Grown-ups love figures. When you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you, “What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?” Instead, they demand: “How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?” Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince, 1943, translated from French
Working On Puzzles
If you need a bit of quiet time, then working on a 5,000 piece jigsaw puzzle may just be what you need. Not only does this type of activity build a child’s problem solving skills, but it also helps develop their multi-tasking skills when you add conversation into the mix.
There are other forms of puzzles you could work on together, including crosswords, word finds, and of course the ever popular Sudoku. Any one of these can help develop yours and your child’s brain power while spending some wonderful quality time together.
Here is an interesting puzzle site:
http://www.vrelinks.com/435/kids-puzzle-planet-11-discount-voucher-code/
If you don’t have money to spend on “paper” puzzles(meaning those other than jigsaws), you can always print some out from these websites for free at: http://www.teacherhelp.org/puzzles_and_games.htm, http://www.mirroreyes.com/crossword/, http://www.billybear4kids.com/jigsaw-puzzles/main-page.html, and http://www.sudoku.com/program.htm.
Remember too, that if you don’t have a “physical” jigsaw puzzle, there are plenty of free online jigsaws you can do together available from websites such as: http://freejigsawpuzzles.com/, http://www.jigzone.com/, or http://www.thekidzpage.com/onlinejigsawpuzzles/index.htm.