Jigsaw Puzzles With Colorful Playing Themes to Enhance Mental Faculties

Jigsaw puzzles can give a considerable contribution to develop your intelligence. They enhance the quotient level of language, arithmetic and numeric ability. These puzzle games are available online with many attractive themes like places, animals, nature and vehicles. They are sure to improve the intellectual ability of a common person. Now online jigsaws have been made displaying colorful graphics, attractive images and beautiful overviews. Their themes are made in an attractive way. Online Jigsaw puzzles are popular among players of all ages. The new trends of this game on the internet include classical playing techniques used 300 years ago.

History of the Game

Jigsaws were invented in the year 1760 by John Spilsbury who was a map maker by profession. The first puzzle game was created on a piece of wood, displaying countries of the globe. By 1900 these games became very popular in the United States. Their craze reached the point of zenith around 1920. By his time many gaming companies like "Victory" and "Chad Valley" started making affordable puzzle versions for natives of UK. Online jigsaws have become the most favorite choice on the internet among kids and youngsters. They are created with attractive 3d graphics. Many kinds of different themes like animals, cars, nature, chess, fruits and flowers can be seen in these games.

Benefits of Playing Online Jigsaws

Jigsaw puzzles have multiple advantages. They increase the power of cerebral part in the human brain. These games also enhance the charisma, self confidence and feeling of nervousness in a person. Online jigsaw puzzles are available in many formats in virtual gaming market. Main themes of these games include flash puzzles, word games, arcade sports and mind oriented games. Players engage themselves in jigsaws and forget worries and sadness. Getting happiness for a couple of hours without any hard cost is a nice deal. Many companies have introduced easy virtual jigsaws for children. These can be downloaded from internet without paying any dime.

Who Can Play This Game

Jigsaw puzzles provide long lasting online entertainment. These can be played by people of all age groups like growing kids, teenagers, adults and old persons. It doesn't matter who plays these games. The benefit of this virtual sport is the same for all without any discrimination of age among online players. If kids start playing an online jigsaw, they would be able to enhance their intellectual capabilities and logical aptitude till they grow into adults.

Jigsaw Puzzles With Colorful Playing Themes to Enhance Mental Faculties

Jigsaw puzzles can give a considerable contribution to develop your intelligence. They enhance the quotient level of language, arithmetic and numeric ability. These puzzle games are available online with many attractive themes like places, animals, nature and vehicles. They are sure to improve the intellectual ability of a common person. Now online jigsaws have been made displaying colorful graphics, attractive images and beautiful overviews. Their themes are made in an attractive way. Online Jigsaw puzzles are popular among players of all ages. The new trends of this game on the internet include classical playing techniques used 300 years ago.

History of the Game

Jigsaws were invented in the year 1760 by John Spilsbury who was a map maker by profession. The first puzzle game was created on a piece of wood, displaying countries of the globe. By 1900 these games became very popular in the United States. Their craze reached the point of zenith around 1920. By his time many gaming companies like "Victory" and "Chad Valley" started making affordable puzzle versions for natives of UK. Online jigsaws have become the most favorite choice on the internet among kids and youngsters. They are created with attractive 3d graphics. Many kinds of different themes like animals, cars, nature, chess, fruits and flowers can be seen in these games.

Benefits of Playing Online Jigsaws

Jigsaw puzzles have multiple Advantages. They increase the power of the brain of the human brain. These games also improve the charisma, confidence and a sense of nervousness in a person. Puzzle online are commercially available in various sizes in virtual games. Main topics of these games with Flash puzzle, word games, arcade games and sports-oriented spirit. Players engage in form and forget the worries and sadness. first opportunity for several hours without hardcost is a nice deal. Many companies have introduced easy virtual jigsaws for children. These can be downloaded from internet without paying any dime.

Who Can Play This Game

Jigsaw puzzles provide long lasting online entertainment. These can be played by people of all age groups like growing kids, teenagers, adults and old persons. It doesn't matter who plays these games. The benefit of this virtual sport is the same for all without any discrimination of age among online players. If kids start playing an online jigsaw, they would be able to enhance their intellectual capabilities and logical aptitude till they grow into adults.

Christmas Themed Jigsaw Puzzles - A Family Activity for the Holidays

Just the thought of the Christmas season can immediately conjure up images of delicious treats and other yummies. After you've filled up on them, consider relaxing your body and using your brain with some Christmas food-related jigsaw puzzles. Candy canes, Christmas cookies, gingerbread houses, and fruitcakes are some examples of food-related puzzles associated with Christmas. These kinds of Christmas jigsaw puzzles will definitely be a winner with kids while they anticipate real Christmas goodies. All of these puzzles coincide with the flavors connected with the holiday season.

