I was just curious. My son wound up loving that one, but initially found it tougher than average because of some of the ambiguous patterns (sections on the whale body, etc.). I was hoping your daughter would like it because the shape might make it easier than a squarer one, the subject matter is fun, and it's really big.
It's starting to grow on her. We did it again today and got a lot farther before boredom set in. But the subject is pretty cool and when she's done with it she loves to run across it and pretending she's swimming in it.
I took DS 2.5 to register for preschool yesterday. During the tour the director was showing us the puzzle area. The hardest puzzles in the early classroom were 8 pieces! I asked if they had harder puzzles and she said they had 12 and 24 piece puzzles in the older classrooms. I explained that he could do 48+ piece puzzles and she pretty quiet for a moment and then said that she would make sure they got some for him for when he starts in the fall. So nice to have an accomodation made without making a big deal about it.
That got me to thinking about how rare it is for toddlers to do advanced puzzles. Both of the my kids were good at puzzles and I really never thought too much about it. Is it that rare?
I don't know how rare it is but in DD's soon to be classroom (0-2yr11m) I just noticed they had only the insert puzzles. That being said they did have other activities that I know she hasn't been exposed to yet so I'm hoping it won't be an issue and DH gave them a heads up that she's good at math related things so they said that they could bring things in from the higher classrooms.
I did find this for 4 year olds:
http://www.pbs.org/parents/childdevelopmenttracker/four/mathematics.htmlThroughout the year, children can complete increasingly complex puzzles (e.g., four-piece interlocking to eight- or ten-piece puzzles, to puzzles with smaller and up to 15 pieces) and progress in their abilities to put together and take apart shapes (e.g., understands that a whole object such as a pizza can be separated into parts). Children also build three-dimensional structures using multiple types of items (e.g., a rectangular prism, cube and arches). In the second half of the year, some children may create drawings that involve more than two geometric forms.
