# Puzzles at 18-20 months



## Shannie77 (Jan 16, 2007)

I am just curious what types of puzzles your 18-20 month old can do?

No real reason just interested!~


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## Pumpkin_Pie (Oct 10, 2006)

My son is nearly 21 months, and can do the large wooden shape puzzles pretty easily. He can also do the "put the shape into the correctly shaped hole" type of puzzle. I haven't tried any other type with him yet, but he is getting a six piece puzzle for Christmas. I am not sure if he will be able to do it, but I sort of feel like it is the next step up.


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## azmomtoone (Aug 30, 2008)

I think my DS at that age was just starting to do the puzzles w/ a picture w/ a big wooden knob right around that age.....or M&D wooden "chunky" puzzles


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## sunnygir1 (Oct 8, 2007)

My 22 month old dd isn't particularly interested in puzzles of any sort. We have a couple Melissa and Doug "puzzles" that have three large pieces with wooden knobs and pictures of the pieces beneath the actual pieces. She doesn't really care about them. I'll have to sit down with her tomorrow and see if she can do it, because I haven't prompted her to try in a while.

We also have a shape sorter that is quite difficult. She likes to do it with my help. She can't really figure out which piece goes where or even that she may need to change the orientation to get them to fit.


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## ShyDaisi (Jan 22, 2007)

My 20 month old hasn't really been exposed to puzzles or shape sorters yet. They will both be under the tree Thursday morning, so I will have to report back then!


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## sunnmama (Jul 3, 2003)

Neither of my kids could do puzzles at that age. They can pick the right piece, and orient it correctly, but they don't have the fine motor coordination to get it in just. the. right. place. They get frustrated and have no fun at all, lol. I think my toddlers just lack the patience for puzzle


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## LaLaLaLa (Oct 29, 2007)

DS, who will be 3 in February, is just getting really interested in puzzles now. DD, though, who is 4 now, was given one of those big floor puzzles with 24 pieces for Christmas when she was 17 months old. As she adores her aunt and uncle who gave it to her, she insisted on pulling it out and trying it. She did that puzzle every single day for about a month, first with some help, and soon "by my own self." In her bedroom, in the kitchen, in the bathroom--any level surface was fair game for the puzzle.

She's always been a pretty focused kid, though, and very driven. Early on she understood "match up your colors" and how to twist pieces around to try them in a specific spot. Puzzles were just something she really latched onto. I'm thrilled; I love them, too.


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## Ks Mama (Aug 22, 2006)

DS (18 mo) can do the peg & knob puzzles easily, as well as some of the chunky wood puzzles (few pieces, with picutres underneath).
DS (4 yo) is doing 60+ jigsaws. By 24 months, she was doing 12 - 20 piece puzzles.

We own a puzzle shop though, so they've been immersed in puzzles since birth, haha.


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## RoadBuddy (May 19, 2005)

My just-now 19month old likes the big knob ones, but can't fit most of the shapes in. He gets the concept but his motor skills aren't quite there. We have the Melissa and Doug shape one, and he likes putting the circle in







Circles are easy, you don't have to turn them any specific way, as opposed to that pesky octagon


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## PatchChild (Sep 1, 2006)

DS is 18months and loves to play with Melissa and Doug chunky puzzle pieces. He's not too interested in putting it together even though he loves cleaning up of all kinds.


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## tankgirl73 (Jun 10, 2007)

18-20mo she was getting into the knob puzzles. She could easily match them to the right place but needed help orienting them the right way. She liked trying the shape puzzles (do we ALL own the Melissa and Doug cube? lol...) but wasn't able to find them all. She loved trying, though, and that's how they learn!

Now at 24mo knob puzzles are 'too easy' but she still loves hers. We have an alphabet shape puzzle (no knobs) which she loves, and her latest thing is exploring symmetry with it... seeing which letters can be flipped end-over-end and still fit in the space! She has the shape puzzle mastered and can name many of the shapes (we also did some Montessori-style shape matching with those pieces).

She got the Melissa and Doug shape clock for her birthday and has conquered that. She loves her shape... um.. what to call it... it's a stacking sorter, one circle, two rectangles, 3 triangles, 4 squares,and 5 pentagons, they each stack onto their specific pegs. She can do that in under 30 seconds, she's a machine.

We tried a multi-piece puzzle around 22mo but it was beyond her and she wasn't very interested. I think she's ready for that step now and there's one under the tree for her, just 6 pieces.







Oh, and another one which is a set of 2-piece matching puzzles, the type with a number digit on one piece and that number of objects on the other piece.

She LOVES puzzles and this sort of matching and manipulation stuff is very congruent with Montessori method, which we're loosely following, so I'm not shy about getting new ones lol... OH and I just ordered the Montessori cylinder blocks, which are another kind of puzzle really! Each block has 5 cylinders (I got the 'mini' blocks, the full-size ones have 10), there are 4 blocks, in each set the cylinders gradate in different ways... In one, they're all the same width but the height decreases. In another, the height is the same but the diameter decreases. In another, both height and diameter decrease. I think the 4th one, diameter decreases while height increases. They fit into slots in the blocks. I've been drooling over this for months and finally ordered it... I think she's ready for it!