As soon as Christmas beckons, everybody gets busy with unpacking all their decorations from out of their attics or their garages. Holiday puzzles using decorations and treats as their primary theme speaks to everyone and complements the feelings of the season. Holiday candles, Christmas lights, Christmas centerpieces, Christmas trees, Christmas ornaments, etc., are all themes that are put to use in jigsaw puzzles that are associated with Christmas decorations.

Cozy family and friends emotions rise to the surface during every Christmas time. Joyful, fun- filled family occasions usually are the order most typically associated with the season. Jigsaw puzzles help to make wonderful entertaining times for the whole family. Specific themes such as coming home for Christmas, Christmas kittens, Christmas greetings, holiday season greetings, poinsettias, wreaths, garlands, snowmen, snow seasons and Christmas in the home are just some of the themes for jigsaws that fit perfectly with this joyful season.

The real Christmas spirit is highlighted with the use of several traditional symbols. Most of these classic symbols are usually readily available as puzzle pictures as well. A number of these examples would be the meaning of Christmas, holly, mistletoe, angels, pinecones, churches and cathedrals, wreaths, and Christmas carolers. All of these popular Christmas designs create amazing images and add to that being able to put the image together as a puzzle makes these great Christmas gifts. And helping to solve any of these puzzles will familiarize little children with these holiday symbols. Talking about these kinds of symbols can go a long way in bringing out the idea associated with the real Christmas spirit.

Santa Claus, his elves, reindeer, and his bag of presents are all also highly commonly made use of as themes for jigsaw puzzles. Every toy shop always carries a broad selection of Santa Claus jigsaw puzzles.

Everyone knows that jigsaw puzzles can be an excellent way for using the brain in a really enjoyable way. By including the Christmas theme with puzzles, they actually perform the double purpose of working the brain along with familiarizing the whole family about Christmas and its related values and symbols.

Online Childrens Jigsaw Puzzles for a Happy Christmas

Are you ready for Christmas yet? You've done it, all the little things necessary for your children happy to see the big day? Well, why not consider something that can provide some good solid educational value, as well as some fun this year? This could be a lot worse than looking around the online network, the offspring of some puzzles.

No, do not you think. We're not talking about children's puzzlesare hosted and completed online here - what we mean are kids jigsaw puzzles that you can find and buy online. You will be amazed at the variety and style of puzzles available on today's market - from modern fun jigsaws featuring your kids' favourite TV characters, to classic old picture jigsaws like the ones you used to have when you were a kid. You can source online childrens jigsaw puzzles from any reputable online toy store - and you might even find a fraction of the information on some of them.

It 's a bit a tendency in preparation for Christmas sales this year. You will find that online toy stores have sold the most fashionable, and conditions are also a few of their puzzles at low prices. This of course means that your children or your grandchildren or your grandchildren the gift of educational fun for much less. With the amount of learning and concentration in the puzzle for children which is in linechildrens jigsaw puzzles one of the best bets of all for an affordable gift hit this year.

Here's the thing about a jigsaw puzzle: it is as much about spatial awareness, learning to think in terms of three dimensions, as it is about the simple act of putting a picture back together. A child can learn more from an afternoon spent with a children's jigsaw puzzle than he or she could in front of hours of TV, or even through reading a load of kid's books.

Children's jigsaw puzzles are designed to promote spatial savvy, and develop pattern recognition and logic skills - three of the most important abilities a human being can have, all wrapped up in one fun picture box! Online childrens jigsaw puzzles, then, which do all these cool things and don't even have to be tracked down in an actual high street shop, are the ultimate find for every parent, grandparent and doting aunt or uncle this year.

You can enjoy the impressive security and a wide range of Internet shopping these days is finding. Little or no shipping charges robust, secure shopping and a wide selection (you tend to see in toy shops online are more choices than most toy superstore) add up to make a purchase online as children of a puzzle without an concerns experience easy - and with a ton of return on investment in terms of hours of full fun. Online puzzle game for children>puzzles are the new must have toy: cheap, educational and loved by all.

3D Jigsaw Puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles have always been fascinating; the concept of putting small pieces together to make a beautiful picture provides a certain thrill. The more difficult the puzzle, the greater the sense of adventure and challenge. Jigsaw puzzles are still one of the most popular games even on the Internet. With colorful animations, varying difficulty levels in a single game and availability of hundreds of patterns, jigsaw puzzles are attracting a lot of new players as well. These puzzles come with different difficulty levels such as easy, average, and difficult.

