Puzzles were created in the 18th century by John Spilsbury. The old term for jigsaw puzzles was called “Dissected Maps”. When he first designed this tool, he made a map of Europe into pieces This helped children learn geography!
To this day, millions of people play puzzles. Studies show that puzzles help work left brain and right brain coordination. This makes puzzles great for children with autism to build fine motor skills.
Puzzle Facts:
- Deepika Ravichandran holds the World Record for completing a 250 piece puzzle in 13 minutes and 7 seconds!
- The world’s most difficult puzzle is printed on both sides! It is a picture of Dalmations!
- Enigmatology is the study of puzzles
- In the U.S., 1.8 billion jigsaw puzzles are sold annually.
So why not give your brain some exercise and complete a puzzle! They are a fun group activity and you can even glue it together and frame it!
In the meantime, stop by the adult department and look at my collection of vintage wooden puzzles including: Sesame Street characters, Humpty Dumpty and even Snoopy!
– Ellen Lint, Library Assistant