Can your 3 year old do a puzzle?

winery

Can your 3 - 3.5 year old [boy] do a jumbo puzzle by himself? 

I say boy because I know that girls can pay attention better than boys and my boy has a problem putting the pieces together.  He's so easily distracted that when we're doing a puzzle, he'll frequently say things like "hey, look at this trick!" and do something else.

I have friends whose sons can put together a puzzle on their own and are younger.  Generally I don't compare, but it's nice to have a benchmark, you know?

About this:  I get SO frustrated doing it with him that I actually have to leave sometimes.  I'll say "look at the picture and find the two cones" and he'll wiggle and stare at the picture and whine (oh the whining) that he caaaaaaaan't and for me to "just do it".  It's the whining that pushes me over the edge, I think

So can your 3 year old do a puzzle? 

 

grja

My DS will be 3 next month and he can put together a jumbo 16 piece puzzle. We have a set of 4 and they have a shape on the back (square, circle, diamond, triangle) to tell you which puzzle it goes to. He can separate them and then put the puzzle together for the most part.

For us, it helped to show him what to look for. For example, if the piece had yellow on it I would tell him to find everything else with yellow and try them. He caught on to that pretty quickly.

Jamaica_Bride

Yes, Luke has been able to do puzzles for a while now. I think he watches Owen do it and caught on fast.

Kapalua

He does the 25 piece puzzles in a snap.  So, I got him some 100 piece puzzles-which he'll happily work on if I sit with him but he won't do them by himself.  I've found with my guy that it's not so much that he can't do it himself as he just doesn't want to.  Independent play skills aren't his strong suit!

When he gets crazy I just tell him that he's obviously not ready for this kind of puzzle and we put it away.  I don't know-it's not an exact science w/ these 3yo's...but you know that!

august06mom

DS actually really likes doing puzzles, which is kind of surprising to me because the kid won't sit still for anything. But he'll get into zone and will put together a whole bunch at once. I totally get what you're saying about being frustrated though -- if he doesn't feel like doing it, he just whines like crazy and I just want to do the whole damn thing by myself.

DevonPow

Nope. He can do some that we have done together before, but he usually still needs help. He is good with the color/picture matching, but not so hot with the shapes fitting into each other (like finding edge pieces and having them line up, etc). He unfortunatelly may have inherited my atrocious spacial reasoning skills.

 

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

hopefulmom

My DS is 3.8 years and has been doing puzzles for a while.  He quickly does the 25 piece ones (even new ones).  I bought him some 60 piece ones and he will work on them for a long time and get them together.  He wants help with some of the dollar store ones because they don't tend to "stay together" so I have to hold them in place.  I would maybe work on him picking things out of a picture...sort of like "Where's Waldo" but something simpler.  My DS is very observant in that regard and I think that is why he has such an easy time with puzzles.  Wish he were that way with other things...like writing his name (or even the first letter!).

AnnapolisLari

He can, sort of, but he's not that interested so I don't pull them out often. Why bother forcing him to do something that just frustrates him or me?

Heidisean

It is my dd's favorite thing to do and she does puzzles all day. She is easily doing 48 piece ones so we bought her 100 piece ones and she does them but struggles and sometimes says to me that she needs a break and comes back to it.

shopgirl_07

My son could put together a 100 piece puzzle by 3. He also could put together huge Lego sets as well. Now penmanship, that was another story....

femmegem

Alex has been putting together 24 piece puzzles on his own since before he turned 2, but he's always been really focused and mechanically inclined like that. It sounds like maybe J just isn't interested?

AggieCouple

TB is a little over 2 and he can put together puzzles.  He recently finished a 25 piece one by himself.  ML loves puzzles, we can't buy them fast enough (there aren't that many with 20-36 pieces; most are too easy or too hard), and he picked up her habit.  He has been watching her constantly, and I guess one way or another, she indirectly taught him.

Puzzles are a good way to teach focus (which is why we encourage them), and since he started doing them, his attention span has grown.  They have puzzle books with 4-5 pages, but the picture is on the backing, so it's quite a bit easier.  ML has a My Little Pony one, and TB started with those.  Maybe try that?

butterbeansmama

Yes! He is totally obsessed with them though. He can do up to a 75 piece puzzle.

Try buying the 25 piece ones and a picture of something that he is really interested in.

For example: at first, Preston would only put together Superhero themed puzzles, but now, he will do them all.

We also taught Preston how to match the pieces (like put the face together, or the tree, etc.). Corners and outlining pieces first (although he doesn't always follow this rule...lol).

stacynikki

Yes!  He loves them.  This is what we mostly did yesterday

jettagurl

Ben just turned 4 and can do the 100 pc puzzles...this is one of his favorite things.  He started puzzles around age 3 - the 24 pc ones, and then moved to some 60 pc ones, and has been able to the 100 pc ones since about Christmas.  The hologram ones throw him off a bit. 

Natalie has been able to do a 24 pc puzzle since a week or so of her 2nd birthday.

Like I said though, puzzles are nearly their favorite inside thing, and we do them 4-5x week I'd say.

 

Dimplz

DS only does up to 25 piece puzzles. We got him one with more pieces and it was just too overwhelming for him.

amiamish

Well crap I'm in the minority... My kid still does those wooden fit the shape in puzzles. LOL I don't like puzzles, and honestly we've never tried to do the other ones with him. I may try it now that I know so many can do it, but I don't think he'll stay interested in it. He's always been big on gross motor not fine motor stuff.

npeacock

At just 3 we got him some 25 piece puzzles. He wasn't all that interested, but would do a few pieces. He's almost 4 now, and he can easily put together a 25 piece puzzle all by himself. He is really proud too. We haven't tried anything larger yet. Really, he's only gotten goo at them in the last few months.