The three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles are the most challenging as well as exciting. The designs are unique and include almost any theme under the sun like fairytale fantasies; natural beauty comprising of flowers, globes, maps, space, landscapes, ocean, beaches, plants; festivals such as Christmas, Easter, Halloween; or everyday things like school, automobiles, sports, summer, traveling, weather; and movie-based themes like Lord of the Rings, Mickey Mouse, Finding Nemo and Winnie the Pooh; as well as enthralling castles, buildings, airplanes, ships, world-famous landmarks, and even huge forests, whole cities and even the Empire State building! Some even glow in the dark. The sizes also vary greatly ranging from 150 pieces to 3000 pieces or even more, with varying difficulty levels. Prices range from $8.00 to $45.00 or more. The smallest puzzle measures around 6"x7"x8" while the largest may be as large as 60"x50"x25".

Another model is the wooden 3-D jigsaw puzzle. Wooden puzzles are made of high quality plywood and are suitable for people of all ages. They also make unique gifts. Some of the popular designs in this are whales, air crafts, carousels, roosters, crocodiles, elephants, dolphins, cars and buildings. Prices of these puzzles start from $5.00.

Most of these 3-D jigsaw puzzles can be bought from games stores. They can also be purchased online. There are several sites that are offering these puzzles for sale. These can be viewed, compared, and even ordered online.

Difficult Jigsaw Puzzles

Today, diabolical puzzle manufacturers are producing jigsaws that are increasing difficult to assemble. They employ cutting techniques that result free-form pieces, where virtually no two pieces are alike. Gone are the straight edges so vital to organizing the pieces and building the border. Today's puzzles feature irregular borders, unusual shapes and puzzles that require building from the inside out.

Monster Jigsaws

1000 piece jigsaw puzzles have been out-classed. In the last few years, top puzzle-makers have been regularly turning out jigsaw puzzles of 5000 pieces and up. Most notably (or notoriously), Ravensburger has produced a series puzzles with 18,000 pieces and 24,000 pieces. Designed to drive even the most hard-core puzzler mad, these puzzles require infinite patience and nearly infinite space to complete.

Wasgij Puzzles

This puzzle manufacturer has introduced an interesting twist on the traditional puzzle. The puzzle is fairly conventional, except that the image on the box is only an indication of the puzzle image. In fact, the image on the box is merely a clue as to what the puzzle image is. By putting yourself in the shoes of the observers pictured on the box you just might be able to figure out what the puzzle should be when it's assembled.

Double Trouble Puzzles

If you really like puzzles, try one of these puzzles within a puzzle.

Photo Mosaics

Each piece is a tiny, individual photo. Together they assemble into a larger photo. This twist on the traditional jigsaw provides an added challenge as you need to be able to see the forest through the trees in order to put one of these jigsaws together.

Double-Sided Mirrored Jigsaws

Double-sided jigsaws come in two flavors--the same image on both sides or two different images. Either way, they can be maddeningly complex, as once you've sorted the pieces you can't be sure they're even right side up. Not quite up to that? Try a mirrored jigsaw. The assembled puzzled forms a mirror image of the picture on the box.

Mystery Jigsaws

Another jigsaw with no picture reference, mystery jigsaws require you read a short book, assemble the jigsaw, then look for the clues to solve the mystery. These are great for the puzzler who likes a little mystery thrown into.

3D Puzzles

Globes, maps and famous works of architecture can all be made into jigsaw puzzles. These jigsaws assemble into 3D structures that range from a few inches to several feet. One of the newer 3D formats is the Ravensburger Puzzleball. Once assembled, you can display the completed puzzle on the enclosed stand. The plastic pieces fit snugly together and no special preservation is required. The Ravensburger Puzzleball also has a smaller sibling that assembles into an ornament.

100 Piece Jigsaw Puzzles

To help us stay alert and sharp, we may need to constantly challenge our minds. One of the ways we can do this is by solving puzzles and playing certain games that help stimulate our brains. Some of the more popular games we can play are the ones that simulate mental games on TV, such as Jeopardy. As for puzzles, there are different types of puzzles that we can choose from, including the very popular crossword puzzles. However, another popular kind of puzzle is the jigsaw puzzle, which not only can stimulate our minds but our other senses as well.

Types of jigsaw puzzles

The kinds of jigsaw puzzles that are available in the market range from relatively simple to some of the most complex and difficult to piece together. Given this, you should only pick the type of puzzle that you think best fits your needs. A very simple puzzle may not serve the purpose of challenging your mind. On the other hand, getting a puzzle that requires a substantial amount of time and a substantial amount of energy could potentially rob you of the energy you would need to do other tasks. In addition to this, not being able to finish a puzzle in one sitting can be very frustrating and it could keep you distracted.

However, getting a puzzle that is just right for the amount of free time that you have and is just enough to challenge your mind would be a better idea. For this purpose, it would be best to get 100-piece jigsaw puzzles. These kinds of puzzles are easier to put together compared to puzzles that have thousands of pieces, but the challenge that these puzzles provide is enough to get our minds going to help us get through a day of more intense intellectual activity.

