S’s first puzzles

To me , puzzles are anything which involve activating the brain and figuring a way out. For kids , these range from simple peg puzzles to complicated 50-piece jigsaws.

For S , we introduced puzzles when he was about 8 months old. To begin with , he was exposed to a simple shape sorter , gradually progressed to chunky peg puzzles, and presently loving his 2- & 3-piece jigsaws.

Mentioned below are what my son loved at each stage. The type of puzzle given to the child would depend on the child’s interest and hence might not be the same across all households.

1. 8 months + –– Fisher price matching puzzle

These contain chunky pieces that are light in weight and easy to hold. It introduces children to the concept of ‘matching’ and helps in improving their grasp and motor skills.

• 12 – 15 months – Wooden Peg puzzles

These chunky wooden pieces come with knobs which make it easier for the child to hold and place the pieces in the respective places.

• 16 months + — 2-piece matching puzzles

The primary motive of these puzzles is to introduce the child to the concept of halves and how 2 similar halves make 1 complete picture. The wooden ones we have from Edu edge will fall under S’s top 5 favorites!

• 18 months + –
• Wooden outline puzzles

These puzzles come with a wooden board and chunky pieces with knobs placed on them. You could begin with 2-piece boards and gradually progress to smaller and increasing number of pieces. S’s favorites are the continent , dinosaur & tortoise boards.

• 2 Pieces jigsaw These set the base for the kids to understand how small pieces come together to form a complete picture. The ones from Biblubox are sturdy enough for the toddler’s hands & also come in several themes as well.

• 3 pieces & above  

This set from Indigrow is worth a buy and depict the images of India as realistically as possible.

• Shadow matching puzzles – This set would include 2 pieces of each picture , one in white and one in black to enable the kid to identify the shadows of each picture. This falls under my top 5 to improve logical thinking and to improve focus.

These are just few options to introduce the kids to the world of puzzles. The age at which a child opens up to a particular puzzle will vary. As always , go by your child and don’t go by what the recommended age says. Improved focus , concentration , analytical & logical thinking , fine motor skills are just few of the many pros of introducing several puzzles to kids at a young age. To me , the biggest pro that I have noticed is these keep S occupied for minutes together during his independent playtime. Could it get better than the child occupying himself for minutes together while you sip a hot cup of chai?

Until next time…

Wooden toys we love

Wooden toys might look expensive when compared to plastic alternatives, but the durability makes it a total value for money. Our toy storage includes a mix of both and here are the top favorites from our collection

• Stackers – One of the best open-ended toys that we have purchased for S. While he was 7 months old, he began exploring the pieces on his own and now at 1.5 years, he stands up and tries to stack one piece over the other and it is a visual treat. It grows with the baby and opens a world of possibilities and gets the creative juices flowing! You can purchase them from Chitrani.
• Peg Puzzles – This is where began the puzzle love for S. His first puzzles were simple matching peg puzzles which involved placing the wooden piece rightly on the board with the same image (comes in various options like fruits, vegetables, animals, transport, alphabets, etc). Most of our collection is from amazon and a couple were gifted. You can find amazing ones here.
• 2-piece jigsaw/matching puzzles – Once he got a little bored of the peg puzzles, we decided to try the 2-piece puzzles which would play a major role in pincer grasp development .The matching puzzles from Edu-edge have been a recent favorite with S. It has been helping him to understand the concept of similar objects, names of objects. He tries to match similar objects around the house, in his books, etc. and it is truly fascinating to see the child identifying minute details which we wouldn’t notice otherwise! You can find several options on amazon.
• Fishing – By holding on to the fishing rod and placing it rightly on the fish’s center which has a magnet despite the oscillations improves the hand-eye coordination amazingly well! S took a little time to understand the idea of magnetic attraction but once he did, there’s been no looking back! The box is super compact and can be taken in your diaper bag during travel! Ours is from Biblubox (presently out of stock) , similar ones available on amazon as well.
• Geometric shape sorter – Came across this during an amazon sale and gave it a try. It has been a hit since day 1. While at 18 months, we are using it as stackers, it can eventually be used to understand shapes, numbers, colors, etc.
• Engage board – At the same time when S started getting fond of switches, door stoppers and the like, I got hold of an engage board through an Instagram store and it has been a game changer! It has not only kept him ‘engaged’ as per the product name but has also improved his hand-eye coordination enabling him to use zips, velcros, window latches with adequate precision! Check them out here.

