Though it may seem like a simple game on the surface, what they are really doing is acting out their world as they know it. That’s pretty amazing when you stop to think about it. There are therapists out there that make a living getting adults to do this even just a little bit! You might even learn about how your child is perceiving things that you say and do. You may find that you need to rethink some things!

When they divide up the roles for playing house, they tend to do so fairly accurately. At this stage of the game they have figured out that there are different roles in a household. Though that sounds like a trivial thing, when you stop to think about it it’s pretty amazing. As you see them play the roles of mother or father, you could get a glimpse of how you are perceived by you little one. This is also an opportunity to find out the extent of outside influences on your child.

As they play the roles of brother and sister, or cousins, then you find out something else as well. You can see an expression of their expectations. It’s at this point that you have to start wondering how they are forming their expectations. Do they all come from you, are some of them coming from within themselves, or are televisions and friends influences as well? It’s hard to tell, but is interesting to observe.

Schoolhouse roles become very interesting. If you children are already in school, then you might be seeing a reflection of what they actually see or experience in school. You could be seeing what their anxieties are moving forward in school. If they are around older sibling then you could start to wonder what your little one has heard about school from the older sibling.

When children play at being students you actually often see them express their own self-image. This can be a great way to learn about how your child likely behaves in class. A child that has issues with self-confidence will probably stay rather quiet, even during play time. In this case you could use the play time to try and build your child’s positive self-image.

The shopping game is a little scary. Little girls find all sorts of ways act out their wants and desires. They can spend an entire afternoon picking out just the right doll, bargain hunting for ponies, or shoe shopping, all on your front porch.

In the end, this sort of play can be very educational for a parent to watch. You can learn about a child’s fears, ambitions, and even disposition all from a little game of dress up. There’s just no replacing it.

Do you love video games? What about dress up games? There are many different makeover games out there that are available on the Wii, DS, Xbox and Gamecube. This is not only exciting to kids, but it is exciting to adults as well, especially for females.

1. Improves Their Motor Skills: While toddlers learn, progress and become more mobile, it is very important for them to develop their fine motor skills. Working on a jigsaw puzzle is one of the best ways they can start improving this skill. Holding onto small objects and maneuvering them into the correct positions can help toddlers increase these skills considerably.

2. Improve Cognitive Skills: Having the mental capability of learning something is defined as a cognitive skill. By improving these skills and using jigsaw puzzles to do so, a toddler will be preparing their brain for the academic skills they will be learning a little later in life.

3. Enhance Hand Eye Coordination: Coordinating your eyes and hands is a very important ability that involves guiding your hands to do what your eyes are seeing. When you ask a toddler to put a puzzle piece in the right location, they must change the direction and match colors or shapes to do so. For this reason, jigsaw puzzles are the best toys for toddlers that help enhance their hand eye coordination.

In this article we discussed 3 reasons jigsaw puzzles are the best toddler toy. By putting puzzles together children improve motor skills, develop cognitive skills and enhance hand eye coordination. All of these skills are a necessary part of functioning well and will help them later in life when they begin their academic journey.

Jigsaw puzzles are a simple, basic and usually inexpensive toy that is often overlooked by electronic toys and dolls. Yet they can help increase all of the skills mentioned above and should be enjoyed often. Start using them early on in your child’s development and they will greatly help boost your child’s brain power.

Helping your toddler grow, learn and explore the world can be a very fun job, but it can also be a little scary at times. You want to give them the best and sometimes it is hard to know where to turn to do so…

Interested in learning more?

Lily Adams, a mother of two and web entrepreneur has created a helpful meeting place for parents. Her website, ParentMeltingPot.com, has helpful information regarding toys for toddlers as well as solutions to many other parenting problems.