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## SquishyBuggles (Dec 19, 2008)

My 2 year old can do the large knob puzzles pretty well, particularly the ones that have the picture underneath the puzzle pieces.


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## k9sarchik (Nov 11, 2006)

DS is 15 months old and does the Melissa and Doug big knob puzzles very well. There's 2 more waiting under the tree.
He also does the shape sorter very well, but he's been doing that since he was 12 months.


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## christy005 (Mar 5, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnmama* 
Neither of my kids could do puzzles at that age. They can pick the right piece, and orient it correctly, but they don't have the fine motor coordination to get it in just. the. right. place. They get frustrated and have no fun at all, lol. I think my toddlers just lack the patience for puzzle









This is my son still. He just turned 2.


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## BarefootScientist (Jul 24, 2007)

None. He likes to play with puzzles but he cannot actually do them. He is almost exactly 18 months.


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## KaliShanti (Mar 23, 2008)

My almost 20 month old has been doing chunky puzzles (both wit and without knobs and with & without the picture underneath) for about 4 months. He also does the magnetic puzzles (when you "fish" for the pieces with a magnet on a string. They said 3 yrs and up but he got the hang of them around 17 months. So what would be the next step for him?


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## kirstenb (Oct 4, 2007)

We don't really do puzzles yet. He has a chunky one that he is getting for Christmas. He has another one that I put away a few months ago because he was still a little young for it- I may try bringing it back out after Christmas. He does like his (simple) shape sorter though and can do that with a little help.


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## Lisa85 (May 22, 2006)

My 21 month old has been doing M&D puzzles for a quite a while and pretty much has them mastered. BUT, she's a picky child and since birth pretty much, has to have everything just so. We have a couple of Montessori puzzles - not really jigsaws, but not put the circle in the circle spot puzzles and they are too complicated but I can tell she's making progress and has the right idea.

I think this is just one of those things either you like or don't like. Personally, I despise puzzles of all kind from jigsaw to sudoku to crosswords. I have plenty of patients for crafts and things, but none when it comes to puzzles. Kids must have gotten it from dh because he could sit there all day trying to do the word puzzles in the Sunday Paper.


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## MoonStarFalling (Nov 4, 2004)

DD is 19m and she can't do any puzzles. She tries to put the piece where it goes but she can't get it oriented.


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## MamieCole (Jun 1, 2007)

At 18-20 months my DS was enjoying the M&D wooden puzzles that have the chunky pieces in shapes like this:
http://www.melissaanddoug.com/dyn_pr...hunky%20Puzzle

At 24 months, those are too easy for him and he has moved on to puzzles with more pieces and puzzles that do no have a picture underneath. These are some of his favorites right now:
http://www.lucieclaire.com/Schylling...zle-p-816.html

I also found a few vintage wooden tray puzzles on eBay that he enjoys, similar to these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/2-PLAYSKOOL-SESA...QQcmdZViewItem


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## PatchChild (Sep 1, 2006)

Now I have to revise my answer. DS had his 18 month evaluation with early intervention today and they put a puzzle in front of him to try. It was 4 big shapes with knobs. To the best of my knowledge, he's never tried one before, but he did it perfectly. Weren't we all shocked.


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## LindsC (Dec 16, 2008)

DS is almost 20 months and he is starting to do well with the wooden puzzles that have the pegs on the pieces and matching them to the picture on the puzzle. He still has a little trouble getting the piece oriented in the correct direction, but he is getting better everyday.


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## Shazer (Oct 6, 2006)

I guess my DD REALLY likes puzzles (she's 22 months). She does 5-10 every single day. She does 12-24 interlocking piece ones on her own. She had an early interest in puzzles and has gradually worked up to doing the 12-24 piece ones. It also helps that she does the same puzzles every day. With a new one, however, it will take a week or more to get the hang of it.


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## sweetieberlin (Mar 30, 2007)

my 26 month son can do jigsaw puzzles.. he is really good with shapes/sorting/etc


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## hanno (Oct 4, 2006)

He was given one nearly identical to this and he can do it but it takes 5 or so minutes. It's actually pretty wonderful to see him concentrating and turning the pieces.


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## Cuteje (Jul 14, 2014)

*My dd loves puzzles*

My DD whose turning 20 months loves puzzles. She can do large animal 6 piece puzzle and another 10 piece animal puzzle from John Lewis. Now she's bored of both and I need to look for a bigger and exciting one.


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## apeydef (Mar 16, 2013)

I didn't read all the comments so sorry if this was already said. 
In the spring I noticed my son was interested in some wooden jigsaw puzzled we had but was not able to do these yet. He was only about 17 months at the time. So for Easter I got him some peg type Wooden puzzles. One with farm animals, one with letters and one with numbers. The farm animal ones he is able to do perfectly now at 21 months and he's getting the hang of the numbers now, the alphabet one is still a little hard but I feel like they have been good for hand eye coordination. I got the Melissa and Doug ones and I purchased them on Amazon.


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## apeydef (Mar 16, 2013)

I just noticed this is an old thread lol


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## eternal disease (2 mo ago)

Puzzles activities for kids 
puzzle worksheets for kids


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