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We adapted an idea from Little Family Fun and made a racing game out of putting a puzzle together with our Chunky Number Puzzle. NJoy and MBug had so much fun, I wanted to share before I forgot (baby brain with #4 has been worse multiple times over!!).
To practice recognizing numbers 1-20, I took the pieces of a puzzle and placed them in a separate container. I sat in the schoolroom (sweet baby NSis in lap) with the puzzle piece container and kept the puzzle itself on our cedar chest in the den.
Puzzle Racing Fun
NJoy pulled out one puzzle piece at a time from the container where I was sitting. He read the number (I helped if he was unsure), we gave a quick high five and…
he ran to place it in the puzzle in the den. He LOVED IT!
And, of course, Miss MBug couldn’t bear to simply sit and watch. She jumped ran right in, holding up numbers one-by-one for me to read to her (meaningful exposure).
At our house, this puzzle race was met with: “Let’s do it again!” Success!
A couple of warnings/thoughts:
- Remove socks if you have hardwoods like we do!
- Go into this with the end goal being that you’re exposing your child to a learning concept in a meaningful and fun way; not that your child has to complete the entire puzzle…although I don’t think you’ll have to prod too much. 🙂
You May Also Enjoy:
- Melissa & Doug’s Chunky Alphabet Puzzle is the perfect companion to their Number Puzzle. We have both and my tots enjoy BOTH!
- Syllable Run and Find Game
- Learning the Alphabet, ABC printable packs for learning letters and their sounds
- Preschool and Kindergarten Learning Packs {all FREE!}
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~Becky
Very fun and active learning. Thanks! Carolyn
How fun! You are a great model of how to have fun and get your kids learning! Enjoy this time. It goes fast! My babies are 8, 8, and 10. All have birthdays this summer. Your post really made me miss my kids being your kids’ ages.
I am told to enjoy this time a lot. I try to most days; but there are other days that I wish away…sad, but true!