Puzzles and Placement Games. Apart from the obvious fun of building puzzles this activity is sure to develop several functions of the brain simultaneously.
Most notably developed in this process are the abilities to reason, deduce, analyze, sequence and the development of logical thought and problem solving skills.

Lets look at the skills applied and developed while building puzzles in more detail:
* Cognitive skills:
Problem solving, reasoning, seeing whole-part relationships, concentration and focus
* Visual Acuity:
The visual ability to resolve fine detail
* Fine motor skills: Manipulating the pieces of the puzzle to make them fit, development of the pincher grasp
* Hand-eye coordination: Being able to place or remove a piece in/from the puzzle without breaking the puzzle, manipulating the puzzle piece to see if it fits
* Recognise shape and size
Puzzles help in the development of math and pre-reading skills by enhancing the ability of children to recognize shapes and sizes as well as the skills applied as discussed in the cognitive developmental skills above.
* Social skills:
Working in a team to finish a puzzle develops a lot of social skills at once, learning to ask for a particular piece to be passed, learning to handle frustration when a piece does not fit and the self-control needed to leave the puzzle alone between working on it