Find a picture you like and tear it up. Afterwards, mix the remains and then try to piece the picture back together. You have just created a jigsaw puzzle.
Archimedes, a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer, has mentioned the oldest known puzzle as far back as 250 BC. Its description was simply a dissection of squares; in other words, cutting a square into pieces. While you won’t have a hard time finding puzzles made of squares, jigsaw puzzles have since expanded their designs. There are easy jigsaw puzzles, moderately difficult puzzles, tough puzzles, hard puzzles, big jigsaw puzzles, the list goes on.
Once you’re done, you can even frame it. You can order 1000 piece puzzle frames or 300 puzzle frames or a custom puzzle frame. Did you just finish that 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle? Frame it with your choice of 1000 piece puzzle frames. It doubles as an achievement and decoration!
But what can these broken up pictures do for us? Are they just for fun? You would be surprised! Our brains love the prospect of solving problems. Dopamine, for example, is a neurotransmitter that is released as an incentive for doing something the brain thinks is good which has helped win itself the title and reputation as the “feel-good hormone.” Think of it as giving a dog a treat every time they do a trick or do what they are told. Our brains give our bodies dopamine when we participate with puzzles.
Puzzles can even help relax us psychologically. Have you ever zoned out from concentrating? You have entered a meditative state. Puzzles can help do that! It pushes the brain to be active by moving your hands, and since you are moving, it is like turning the key in your car and starting the engine.
It can even help improve the minds of your children. Children expect to reach certain milestones and with puzzles, your children can be exposed to new themes. Are you teaching your children the alphabet? Pick one up on the alphabet, or numbers and animals. The applications for puzzles even extend to their fine motor skills and improve hand and eye coordination. Depth perception can be improved as well as problem solving. In other words, puzzles help improve the connections within the brains, and it is especially helpful when your brain cells make the most of the connections before you turn 10. That is the power of a puzzle!