Where to get 100-piece puzzles

Apart from the traditional places like department stores and specialty stores, there are also other sources of 100-piece jigsaw puzzles. One very practical source is the Internet, which can allow you to download and print a 100-piece jigsaw puzzle from the comfort of your home or your office.

Playing mental games and solving puzzles can help us keep our minds sharp and focused. This is because these provide us with a way to challenge our minds, which can help us to accomplish other tasks in a better way. One good example of such is the 100-piece jigsaw puzzle, which provides an 'easy' way to solve a puzzle while providing an appropriate amount of mental challenge.

Personalized Jigsaw Puzzles

As jigsaw puzzles are considered a great educational tool, there is a high demand for personalized jigsaw puzzles. Students will generally use whatever jigsaw puzzles are available in the market. However, when it comes to an issue like corporate training, personalized jigsaw puzzles can be pressed into use. Corporate teamwork training exercises are given that extra edge with the use of jigsaw puzzles. Themes and difficulty levels are worked out according to need and orders are placed for personalized jigsaw puzzles for such corporate workshops.

Personalized jigsaw puzzles can be created in the comfort of your own home using printable and iron-on jigsaw puzzle kits. This gives you the satisfaction of having a hand in creating your own jigsaw puzzle.

Personalized jigsaw puzzles are a fantastic advertising tool. Several companies, both large and small utilize jigsaw puzzles for their special impact promotions. Not many people can resist putting a jigsaw puzzle together. And what does one do with a completed jigsaw puzzle? Display it, of course. This way, the company gets advertisement and the user gets the fun.

Everyone can find a use for a jigsaw puzzle, and advertisers capitalize on this fact and personalized jigsaw puzzles are used as giveaways and corporate gifts. The logo of the company can be worked into an eye-catching scene and turned into a jigsaw puzzle. These are then given away for creating brand awareness. Personalized jigsaw puzzles are used as gifts by airlines, companies at trade shows and exhibitions, promotional campaigns and as free Christmas gifts from malls.

Personalized jigsaw puzzles are also used by institutions that care for children who are differently-abled. Puzzles are created according to specific needs of these special children. Extra care is taken to ensure durability as they might be subject to rough usage.

Ample safety precautions are taken with a view to minimize damage in case of misuse. Lightweight wood or good quality plastic is the generally preferred material for this kind of usage.

Jigsaw Puzzles For All

In the initial years of their popularity, the jigsaw puzzles were crafted from wood. The reason being that, people were crazy about playing the jigsaw puzzle games and wanted them to be made from a durable material. In the later years the world was introduced with the concept of customized jigsaw puzzles, each featuring a signature theme and style. For example a flower puzzle would have puzzle pieces cut in the shape of flowers, which require craftsmanship of the experts of the time. In the recent times, the custom puzzles are being used in a number of contemporary ways. From being a tool to use as a proposal message to celebrating the family reunion to cherishing heirlooms, the jigsaw puzzles are an absolute favorite till date.

The skilled craftsmen provide the customers with the ultimate diversity when it comes to creating an extensive range of design options. As the customers explain their requirements and difficulty levels, the designers craft these wonderful gaming options accordingly. From marriage gifts, to family presents, they make a delightful gift, which is sure to be honored by some very cherishing moments with friends and family. The puzzles can be enjoyed alone as much as they can be a source of fun when more than one player is involved. Jigsaw puzzles are the stimulators of concentration, patience, and an eye for detail, irrespective of the ages and the genders of the players.

Another great source of enjoying these games is the World Wide Web, which has hundreds of websites, featuring games that involve the jigsaw puzzles, which are being augmented on daily basis. These online games can be downloaded to the personal computers of the players along with being played online; while competing with the other online players. Moreover, one can also purchase the jigsaw games in CDs and DVDs. When it comes to playing online games some of them can be downloaded for free, while some are for sale for a very nominal price.

From the uniquely designed puzzles featuring the; Mickey Mouse, Snow white, Winnie the Pooh to the theme based; Easter, earth day, Egypt and much more; puzzles are a wonderful way to spend leisure time. The jigsaw puzzles are designed keeping in mind, the requirements of the various age groups and their preferences and offer entertainment solutions for people who are amateurs to the ones who are professionals. These intriguing games are sure to puzzle and mystify even the most advanced players and have their signature appeals that promise a healthy past time while spending quality time with those one cherishes. This is the reason why the jigsaw puzzles are considered a very popular entertainment for all kinds of people even in the recent era.

Can Jigsaw Puzzles Help in Boosting Your Intelligence?

If you have ever been informed about the proverb, 'Your brain is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets,' then you should be memorable with the thought following a puzzle to enhance your intelligence.

By solving the jigsaw puzzle you are forcing your intelligence to retain information of what evident sections look like in order to choose pieces that will fit mutually. You will be searching for pieces to pack unfilled spaces, too. This entire hunt for pieces denotes that your brain will need to memorize what each piece looks like and what kinds of pieces you are searching for. Doing this repeatedly reinforces the memory.

