Building puzzles and doing projects.

Puzzles help children think differently. Seeing objects in different ways teaches them patience and that it takes time to complete a task. I also suggest puzzles that are beyond a child’s age range (whatever it says on the box). It is our job as parents to challenge our children and to push them beyond societal boundaries.

My wife bought a 1000-piece puzzle for Father’s Day for him and me to do together. It took three weeks to complete. He learned patience and organization. He also gained the experience of completing a long task. He did not do much, but he was present for the majority of the puzzle. He now demonstrates patience in doing his work at school. I believe it is because we have done large puzzles that take a tremendous amount of time and patience.

Most children want to do the different things that they see on television, whether it is building Legos or creating a hand puppet out of the paper bag. It is essential that we encourage these projects. As parents, we must also allow our children to do the majority of the work with some assistance if they have never done it before.

Example: We had to make snack bags for soccer practice one day for the entire team. Although my wife and I gathered the supplies, we allowed our son to pick the treats that he wanted his team to have. He put the variety of snacks (four different small snacks) in all twelve bags along with stickers for each bag (his idea). This was a small project. Encourage your children to do some of the work with all family projects.

Because he was a large part of the project, he wanted to be the one handing the bags out to his friends. He was proud that he made them. It taught him a sense of accomplishment.
After the soccer game, he said he wanted to make a puppet out of one of the brown bags. I asked him what supplies we would need. He said a brown paper bag, pink paper, black and blue paper, scissors, glue, and a pencil. I had no clue what he wanted to make or how he wanted to make it, I just started asking questions.

“What kind of puppet? ”He said, “I think we should make a dog, dad.”

“What does it look like?” He said, “It is going to have big ears dad. It is going to have blue eyes and put the nose right here, dad. It’s going to have a big pink tongue right here dad.”

I did not just go and get the supplies; I asked him what supplies he needed. I drew the eyes, the ears, and the tongue. He colored, cut, and glued them. We had our pet puppet bag in no time. It was a half hour project and a full day of fun.

He was able to make the decisions and do most of the work. He expressed himself artistically and he had a blast doing it.