Executive function
A toddler participates in looking closely at and describing each piece of a puzzle as it is removed from the puzzle frame and then returned to where it fits in the puzzle.
Melissa & Doug® Farm Wooden Chunky Puzzle (see Be Prepared)
Be Prepared: The suggested puzzle has eight pieces. You may wish to select a more or less challenging puzzle, based on the toddler’s skill with puzzles.
[Invite a toddler to join you at a table to do a puzzle. Sit next to the toddler with the completed puzzle in front of the toddler.]
Look at this puzzle! It has different animals that live on a farm.
What animals do we see?
[Encourage the toddler to look at and name the animal on each puzzle piece. Provide clues as appropriate.]
I am going to look at each puzzle piece I take out of the puzzle. I can see that this puzzle piece shows a sheep. It has white, curly hair. I am feeling the edges of the sheep puzzle piece with my fingers. The piece has a bumpy shape.
[Demonstrate tracing the outline of the puzzle piece with your finger. Encourage the toddler to do the same.]
I am going to look at each piece of the puzzle when I take it out of the puzzle. I am going to look at the animal and the shape of each piece.
[Continue the process described above with each puzzle piece. Encourage the toddler to talk about and feel the edge of each piece. Put the pieces you take from the puzzle in a group near the puzzle frame.
After all pieces have been removed, put each piece in the puzzle as you describe your thinking and point to what you are noticing. Example: “This piece shows the sheep. It has white, curly hair. I remember the sheep was in this part of the puzzle. Here is where the piece goes in the puzzle! The piece fits here!”]
We worked on a puzzle together. We looked at each piece of the puzzle and felt its edges. Then we put each piece of the puzzle where it fits. Let’s point to each piece of the puzzle together.
[Encourage the toddler to join you in pointing to and saying the name of the animal pictured on each puzzle piece.]
Executive function
A toddler practices taking apart and putting together a puzzle with staff guidance.
Melissa & Doug® Farm Wooden Chunky Puzzle (see Be Prepared)
Be Prepared: The suggested puzzle has eight pieces. You may wish to select a more or less challenging puzzle, based on the toddler’s skill with puzzles.
Invite a toddler to work on a puzzle with you. Place a completed puzzle in front of the toddler. Sit across from or adjacent to the toddler, to indirectly communicate that the toddler is in charge of the puzzle work, with your help as needed.
Encourage the toddler to describe what he/she sees on the puzzle. Then encourage the toddler to remove each piece of the puzzle, one by one, and look closely at its characteristics. Offer support for paying attention to the image and shape of each piece, including tracing its edges. Encourage the toddler to put the pieces in a small group next to the puzzle.
After all pieces are in a small group near the puzzle frame, invite the toddler to put the pieces together in the puzzle. Offer questions or comments when it appears the toddler is uncertain about where the piece should go. Draw attention to the images on the puzzle frame, if necessary.
Conclude the activity by acknowledging the toddler’s efforts in looking at each puzzle piece, and inviting the toddler to point to each piece and say what animal it shows.
Executive function
Toddlers take turns taking apart and putting together a puzzle.
Be Prepared: The suggested puzzle has eight pieces, providing four turns for each of two toddlers. You may wish to select a more or less challenging puzzle, based on toddlers’ skills with puzzles.
Invite two toddlers to sit next to each other at a table with a completed puzzle in front of them. Encourage toddlers to take turns (a) removing one of the pieces from the puzzle frame, (b) describing what it shows, and (c) place the removed piece in a small group next to him/her (each child has a group of puzzle pieces he/she removed). Remind toddlers that taking turns means we wait patiently while someone else works with the puzzle.
Invite toddlers to swap the group of pieces he/she removed from the puzzle, so each toddler is returning to the puzzle the pieces the other child removed. Encourage toddlers to take turns (a) describing a puzzle piece (“what does it show?”) and (b) putting the piece where it fits on the puzzle frame.
Conclude the activity by asking toddlers how they knew where a piece fits on the puzzle and acknowledging their efforts to work together by taking turns.
These options gradually increase the challenge of practicing executive function skills by beginning with guided participation (Option 1) and moving to options with higher levels of independent work with the puzzle pieces. Option 3 is more challenging than the other options because toddlers work independently (with staff help as needed only) and also play with a peer by taking turns. It can be challenging for some children to wait and/or to avoid telling another child what to do with a puzzle piece. In addition to offering a reminder, it may be helpful to offer a preview of waiting patiently. Example: “Anthony, now it is Samuel’s turn. You need to wait patiently and not tell Samuel what to do.”
Some toddlers may welcome the activity’s systematic approach of looking at each puzzle piece as it is removed and returned. Other toddlers may wish to move more quickly through the task and rely on the images that remain on the puzzle frame for matching puzzle pieces to their appropriate location. If there is a tendency to rush through the puzzle, encourage the toddler to slow down. You might encourage the child to pause briefly between pieces by taking two deep breaths before looking at another piece.
Extra support
Enrichment
Invite the toddler to tell how he/she knew where to place the puzzle pieces. Example: “How did you know the duck piece would fit here?”
Materials Needed: two developmentally-appropriate puzzles
Place the puzzles on a low table. Invite toddlers to practice removing the pieces and putting them back in. Talk with toddlers about their actions as they work.
Materials Needed: variety of puzzles with different challenge levels
Provide a variety of puzzles for children in your care. Toddlers will enjoy watching older children work on more challenging puzzles, and may help with support. Older children may enjoy assisting younger toddlers. Encourage children to talk with each other about the puzzle pieces.
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