You can use the 'blind' technique in locating your jigsaw puzzles to help your memory even more. With this approach you can only stare at the image on the face of the jigsaw puzzle box when you initially start running your puzzle. After that you have to work from memory. It can be very tricky and there is a highly-flavored enticement to steal a glance at the image when the going gets tough, but if you stand firm you'll have the fulfillment of awareness that you are assisting your memory. In addition you'll feel even more content when you've accomplished the jigsaw puzzle 'blind.'

Resolving jigsaw puzzles to recover your memory services the 'working' memory or short term memory to keep the representation of the puzzle pieces unmarked in your mind. It still triggers the long term memory to boot in when you are attempting to finish a puzzle from recollection of what the puzzle picture appeared like on the facade of the box. This reasons the links to develop stronger in your mind and makes it easier for you to memorize things in supplementary regions of your life, such as trying to recall where you left your home keys.

Improving your remembrance isn't the single advantage of cracking jigsaw puzzles. You will also get better with your spatial association and form detection ability. These are expressions we frequently listen to when conversing about our children's psychological expansion, but they nevertheless are relevant to adults. Good spatial business can help you in systematizing that messy cupboard or stuffing the baggage for a long trip. Figure identification talent can be as uncomplicated as understanding that a quadrangle hook doesn't fit into a round hole.

You will discover that your recollection and other psychological ability are significantly enhanced with usual puzzle functioning. What better way than to solve puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles are the some of best puzzles that can be solved because they permit people to work in assembly on a project.

Free Jigsaw Puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles are a wonderful way to spend leisure time. They have always been a very popular entertainment for all kinds of people. Jigsaw puzzles are not only fun but they are also a nice way to develop focus and an eye for detail.

There are hundreds of providers of jigsaw puzzles today, made for anyone from amateurs to hard-core professionals who design jigsaw puzzles to mystify even the most experienced players. Even though physical jigsaw puzzles still have their own appeal, online puzzles have captured a chunk of the players. Online jigsaw puzzles have as much appeal as the regular puzzles, if not more. Colorful animations, varying difficulty levels in a single game, and availability of hundreds of patterns are attracting a lot of players.

Online jigsaw puzzles can be downloaded on to the PC or they can also be played online. They are also available in CD-ROM. The basic minimum hardware and software configuration is needed for the puzzle online, a Microsoft-compatible mouse, Windows 95/98/2000/XP, 32 or 64 MB of RAM, 2x speed CD-ROM, Netscape or Internet Explorer version 4 or higher with Java, and a 166 or Pentium 266 MHz processor Most have specific software, hand in hand to download the puzzle.

Some of the puzzles on-line are free and can be downloaded easilyonto the PC, while others are for sale. These come with different difficulty levels such as easy, average, and difficult. The designs varied, and there are also 3-dimensional jigsaw puzzles and interactive puzzles with colorful and appealing animations.

Free puzzles usually come as an offer and are for a limited period only. Or, they have limited options for the players. The rest of the game has to be purchased. Other ways to get a free puzzle include signing up for certain offers in the site, or going for the buy-two-get-one-free or other such kinds of offers.

Buy Jigsaw Puzzles That Are Fully Interlocking

Many jigsaw puzzles are fully interlocking which means that adjacent pieces of the puzzle are connecting in such a way as to secure the pieces in place, avoiding mishaps of pieces coming apart once they have been solved. The pieces are interlocked so they fit tightly together and can be easily moved if necessary. When you look for interlocking pieces so once you solve the pieces they stay in place.

Many of the interlocking ones have pieces that are shaped exactly the same. This makes the jigsaw puzzle more complex to solve making it even more important for the pieces solved to stay in position. When you buy jigsaw puzzles with pieces that are similar in shape they normally have rounded tabs out on opposite ends, with related blanks tabs cut into the sides. This configuration adds extra holding power to the interlocking pieces and provides an additional level of complexity to solving them.

Other interlocking ones have pieces that have tabs and blanks arranged in varying intervals on each piece, all of them with four sides so they all have two tabs and two blanks. These uniform-shaped jigsaw puzzle pieces are fully interlocking and are normally the most difficult jigsaw puzzles to solve. The difficulty stems from the fact that the shapes are all very similar and harder to distinguish one from the other. The differences of each piece are usually so subtle and ever so slightly unique, that the person solving the puzzle must have extensive patience and focus to locate and assemble this type of jigsaw puzzle.

There are some interlocking them that are developed for children. The difficulty levels when you buy jigsaw puzzles for children are much less than those you would normally purchase for an experienced puzzle solver. No matter what jigsaw puzzle you buy or what level puzzle solver you have become, jigsaw puzzles are a fun and entertaining hobby.

