Hankering for a great causal indoor activity that doesn’t involve a flat-screen? Need some family-friendly fun that all ages can enjoy? A good old fashioned jigsaw puzzle can provide hours of mental stimulus and fun for the whole family.
Put a jigsaw puzzle out for everyone to enjoy. Some will look for a piece as they pass by, others will become obsessed and sit sifting through the pile of pieces for hours, working late into the night, losing all track of time.
If there ever was an activity built for a pandemic, puzzles fit the bill. Not a lot of skill involved, a sense of accomplishment with every piece fitted and it packs neatly away when done.
No fuss, no mess and everyone knows the rules. Find a fit a piece while enjoying being immersed in a beautiful scene or landscape. Here are some tips for choosing a puzzle for your family.
Like a good book, jigsaw puzzles can picked up and resumed and stopped when dinner is ready. The puzzle is always there to work on.
- Start out with a modest-sized puzzle to build confidence. A 500 piece puzzle provides a good starting point. Not too big but still challenging. Move up to a 1,000 piece puzzle if you want more of a challenge but keep in mind these larger puzzles will require more dedicated space and will take longer to solve.
- Puzzles make great activities for weekend retreats and family gatherings. Everyone can join in the fun from Grandma to the littlest grandchildren.
- Keep a puzzle going in a common area like the family room so puzzle fans can hang out with others watching TV or playing video games. Puzzles make no competing noise for other activities such as a ping pong or pool.
- Save some large cardboard to make a surface that can be used for a puzzle if you want to be able to move it off the dining room table.
- Pick an image that means something to the family such as a landscape from your favorite vacation or hometown.
- Select an image with lots of little details so you can search for them. Or for a harder challenge pick a scene with lots of sky or single color areas – warning this might make some puzzlers cranky! Abstract images are another way to make a puzzle harder.
