As part of our Space Week on SEN Resources Blog we were sent the excellent Who’s in Space jigsaw puzzle by Orchard Toys. 

What did we like about it? 

• Exciting Picture-  We loved the colourful, engaging illustrations on the Who’s in Space jigsaw. The pictures of rockets, astronauts, aliens and planets captured the interest of the children immediately. Helping to encourage them to complete the jigsaw.

• Develop Hand Eye Coordination and Fine Motor Skills– Jigsaw puzzles are brilliant for helping children develop these skills as they involve picking pieces up and manoeuvring them into the correct places and clicking them together. Fine motor skills are imperative to develop. For example, they help children learn how to correctly use a writing implement and complete other daily tasks such as zipping up coats. 

• Therapeutic and Calming Activity– With the beautiful illustrations and high quality of the jigsaw,  the children found completing this jigsaw very therapeutic. Puzzles can be fantastic for helping children focus on a task and in turn relax. Great for calming children down when they need it or as an activity for ‘quiet time’. 

• Encourages Speech, Language and Communication Skills– We’ve found Orchard Toys’ products to be fantastic at helping to encourage children’s speech, language and communication skills (see our review of the Giant Road Jigsaw here). The level of details of the puzzles really gets children talking. We’ve been having great fun describing what we can see, explaining what’s happening and even discussing what else we know about the topic. The illustrations act as brilliant prompts for conversation. 

Fancy buying it? Head over to their website here