Buy Jigsaw Puzzles That Are Fully Interlocking

Many jigsaw puzzles are fully interlocking which means that adjacent pieces of the puzzle are connecting in such a way as to secure the pieces in place, avoiding mishaps of pieces coming apart once they have been solved. The pieces are interlocked so they fit tightly together and can be easily moved if necessary. When you look for interlocking pieces so once you solve the pieces they stay in place.

Many of the interlocking ones have pieces that are shaped exactly the same. This makes the jigsaw puzzle more complex to solve making it even more important for the pieces solved to stay in position. When you buy jigsaw puzzles with pieces that are similar in shape they normally have rounded tabs out on opposite ends, with related blanks tabs cut into the sides. This configuration adds extra holding power to the interlocking pieces and provides an additional level of complexity to solving them.

Other interlocking ones have pieces that have tabs and blanks arranged in varying intervals on each piece, all of them with four sides so they all have two tabs and two blanks. These uniform-shaped jigsaw puzzle pieces are fully interlocking and are normally the most difficult jigsaw puzzles to solve. The difficulty stems from the fact that the shapes are all very similar and harder to distinguish one from the other. The differences of each piece are usually so subtle and ever so slightly unique, that the person solving the puzzle must have extensive patience and focus to locate and assemble this type of jigsaw puzzle.

There are some interlocking them that are developed for children. The difficulty levels when you buy jigsaw puzzles for children are much less than those you would normally purchase for an experienced puzzle solver. No matter what jigsaw puzzle you buy or what level puzzle solver you have become, jigsaw puzzles are a fun and entertaining hobby.

Creating A Family Tradition-Jigsaw Puzzles

Do you find it difficult to spend time together as a family?

There are so many pressures and activities that can take away from the sense of family which was more commonly experienced 50 years ago. Parents often both work, and their commute can be tiring and long. For children there is school and homework, TV, video games, and the computer to juggle with. This does not include outside the home activities such as belonging to sports teams and organizations. All of these factors mean that the family is not together so often. Many activities that occupy children nowadays are individualistic or non-social. Electronic forms of entertainment are now normal, but the disadvantage is that they are not conducive to social interaction and relationship building.

Parents increasingly have to plan to set aside time to spend as a family. During these times it is a good idea to plan activities that involve everyone. A great way of bonding is to do an activity where everyone works together to accomplish a project.

Doing a jigsaw puzzle together is a good example of this and has many benefits. Working on a jigsaw puzzle is a practical activity that all ages can participate in some way. Even younger children can be encouraged to help. They can sort the pieces into like colors, or look for particular pieces. They feel such a sense of accomplishment when they find the piece and help complete the section.

For children, a jigsaw puzzle has several learning applications. It develops spatial awareness and hand eye coordination. There are analytical, abstract, and concrete thinking skills that are needed to become adept at doing a jigsaw puzzle.

While the family is together around the puzzle, a relaxed natural environment is created for conversation and relationship building. It develops a sense of team as all participate.

Doing a jigsaw puzzle is also a great introduction to other types of hobbies and crafts that involve using hands and creating something. For the upcoming generation these types of crafts and hobbies are in danger of dying out as electronic entertainment increases in popularity and use.

I have fond memories of doing jigsaw puzzles with my family as a child. It became a family tradition especially during the winter months. Today, however, this can still be done but without the inconvenience of losing the use of the dining room table until the puzzle is completed. There are now puzzle mats and other new storage possibilities now available.

In comparison to the jigsaw puzzles that were around when I was a child, the jigsaw puzzles today are far more interesting and appealing. There are shaped puzzles, glowing, educational puzzles, and more complex puzzles for the experienced puzzler such as 3D and two sided puzzles.

Create a tradition for your family. Plan now and buy some jigsaw puzzles to bring out on a rainy or cold weekend and have a refreshing family bonding time .

I would recommend http://www.thepuzzlemania.com as a good place to order puzzles online and get prepared for family fun.

Jigsaw Puzzles Help the Brain

Assembling jigsaw puzzles can be an educational process when carried out properly. Below are a few things you should know about puzzles and how to apply them in an educational setting to help advance your child's learning opportunities.

A Fun Way to Advance Learning through Puzzles
Jigsaw puzzles provide a fun way to advance learning. There are many common functions of the brain and body that are developed as part of assembling a puzzle including deduction, reasoning, sequencing, problem solving skills, and hand-eye coordination.

Learning Styles in Children and Puzzles
Every teacher knows that children grow and develop in different ways. Some children learn by touch, while other learn visually. Some children require a look at the overall picture before they'll understand the details, while other thrive on detail in order to help them grasp the overall concept. Jigsaw puzzles use each of these learning styles at the same time a wonderful learning environment. A child who learns to sight, is able to issues, as you see the pieces together. Another child who learns by touching can handle the pieces and put them together one by one. Puzzles screen also provides general information and pictures of a concept contained.

