Puzzle Hide and Seek

Try this fun puzzle hide and seek game for toddlers!

I am obsessed with playing puzzles. With all the learning that’s wrapped up in a simple puzzle, they are basically a gift from education heaven. I decided to “up the ante” a little on puzzle play with my toddler and the end result was so much fun: Puzzle Hide and Seek was a total hit.

Puzzles are an amazing toy/tool/learning opportunity for kids. Talk about getting a lot of bang for your buck. When a child is working on a puzzle they are using logic and reasoning, problem solving, and improving their spatial awareness (a fancy way for saying: figuring out which way to orient the piece).

Setting up puzzle hide and seek was so simple.

Materials:
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• Puzzle [the one used in our photos is a Melissa and Doug Jigsaw Puzzle]

I mean it when I say this was an easy one to set up! I took my son’s 24 piece jigsaw and hid the pieces around our family room. Think Easter egg hunt with puzzle pieces.

I had my toddler close his eyes / sit in another room while I hid the pieces and fended off his “are you ready yet?” questions. I obviously didn’t hide them in any super challenging spots, but in spaces he could find.

He thought this was so funny! Just looking for the pieces was a perfect activity for my obsessed with hiding toddler.

Once he collected what he believed to be all 24 pieces, he began putting the puzzle back together. I sat back and enjoyed a (for once in my mom life) warm cup of coffee and watched him work.

He was missing two pieces! Back he went to hunt down the missing pieces.

Talk about an easy way to stretch puzzle time and get a little bit of mom time watching it all unfold. My toddler begged to play again and I was only too happy to hide those puzzle pieces for another round.

I’m not worried about him hiding puzzle pieces in the future now that we’ve played this game. Kind of like how toddlers understand that candy is only given out for door bell rings on Halloween, he seems to understand this was just a game.

Need some more puzzle activities for your toddler? Try Puzzle Sort, and DIY Shape Puzzles.

What would your toddler think of Puzzle Hide and Seek?