The History & Benefits of Jigsaw Puzzles

Doing the puzzle is just the beginning!™

Jigsaw puzzles were first created by an English mapmaker named John Spilsbury in the late 1760's. He glued a map of the world on a piece off wood and cut out the countries. Children would then put the pieces together to learn to identify the different countries and where they were in relation to other countries. In other words, jigsaw puzzles were invented not for entertainment, but for education. Mr. Spilsbury's puzzles taught geography. Jigsaw puzzles would be a child's learning toy until the early 20th century.

In the early 1900's, jigsaw puzzles became a form of daily amusement and activity for adults. These puzzles, however, were very expensive ($5 for a 500-piece puzzle in 1908 when a laborer earned about $50/month!). In time, the price became more and more reasonable and the popularity of puzzles continued to grow. By the time of the Great Depression in the early 1930's, 10 million puzzles were sold per week. Historians observe that the long, careful process of putting a puzzle together provided people many hours of escape from the troubles of the Depression years.

Photo ColorOn Graphics® puzzles are a return to those early days of Mr. Spilsbury's puzzles where the purpose of a puzzle is to teach. In the late 18th century, the lesson was geography. Today, educators know that the process of putting a puzzle together teaches many lessons all at once.

In a wonderful blog, 42 Benefits of Doing Jigsaw Puzzles, the writer lists 42 educational outcomes when children work on puzzles both individually and together. He says, "Jigsaw puzzles are a one-stop cognitive development and character-building activity. There are few educational experiences that have the potential to teach such a varied range of thinking skills, as well as other useful skills such as patience and perseverance."

What can a child learn by putting a puzzle together? Here are just a few of the outcomes:

• Problem-solving strategies: Before attaching one piece to another, children will naturally determine how they can organize the pieces to simplify the task of putting the pieces together.
• Project management skills: Children quickly discover that success may be easier when they focus on the edge pieces first.
• Self-management skills: When putting a puzzle together, children will either learn on their own or be guided as to where they should work for the best results. For example, a solid table is better than a soft rug. They may also have to consider the time they have on any day to work on the puzzle.
• Visual skills: Puzzles help a child identify shapes and the relationships of those shapes. Puzzles teach the concept of images and mirror images and how they match together. Educators refer to the concept of Visual Literacy. As a child looks at a picture, what do the elements of the picture reveal and teach? Notice the people standing on the rock: what do they teach about the size or scale of the rock? What is the sky like? Blue and sunny, or cloudy? Was it a rainy day? What are the people wearing as they walk around the rocks? Safety ropes? What does that tell about how dangerous it is to walk on rocks in high places?
• Cognitive skills: Piecing a puzzle together takes planning, study of individual pieces, visualizing the whole based on pieces or parts of the whole.
• Character development skills and traits: Puzzles teach patience, dedication, commitment to completing a task, teamwork, group planning...the list can go on and on.
• Tactile skills (fine motor skills): Manipulating puzzle pieces, particularly smaller pieces, help a child develop fine motor skills. As you will discover with Photo ColorOn Graphics®, some parts of the puzzle are smooth, but the black-and-white portions have a matte finish that gives it a different texture.
• Social skills: Puzzles are fun! They involve time spent with friends, working together, talking, laughing, planning, helping one another, and celebrating the success of teamwork and accomplishment achieved together. A group that puts a puzzle together learns to communicate through verbal and non-verbal forms of communication.
• Collaborative skills: Social skills (above) and collaborative skills go hand in hand. The collaboration of working as a team toward a common goal prepares children for family life and work life.

To read all 42 benefits, visit the blog at http://jigsawpuzzlebenefits.blogspot.com/2010/07/42-benefits-ofdoing- jigsaw-puzzles.html.

Puzzles teach skills and character that will benefit a person throughout a lifetime. In 1767, they were used to teach geography. Today, your Photo ColorOn Graphics® puzzles will teach your children lessons for a lifetime. And you can be assured that adults will learn, too! After all, it is a great benefit to be a life-long learner. 


Photo ColorOn Graphics® puzzles are available in 30-piece and 300-piece versions. The 30-piece puzzle is specially designed for use in small groups and for quicker results in your classroom and program settings.