The creative juices flow freely with puzzles
educational puzzle you create a bridge to other worlds everbefore traveled by a child's mind. Taking all of the four learning styles into one experience in putting together a puzzle of the Eiffel tower in Paris enables a child to imagine himself actually ascending the great tower and looking our throughout the surrounding scenery. As he places the piece containing the snack vendor, he can taste the local food. The piece with the shrubbery can offer a lesson in local biology and so much more.

Wise parents will use puzzles to their child's benefit as they include them in the learning process. While effective as toys and distractions, puzzles can also become a tool for learning as parents join together with their children in discovering far off lands and new images and scenes in discussion, sharing, and assembling a jigsaw puzzle.

Preserve Jigsaw Puzzles

Most jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts like to preserve jigsaws, especially if they involve 1000 pieces or more, as it is a tribute to their patience and labor. Preserving a jigsaw by mounting, laminating, and framing would enable others to appreciate one's hobby while serving as a nice decorative piece on the wall.

After patiently putting the jigsaw puzzle together, one should gingerly place a thin piece of plastic between the underside of the jigsaw puzzle and the surface that one is working on. This is to prevent the counter or table from getting residual glue, which often seeps through, on it.

One should then evenly apply glue to the upper (picture) surface of the jigsaw. One could use soft wood sticks to compress the puzzle while gluing and wait for an hour or two for it to dry. One could then apply a second coat of glue. Multiple light coats, as opposed to a thick coating, prevent pieces of the picture from bloating or swelling up. One could use a sponge for application or use the applicator provided.

Some thicker glue would do for bigger piece puzzles whereas, a more liquid glue would be better for tight fitting puzzles. A shinier finish could be used for irregular shapes that cannot be laminated or for pictures too big to be framed.

Once the jigsaw is thoroughly dried it can be turned over. It can then be glued on the back to mount on a plywood board cut to size. One could laminate if desired or spray the top surface with an acrylic spray to safeguard from dust and other contaminants. One could also mount it on to a sheet of Styrofoam with rubber cement and then fit into a wooden frame.

One's jigsaw is now ready to be displayed or to be given as a gift to a loved one.

Framing Jigsaw Puzzles

Nowadays, jigsaw puzzles can portray every imaginable scene. You can find jigsaw puzzles that depict countless images such as beach scenes, mountain scenes, portraits, famous works of art such as the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, cartoon characters, and everything in between. You can find a puzzle that fits the different tastes and preferences of people. As a result, jigsaw puzzles have now become a very popular gift choice. Apart from the fun that solving them offers, some of these jigsaw puzzles are very nice to look at, which has led many people to frame them and give them as gifts.

Picking a frame for a jigsaw puzzle

Preserving and giving a jigsaw puzzle as a gift can be comparable to giving a picture or a painting to someone. You need to be careful in picking a frame for the puzzle, as a frame could either enhance or diminish the value of the puzzle. In buying a frame, you could opt to buy a frame and frame the puzzle yourself. Instructions on how to do so are readily available, especially on the Internet. Another way would be to go to a professional frame maker and to get a customized frame for your puzzle. Although the second option can prove to be more expensive, the advantages that this option brings more than makes up for its price.

One of the advantages of getting a professional to do the job is that he can advise you on color schemes, the texture, the shape and the design that would best fit the jigsaw puzzle that you want to frame. Another advantage is that you would be able to select from a wider selection of frames and designs as custom frame makers are very flexible and they can accommodate any specifications you may have. More importantly, getting a professional to do the job can assure you that the framing would be done the right way, which is a good thing especially if you are giving the puzzle as a gift.

Given that jigsaw puzzles have now become a very popular gift choice, more and more people are choosing to have them framed. However, getting a professional to do the framing can be considered the better option, as compared to doing it yourself. This is because doing so allows you to benefit from the expertise of the frame maker, which can help you come up with a wonderful gift that your friends or relatives would surely appreciate.

Mystery Jigsaw Puzzles

In the world of jigsaw puzzles, there are many different puzzle themes to choose from, but one of the newest puzzles types is the Mystery Jigsaw Puzzle. Unlike a normal jigsaw, where you assemble the puzzle pieces to to match the picture on the box, a mystery jigsaw puzzle adds additional challenges. Not only must you assemble the puzzle, but you must do so without knowing what it should look like in advance. And when you've finished the puzzle, your job is not complete - you still have to solve a fiendishly difficult murder mystery!

If you enjoy a good mystery, as well as a good puzzle, a mystery jigsaw puzzle can be just the thing to get your creative juices flowing! And once you've solved the mystery, you can always mix up the pieces and try again, to give yourself a brand new challenge.

