a long way from completing the jigsaw, just finding two pieces to join can still give you that sense of accomplishment. This sense of action can also help boost self-esteem.
10. Exercising your mind can spark creativity.
We can develop creative thinking through open-mindedness, communication, and problem-solving. If you want to ignite your creative skills, spend time building puzzles. When you do, you exercise your mind, and this sparks your imagination and enhances your creativity.
11. Spending time sorting through a puzzle is a great way to catch up with others.
As you search for just the right piece, you’re still able to connect and engage with others around you. You can use this time to get to know others better, catch up with them and have fun while keeping your brain active.
12. It is a fantastic learning tool.
Puzzles cover a wide array of topics. When children start building, they begin asking questions related to the subject. Parents can use this time to teach children more about the related material. In addition, children learn more vocabulary words linked to the subject matter, which can be helpful in school.
13. It enhances problem-solving skills.
An unbuilt puzzle is a problem, and identifying strategies to build the puzzle can enhance problem-solving abilities. For example, you can sort pieces according to color, object, shape, or size. Organizing and assembling the elements in a puzzle is a great way to work on these skills.
14. Building puzzles puts you in a better mood.
Every time you join two pieces correctly, your brain releases dopamine. An increase in dopamine is responsible for regulating your mood and level of optimism. As you continue to put pieces together correctly, this release in dopamine encourages you to continue building the puzzle and puts you in a better mood.
15. You can work on your co-operation and communication when building with others.
Do you enjoy assembling puzzles with others? If so, you have the chance to communicate and work on your team-building skills. When you learn how to co-operate with others, your teamwork skills are enhanced.
16. Building puzzles allows you to break away from your busy schedule.
When you break away from a busy schedule, not only are you refreshed, you’re also more focused. Breaking away means that you’ll be more productive when you plug back into your work schedule. If you feel yourself becoming less effective, take a break and piece some jigsaw parts together.
17. You sharpen your attention to detail.
Building puzzles helps you to focus on tiny little details. You must pay attention to small nuances that can help you find the pieces that fit. As you are detail-oriented, you sharpen your awareness of more information.
18. It cures boredom.
When you’re bored, you can keep yourself and perhaps others entertained by building a jigsaw puzzle together. It’s an excellent way for a parent to interact with their kids, and it keeps friends occupied and entertained. So, if you’re looking for a healthy distraction, look no further than jigsaw puzzles.
19. You exercise the left and right sides of your brain.
We still want to have excellent cognitive skills as we age. Building puzzles can help prevent cognitive decline. When you build puzzles, you use both the left and right sides of your brain, offering you complete mental exercise for your brain. As you connect colors and shapes in conjunction with logical reasoning skills, you give your brain a good workout.
20. You can reduce your stress levels.
When you relax by building puzzles, your brain shifts to a similar state to dreaming, and this dream-like state can help you reduce your stress levels. So, the next time you are feeling a little stressed out, spend some time relaxing by building puzzles.
All in all
As we’ve seen, building jigsaw puzzles comes with many benefits. From aiding a toddler’s learning process to maintaining cognitive function as we age, jigsaws are fantastic for both young and old.
So, the next time you’re looking for a fun activity to do with your kid, or if you’re relaxing so you’ll be more productive, give building jigsaws a crack. You may end up enjoying it to the point of picking it up as a hobby. Happy building.
This article was co-authored by our team of in-house and freelance writers, and reviewed by our editors, who enjoy sharing their knowledge about their favorite games with others!
JC Franco
JC Franco serves as a New York-based editor for Gamesver. His interest for board games centers around chess, a pursuit he began in elementary school at the age of 9. Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Mercyhurst University, JC brings a blend of business acumen and creative insight to his role. Beyond his editorial endeavors, he is a certified USPTA professional, imparting his knowledge in tennis to enthusiasts across the New York City Metropolitan area.