Mrs. Newhouse, why are there puzzles on the table?

Since the beginning of the year, students have had silent reading time after checking out their books. Many of the first and second grade students treasure this time to read their books and share them with friends. Many of the kindergarten students, however struggle with the amount of time they are given for silent reading. These kiddos have 25 minutes to check out a book and read through it. Some of them take the full 25 minutes just to pick out a book. Others take less than a minute to run and grab a book on display. We try to stress that they should take their time picking out a just right book that they will for sure enjoy, but for some that display book is the just right book.

With some kids getting their book so quickly, they are often done looking through it before it is time for their teachers to come back, so I have started something new with the little ones. They come in to the library to see puzzles on the tables. The kids are allowed to play with the puzzles after they check out their books on the condition that they share the puzzle with everyone at their table and play nicely together. I came up with the idea to finally use the puzzles that had been collecting dust in our storage room after attending a Media Specialist conference this fall. The session that inspired me was a session on MakerSpaces. MakerSpaces are a place where students can come to be creative and build or make something new. One Media Specialist had set up her MakerSpace with just a puzzle to start, so I decided that I would start my kindergartners off with a puzzle.

So am I just using these puzzles to fill time for the kindergartners? No. This activity teaches the students skills they will use on to adulthood without them even realizing they are learning. Students learn to match shapes and colors. They also build on their spatial awareness. More importantly, the students are learning problem solving and collaboration. These are skills that I believe will be incredibly important in the future. Future jobs will not need kids that know how to sit at a desk and work alone. The workplace is more and more becoming a place where individuals come together to form a creative, problem solving team. With students learning problem solving and creativity through jigsaw puzzles, they will be one step closer to being on the team that is bettering our world.


Lastly, puzzles simply give the kids a time to wind down and enjoy school.