The first puzzles appeared in ancient times. Original problems requiring logical thinking have even been found on the walls of the Egyptian pyramids. Puzzling problems flourished in the Middle Ages, when mathematics began to develop. Over time, such tasks, over which you really had to smash your head, became even more popular. And today, many continue to play with enthusiasm "tags" or concentrate on collecting the Rubik's cube. Is it possible to invent and make a puzzle yourself?
The beauty of puzzles is that they allow anyone to try their hand at finding solutions to a complex problem in a fun and playful way. There are many types of puzzles. Some of them develop exclusively logical thinking, others require a developed imagination and spatial perception. Both those and other puzzles have one thing in common - they contribute to an increase in the intellectual level. One of the most popular types of puzzles are jigsaw puzzles. In this game, you need to make a complete picture from many fragments that have very different shapes. Particularly useful is jigsaw puzzles for children. Collecting a mosaic develops fine motor skills of the hands, teaches you to correctly perceive the differences between parts and the whole, to distinguish objects by color, size and shape. If you wish, you can invent and make your own "puzzle" mosaic with your own hands. To do this, you need to find images that are suitable in size and color. You can find very good blanks for homemade puzzles in children's magazines and old picture books. It is best to use plot pictures, which depict fairy-tale characters and heroes of popular cartoons. When choosing images, strive to ensure that they are not overly variegated and do not contain a very large number of details. To make universal double-sided puzzles, you need two pictures of the same size. It is desirable that the main background in the images contrasts with each other. Gently glue the pictures of your choice on both sides of a piece of thick cardboard. Now you need to mark one of the surfaces, breaking the image into elements. The simplest solution is to split the picture into several squares or rectangles. Remember that for preschool children, it will be enough to make a puzzle of 9-12 pieces. Students can also do more complex puzzles. To make the puzzle more complex and interesting, it is recommended to divide the picture into different geometric shapes: squares, triangles, circles, irregular elements. Now it remains with sharp scissors to cut the whole image exactly along the marking lines. The puzzle is ready. By connecting imagination and imagination, you may well come up with your own version of the puzzle. It is recommended to solve such a puzzle at the first stage together with the child. There is a mosaic folding algorithm. First, you need to select fragments related to one picture, guided by the background color. Then find the four corner pieces - in a puzzle with pieces of different shapes, they always have right angles. Now you need to compose the side elements so that the result is the outer mosaic frame. It remains to select the inner content of the picture. You can, of course, choose your own "author" sequence of actions. It would seem, what else can you think of in addition to such a simple puzzle? You can improve the puzzles if you stock up on a few flat square fridge magnets. It is enough to stick these magnetic elements onto a bright picture of a suitable size, and then cut the mosaic into pieces along the borders of the magnetic squares. The result is a simple yet entertaining puzzle that can be folded right on the refrigerator door.
