Wild Babies

Teacher’s tips

Level of education: Elementary School

Age: 05 to 07 years old

Jigsaw puzzles provide children with the opportunity to practice trial and error to find a solution. Manipulating the pieces and figuring out where they fit and where they don't introduces your child to the early math skills he will need to succeed later on. Second, jigsaw puzzles are perfect for teaching kids to persevere in the face of a challenge. Puzzles are really the only “games” that cannot be completed or won through cheating. You can't force the pieces together if they don't belong and there's no way to outsmart your opponent, so to speak. The only way to finish is to exercise patience while staying focused on the bigger picture.

Learner outcomes

• Knowing about the wild animals;
• Understand curiosities involving the habits of wild animals;
• Stimulate learning;
• Stimulate problem-solving strategy skills;
• Develop attention and logical thinking;
• Develop motor coordination;
• Promote memory exercise;
• Develop different thinking skills such as: observe, compare, analyze and synthesize;
• Analyze figures and expand the notions of composition and decomposition from the fragmentation of an image;
• Perceive the different positions of fragmented figures in an image;
• Analyze figures and expand the notions of composition and decomposition from the fragmentation of an image;
• Perceive the different positions of fragmented figures in an image;
• Stimulate cooperation among colleagues by promoting activities in pairs or groups;

Teachers’ goals

• Introduce students to curiosities about the wild animals;
• Offer didactic games for the motor and cognitive development of children;
• Offer the game as a didactic resource to fix the content worked in the classroom;
• Expand students' knowledge;
• Work with students concentration skills and logical reasoning;
• Work attention and concentration;
• Enable the development of different thinking skills, such as observation, comparison, analysis and the ability to synthesize;

Suggestions of approaches for the teacher

(Suggestion 1) Promote classification activity (separate objects by color, by size, by texture)

(Suggestion 2) Ask the students to build a story with the animals in the game. The story can only contain drawings, but it is very important to teach showing the logical sequence of a story.

(Hint 3) Have students practice each puzzle one more time to exercise their memory.

(Suggestion 4) Propose the use of a physical puzzle.

(Suggestion 5) Create a puzzle using popsicle sticks. Ask students to choose a drawing to paint, then students should write the word corresponding to the drawing. For this, the popsicle sticks must be glued to the back with adhesive tape. After writing and drawing separate and shuffle the sticks. Finally ask the students to make the correct union. This is an interdisciplinary activity with the Portuguese language discipline.

(Suggestion 6) Play domino game.

(Suggestion 7) Create sheets with logical sequences with interdisciplinary subjects. Example: butterfly metamorphosis, rain, cake preparation etc...

(Suggestion 8) Work on the 7 mistakes game.

(Suggestion 9) Human puzzle game activity, each student is a game piece, in which a figure determined by the teacher or the class will be built.

(Tip 10) Work with ride-on toys (LEGO style). Promote the construction of objects with these toys; houses, animals, cars, etc.

(Suggestion 11) Ask the students to build a panel with various cutouts and figures of wild animals,

More about it

Advantages of using puzzles:

1. Concentration: Paying attention includes having the ability to concentrate on one thing for an extended period of time. Working a puzzle to completion gives children a chance to work on a task without interruption.

2. Spatial Consistency: Spatial awareness also involves understanding how the relationships between objects change when one or more objects are moved. When solving puzzles, spatial perception comes into play big time.

3. Shape Recognition: More complex puzzles also require your child to recognize shapes by fitting the pieces together. For example, children learn that the pieces on the edges have a straight line and do not fit in the middle of a puzzle.

4. Development of fine motor skills: It takes time for children to develop smooth and fine movements. Young hand muscles in particular need a lot of practice to hold and move small objects with precision. This is really what happens when children play with jigsaw puzzles.

5. Problem Solving Skill: Putting together a puzzle presents a basic problem. The parts are all mixed up and must be organized and assembled. This creates a chance to learn problem solving skills.

6. Memory: As children often put together the same puzzle over and over again, they can also remember which pieces fit together. This is another way to improve your memories.

7. Patience: Puzzles aren't like sports, you can't just walk up to the plate and swing it around until you drop it. You must practice patience and slowly work through the puzzle before reaching the end.

How to access the educational games

To play, access: https://www.bestschoolgames.com/games/wildBabies/