New research reveals how children learn to do jigsaw puzzles

According to researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA), who led the study, children only fully understand how to complete jigsaw puzzles when they have reached a certain stage of development.

The study, which looked at the cognitive processes that underlie jigsaw puzzle completion, found that the average child is able to use the visual cues from the puzzle pieces and the box display to complete the puzzle at around the age of four. Three year-olds, however, use trial and error to put the pieces together.

Researchers say that the development advancements that children around the age of four display when completing jigsaw puzzles are the ‘foundation’ for future drawing and painting skills.

Lead researcher Dr Martin Doherty, from UEA’s School of Psychology, said, ‘We looked at children’s ability to do jigsaw puzzles. Surprisingly, there's virtually no research on this, despite the common assumption these are good educational toys.

‘We were interested in children's understanding of pictures as representations. Jigsaws require assembly of a picture, so if children understand how pictures work then they should be better at jigsaw puzzles.’

The team, which includes researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh Napier, West of Scotland and Warwick, worked with 169 children aged between three and five, to see how they put together different types of puzzles at different ages.

Some of the children worked on traditional jigsaw puzzles with a picture, jigsaws with no picture, and picture-based puzzles made up of equal-sized rectangular pieces. Half of this group were given a picture guide showing what the completed image should look like.

Another group of children were given a jigsaw puzzle with a piece missing, and different options to fill the gap.

The children were also tested on their level of representational understanding, including how well they understood other people’s beliefs. The researchers believe this is relevant because representational understanding develops in children at the same time as being able to view an image and understand what it is about.

Dr Doherty said, ‘This is the first investigation of how children do jigsaw puzzles, and we were particularly interested in how they use their understanding of pictures to complete them.

‘We found that children who passed tests for representational understanding were able to complete picture jigsaws faster and more efficiently. In general, efficiency increased between the ages of three and five years.

‘The really unique thing about this study is that we are showing the age and stage of development at which children gain a fundamental understanding of the nature of pictures.

‘We think this lays a vital foundation for learning to draw and paint,’ he added.

• The research, 'Piecing together the puzzle of pictorial representation: How jigsaw puzzles index metacognitive development', which is published in the journal of Child Development, is available here