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What you need to know: I was recently introduced to a wonderful new toy brand called Upbounders and was inspired by their mission. Upbounders’ goal is to create great quality educational toys and products while celebrating belonging and self-expression through play. Upbounders create toys, games, and puzzles to reflect the diverse world that we live in.
What else you need to know: I had the pleasure of trying out a few of their interlocking puzzles and was very impressed. Aside from puzzles being my absolute favorite therapy toy, each puzzle from Upbounders shows pictures of kids of different cultural backgrounds engaging in a variety of fun activities, so that every kid feels included.
Take a look at some of the puzzles I tried below…
First was a double-sided 24-piece puzzle with the title “Splash Parks & Ice Cream Cones.” One side of the puzzle is a picture of kids playing at the playground (notice how each child looks different), and the back of the puzzle turns into a number recognition and counting activity.
What’s more fun to count than ice cream?!
The second puzzle I tried was the 48-piece jumbo “Birthday Balloons” scene. It is a lovely picture of a backyard birthday party with cake, a clown, and lots of presents. This one is def going to work with me as it’s just the right challenge for most of the kids I work with.
Loving this picture!
This next puzzle is a little more challenging with the 72 pieces, but it’s one of my favorites since it also doubles as a Look & See activity. Once the puzzle is complete, kids have to find the hidden pictures inside the scene that are shown on the borders of the puzzle. This promotes an additional challenge as kids practice their visual perceptual skills.
Take a look. Can you find all of the hidden pictures?
Last but not least came the 100 piece puzzles. These would be more appropriate for older kids and/or as a family activity.
Here are some tips that I teach kids when completing interlocking puzzles.
1) Turn all of the pieces right side up so that each piece is visible.
2) Try to make sure none of the puzzle pieces are on top of each other to make scanning for them easier.
3) Start by finding the straight edges and completing the borders.
4) Look for same patterns and colors.
Here is how the completed “Popular Sports” 100 piece puzzle looks like.
The Marching Band 100-piece puzzle was double-sided. This added an additional challenge and made it even more enjoyable.
The first side is a picture of older children playing musical instruments in a marching band,
and the back is a picture of different musical instruments. Can you name them all?
Conclusion: Interlocking puzzles are a go-to OT toy as they promote visual perceptual skills, visual scanning, sustained attention, build independence, and help develop self-confidence. I love that Upbounders puts a specific focus on making sure that each puzzle scene includes kids of different backgrounds to cultivate belonging for every child.
Check out these puzzles and more toys and games from Upbounders.