If you think you're up for the challenge, there are a number of different mystery jigsaw puzzle series available for your puzzling pleasure.

Alphabet Murder Puzzles

With titles such as "A is for Arson", "B is for Birthday", and "C is for Chocolate", these jigsaw puzzles from TDC Games require you to assemble two different 500-piece jigsaw puzzles in order to solve the mystery. One puzzle shows the crime scene before the murder takes place, and the second shows the crime scene after the murder has been committed. In order to make the puzzle even more difficult, the pieces for both puzzles are mixed together in the same box. In addition, the artwork shown on the puzzle box is not the same as the artwork on the puzzles. To solve the murder mystery, you must assemble the two puzzles to reveal the evidence that points the finger at the killer. Can you solve the baffling murder mystery?

Author Classic Mystery Jigsaw Puzzles

This series from BePuzzled features jigsaws inspired by famous mystery writers, including authors such as Sue Grafton, Nelson DeMille, and Carol Higgins Clark. Each puzzle includes a short story written by the author, as well as a jigsaw puzzle that you must assemble to reveal hidden clues necessary to solve the mystery. Beware, the 1,000-piece puzzle is different from the box cover!

Television Tie-In Puzzles

There are a number of mystery jigsaw puzzle series associated with popular television mysteries, including "CSI", "Law and Order", "Murder She Wrote", and "Lost". These jigsaws feature the characters from the hit TV shows, and your job it to help solve a murder by assembling the jigsaw and finding the cleverly-hidden clues. These types of jigsaws are great fun for fans of the shows.

Car Jigsaw Puzzles

Car jigsaw puzzles are for jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts who are also car enthusiasts. They can combine their passion for cars with their love for jigsaw puzzles and finally assemble and preserve images of their favorite automobile to display on the wall.

One could buy a 500-piece vintage car puzzle for $0.86 and a 600-piece Smart Silver sports car for $1.73. A 3-dimensional police car is available for $1.73. Or one could pick up a number of different high performance cars with prices ranging from $7.99 to $9.50. These puzzles consist of 750 pieces, and even beginners could put it together. In the 1000-piece range, one could get a veteran 1905 Peugeot circular jigsaw or a collectible Audi A4 for $13.50.

For $18.95 one could purchase racing models such as Ford F150 Off Road Racer, vintage Porsche racers, MGA Roadster, MGTF Roadster, MGPB Roadster, and Jaguar XKE Roadster. These jigsaws come in 750 pieces and would be 18" x 24" when assembled.

One could also go for car jigsaw puzzles made in the UK, but often these would have to be ordered, and the cost of shipping would have to be taken into account.

The above jigsaw puzzles are of the traditional type, made of high quality cardboard and have to be put together physically. However, there are also a lot of car jigsaw puzzles that can be done on the computer by pulling the mouse to shift a piece or to click onto another piece. Some of these computer-based jigsaw puzzles are programmed from easy to more difficult, and one can choose one?s program accordingly.

However, there is nothing like the traditional many-piece cardboard jigsaw puzzles. Once they are complete, one can revel in the picture as well as set it up for display.

Online Jigsaw Puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles are a lot of fun. They can be played by a group of people or even alone. They are a great way to develop concentration, patience, and an eye for detail. Jigsaw puzzles have always been popular among all kinds of people--both young and old.

Online jigsaw puzzles are those that are available over the Internet. There are hundreds of websites today that are providing thousands of jigsaw puzzles, with more being added each day. These can be downloaded onto the PC, or they can be played online. They are also available in CD-ROMs, which have to be purchased. The minimum basic software and hardware configuration required for online jigsaw puzzles are Windows 95/98/2000/XP or ME; 32 or 64 MB RAM; 2X speed CD ROM; Microsoft-compatible mouse; 800X600 (16 bit colors) video and display; Netscape or Internet Explorer version 4 or higher with Java; and a Pentium 166 processor. Some jigsaw puzzles can be downloaded for free, while some are for sale.

There are thousands of unique online jigsaw puzzles available today. These are also offered with different difficulty levels, as many as ten or more. The number of pieces ranges according to the difficulty level--some have thousands of pieces. Online jigsaw puzzles are very easy to play as the pieces have to be just clicked on and dragged to the desired position. The designs are also unique: autumn, Christmas, dinosaurs, dragons, Easter, earth day, Egypt, fantasy, flowers, food, Halloween, homes, landscapes, people, ocean, plants, school, automobiles, space, sports, summer, traveling, weather, and fairytale characters like Cinderella and Snow white and cartoon such as Mickey Mouse, and Winnie the Pooh. There are also three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles and interactive puzzles with colorful and appealing animations. Manufacturers are also providing custom designed puzzles as per requirements. Prices of some very good puzzles start from $20.