Apart from the stackers, we started using the others during the 12-18 months period. Go by your child’s interest and development and not the recommended age on the packaging. That is what I follow when I purchase something new for him.

Happy parenthood to you! 😊

Hope you found this useful!

Activites , books and toys (0-1 year)

It’s never too early to read a book to a baby or introduce them to various toys and activities- this is the one thing which is my takeaway from the amazing parent bloggers that I follow on Instagram!

Keeping this in mind , I started investing in books and sensible toys for S and here I’m to give you my recommendations.

Let me divide it into 2 halves –

0-6 months

1. B/W cards – In the initial months , a newborn baby’s eyes can see only black , white and shades of grey until about 4 months of age. The black and white flash cards work best at this stage. Ours are from Brain Smith but we started using them a bit late *awareness came later*. But better late than never! I used to sit with him and show him the cards and read out the name aloud. You could also place the cards towards the baby’s side of vision and let him/her keep gazing at them constantly during the initial days. It is an excellent visual stimulus!

2. Cloth books – These are great books to begin with around 5-6 months or even a little earlier. It helps the child to freely explore the pages without the fear of it getting torn or hitting them. Ours is from Amazon and it came with a teether at the elephant’s tail – S used to crumble , twist and turn , bite the book , pull the tail and completely enjoyed himself with Ele the elephant!

3. Playgym – S got his Fisher-price playgym when he turned 1 month old. It was a gift from his grandparents and it has literally grown with him at each stage. The pictures speak for themselves! You can find it on Amazon or first cry. It’s WORTH THE BUY! Put it up on your baby registry and let’s hope a magician brings it home for your kid 😛

4. Rattles , teethers – Invest in one or two good quality ones because the child would want to immediately take it to his mouth and we don’t want poorly made products going inside – do we? S’s teethers were from Fisher price purchased through First cry. There are instagram stores like lilamore_india selling crocheted teethers in case you want to go plastic free.

4. Their hands and legs – This is the best stimulant for the child! They are slowly understanding how their legs and arms move , trying to achieve that coordination, trying to know the use of arms by grabbing objects , taking their hands to their mouths and so on. Let them be;Only with exploration will they learn 🙂

Now moving on to the naughtier phase of 6-12 months! The child now has started to move around , is getting faster by the day and slowly achieving various milestones one by one! Giving age appropriate tools to guide their milestones would be the best way to go!

1. Open ended play – Rainbow stackers are an excellent option to begin with. You can also check here on why I think these are great options for independent play time! Ours are from Chitrani , watch out for their occasional clearance sales and grab the best sellers at almost 50% off!

2. Shape sorters – Ours are from Fisher price and this is an excellent activity to promote hand eye coordination and enhances the fine motor skills in the child. He might not get it right at the first shot but the sheer determination with which he works towards the goal is a treat to watch and a lesson to learn :’) If you don’t want to shell out money on this , fret not. The same can be replicated at home using a cardboard – cut out some shapes and teach the kid to place back the shapes in the holes.

3. Stackers – There are plenty of options available online , ours are from Funskool. S was only interested in throwing the pieces here and there initially ; that phase passed and today he stacks them all and it’s a visual delight! Patience is key 🙂

4.Building Blocks- BESTEST for open ended , independent play. Obviously the child can’t build a castle on day 1. It starts with them exploring the pieces , slowly placing them on each other , moving on to placing them tightly and building the pieces one on top of the other! Ours is from Fisher price , a gift from my little sister and it was picked up at Hamleys. Gifts like these are truly amazing – they literally grow with the baby!

5. Board books – The thick page board books are best at this stage since it prevents the baby from tearing them up (well , in case of S , he could easily pull off those as well..considered renaming him as Bahubali and got an affirmation when he non nonchalantly picked up a watermelon from the floor and grinned!) Our first set of board books were from Om books. You can check these pages on instagram for a zillion other options.

Bookmark.in , bookworld , pupiliobooks , bookberries

6. Short stories and interactive books – These are books which have super short stories , attractive illustrations , colorful pages and interactive pull and push slides which the child would find interesting. Again , instagram stores are great places to source these.

7. Flash cards – currently the only set of cards we own are from Saffron stories (Gods and Goddesses cards) and S finds them very interesting! Total value for money!

8. Sensory Balls from Fisher Price are good options for the tiny hands until they outgrow that and want football sized ones. Soft toys are also great options for the little ones to touch and feel objects!

Hope these recommendations help you and your little one. I would love to hear what worked and what didn’t work for you 🙂