Fun Puzzles for Preschoolers

Top puzzle games that teach little ones through play

If you are looking for a way to challenge your child's critical and logical thinking muscles and fine-tune motor skills, try a puzzle. Young children that play with puzzles have better spatial skills (understanding the relationships between physical shapes and forms) than those who don't. When purchasing a puzzle game, remember that you want to challenge your child, not frustrate them. Don't start with a 100-piece puzzle just because it features a character your preschooler likes. Start small and build up gradually.

In the beginning, work on the puzzle with your preschooler, especially if they have never tried one before. Depending on the type of puzzle you are working on together, explain the different strategies in completing them — for example, if you have a square or rectangular puzzle, you would want to work on the corners and edges first. For cut-out puzzles, help your preschooler recognize the best ways to match up the forms and shapes. 

Your Body Puzzle (Boy and Girl Available)

Your Body Puzzle
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This five-layer puzzle features 29 pieces, all detailing various parts and systems of the human body. The puzzles start with a fully-clothed boy or girl and work down through the body with layers featuring skin, muscles, organs, and finally, a skeleton. The puzzle does a great job of taking a difficult-to-understand subject and presenting it in a way that young children will fully comprehend. It is particularly useful if your child has ever suffered an injury — with this puzzle, you will be able to help them understand what got hurt and where in their body it is located.

See & Spell Puzzle

Melissa & Doug See & Spell Wooden Educational Toy With 8 Double-Sided Spelling Boards and 50+ Letters
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Even if your preschooler isn't reading yet, they can still benefit from being introduced to basic sight words. With this puzzle from Melissa & Doug, little ones can practice putting together the letters of 20 three-and-four-letter words. By matching the words to the pictures, your child will get visual reinforcement of what the word should look like and figure out letter sounds. As your child gets more adept at completing the puzzle (fine motor skills), put the words together to make basic sentences.

What Happens Next? Picture Sequencing Puzzles

What Happens Next? Puzzle
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A great way to help your child build their ever-growing vocabulary and practice their burgeoning speech skills is to work on sequencing or proper, logical order. With these 14 three-piece puzzles, your child has to figure out what comes first, second, and last in a series of events — the pieces will only fit if the answer is correct. No reading required, but they are great for pre-readers who can learn about the basic elements of storytelling.

Happy Hour Clock Puzzle

Hape Happy Hour Clock Kid's Wooden Time Learning Puzzle
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The concept of time can be a difficult one for a small child to understand. This puzzle from Hape helps teach little ones about time from the perspective of hours and minutes in a very basic format. Even if your preschooler doesn't start telling and understands time for a few years (generally around age 6), the puzzle will set the stage, helping them to learn about the sequence of the numbers, the two hands of a clock, and the basic layout.

Mix & Match Sea Life Puzzle

Mix & Match Sea Life Puzzle
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While most puzzles have definitive places where the pieces need to go, this Mix & Match puzzle from P'kolino lets kids change how the puzzle looks each time they put it together. Freeform play like this encourages logical and creative thinking — while there is some choice involved with putting the pieces down, there needs to be an understanding of how everything fits together so they can go together correctly. The colors on these puzzles (similar ones include bugs and robots) are bright and visually pleasing, it's something they'll want to play with again and again.

Puzzle Doubles Let's Learn the Alphabet

Let's Learn the Alphabet
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This 50-piece puzzle from Learning Journey is dual-sided, allowing twice the fun and learning. First, kids can put together a puzzle featuring a full-color alphabet. On the other side is a black-and-white version, complete with crayons that encourage preschoolers to color, write, and complete the activities.

Counting & Shapes Floor Puzzle

Infantino Counting & Shapes Floor Puzzle (Discontinued by Manufacturer)
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This 30-piece puzzle from Infantino asks kids to match numbers and shapes to a train car. With so many things to look for and do, this puzzle is great for developing number recognition, counting, and shape sorting. It can be slightly complicated, making younger preschoolers feel frustrated, but with a little help from a grown-up, it should be fine. The pictures are interesting to look at — it's likely your child will find something new every time she completes it.

By Amanda Rock
Amanda Rock, mom of three, has spent more than a decade of her professional career writing and editing for parents and children.