Tips for parents on teaching and developing children using the game “Mosaic. The benefits of mosaics for child development What are the types of mosaics for children?
), sculpting from or assembling. And on top of everything else, it is truly universal - if you choose a mosaic wisely, it will be of interest to both babies under one year old and preschool children.
What is a mosaic? This is the creation of a large pattern from many small details - classic stained glass windows or decorative tiles are the best examples of this from “adult” life. This is why, by the way, popular puzzles are not mosaics - they are a completely separate type of game: also necessary for development, but affecting the child’s body and psyche in a slightly different way. But mosaic is a classic of children's creativity: it improves fine motor skills, teaches perseverance, helps to master colors and shapes, instills good artistic taste, improves imagination, helps imaginative thinking and teaches planning one's actions.
Focus on age
There are a huge variety of types of mosaics for children, but they all essentially boil down to one simple rule: assemble from a huge number of flat parts, chips (circles, squares, rectangles, triangles), a certain picture (set in advance or invented by the child). But depending on the type of game, the nuances may differ: the parts are assembled on any flat surface or on a special platform, how they are attached to each other, what are the dimensions of the parts, are there manufacturer templates for “drawing”, etc.
How to navigate and what to choose for your beloved child? The main thing in this situation is to start from the age of the baby. Therefore, all mosaics are divided into age groups:
up to a year
At this time, the child is extremely far from creativity as such - in principle, he is not able to consciously create a pattern or, even more so, a complex plot drawing. He is much more interested in simply studying the properties of the new world around him! Therefore, he will be happy to twirl the mosaic pieces in his hands, examine and taste them; he will certainly be fascinated by the ability of the elements to adhere to each other thanks to special slots on the sides. Several conclusions follow from all this. Firstly, a mosaic for this age should have large pieces so that the baby’s fingers can easily hold them and so that the child does not swallow them (diameter 6-8 cm). By the way, you shouldn’t get carried away with large sets - now literally 30-40 chips are enough. Secondly, no platform is needed - it is better to lay out the mosaic on the floor. Thirdly, the shape of the parts should be simple (the same circle, triangle, square), and their coloring should be bright, but not poisonous (choose classic colors). And one more thing: you should definitely play with your child - don’t hesitate to help him and even surprise him by putting together a sun or a flower out of chips, showing the principle of working with mosaics.
from one to two years
The child still continues to explore the world, but is no longer averse to playing and, most importantly, trying to create something new, his own. Of course, this statement does not need to be taken literally - “one’s own” is simply an imitation, a copying of what was seen. But from here we draw conclusions about the type of toys. So, the baby will be happy to accept the mosaic, where you need to complement the drawing. For example, on a platform with a picture of a train, there are slots for inserting chips of a certain shape and a certain color. Such a game, on the one hand, will teach the child to correctly compare the sizes of elements and their color with the main field. On the other hand, it will make you feel like a creator - before there was a “defective” picture, with gaps, now, thanks to your own efforts, it’s “real”, all painted over! You can also pay attention to mosaics with a colorless pattern (they must be completely filled with chips to your taste), with replaceable patterns (for variety), as well as those described in the “up to a year” category, but more advanced: with an increased number of parts of a more complex shape and reduced size (on average 6 cm).
from two to three years
Interest in blind copying is gradually fading, but the desire to create, on the contrary, is increasing. Therefore, at this age you can safely try classic mosaics “with legs”. In them, the chips have small pins at the base so that you can use them to attach parts to special holes on the included platform (often there are models on the contrary, where the legs are on the platform, and the elements, having holes for them, are essentially put on it ). At the same time, as a rule, there are no templates in such a mosaic: just a field dotted with many holes - stick in chips as you please! Thanks to this, the child can create any patterns, ornaments and designs from them. It should also be noted that the details may differ from set to set: both different shapes and the same (only small circles, for example), to provide even more freedom for creativity. Such mosaics are also good because they can be placed vertically - the chips will not fall down (therefore, when choosing, evaluate how securely they are attached to the site and whether they cling easily)! And the chips themselves, for the umpteenth time, are becoming smaller - from 1 to 4 cm in diameter.
three years and older
We can safely say that a child of this age can easily master almost any mosaic (if he has the skills to play with it, of course). Therefore, your choice is as wide as possible. Huge pin mosaics, large sets of interlocking tiles without a platform, while the number of parts is maximum (from 60-80 and above), and they are already really small (from 1 cm in diameter) and of any shape. Also during this period, the baby will probably be interested in magnetic mosaics, in which the chips are attached to a metallized platform without any “legs”, nails or grooves - the very properties of the magnet will cause a storm of emotions (just folding a mosaic on the same refrigerator is worth it!), and dragging elements around the site is very easy and convenient. For older children, already of kindergarten age, try educational kits, which still have drawing templates, but you need to fill them in with details not just by color, but... by numbers. That is, in the places where “1” is written, you need to attach white chips, where “2” - yellow, etc. This will help your baby quickly master numbers and learn to distinguish them.
Evaluate quality comprehensively
In addition to the age limits (which are somewhat arbitrary), when purchasing, be sure to evaluate the quality of the proposed mosaic according to several criteria:
environmental friendliness: check the manufacturer’s certificates, refuse to choose a toy from an unknown company without proper packaging;
manufacturing: make sure that the parts do not have a characteristic chemical odor, flash or burrs, the paint can withstand rubbing and getting wet;
reliability: the chips are strong, not fragile, the fastenings must repeatedly withstand the connection process, and the platform must withstand shocks and falls;
Convenience: the process of attaching all mosaic elements should be possible even for children’s fingers; everything can be removed and put on easily and simply.
And finally, a traditional parting word: not a single, even the most high-quality and interesting mosaic can replace a child’s communication with his beloved parents. Therefore, always try to play with your child, collecting complex patterns, “drawing” his favorite characters from fairy tales or cartoons with chips, inventing whole plots for what the child has depicted with you on the mosaic playground. It is in this case that such a toy will truly bring maximum benefits for the development of your child!
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Mosaic for a child is a game during which fantasy patterns are created from individual fragments (puzzles, pieces, pieces), pictures and images are restored.
Types of mosaics
Modern parents believe that a toy should not only serve an entertainment function, but also develop the child, educate him and even educate him. And when there is demand, there is supply. Mosaic became such fun. Children's mosaics are presented on the market today in a huge assortment. It will be difficult for an inexperienced parent to make a choice.
Here are the main types of this game:
Who is it intended for?
Mosaics for children over one year old should be large. A perfect option for, say, a bathroom. However, this division is very arbitrary. When choosing a toy, you should focus on the child’s inclinations, his ability to concentrate and his type of thinking. Kids also love to assemble large, simple floor puzzles.
Mosaics for children 3 years old are preferably classic, with a perforated board, or on a magnetic base. Older children like the 3D version, the alphabet mosaic and the appliqué mosaic. Schoolchildren opt for puzzles.
Which mosaic to choose?
To make it easier to make a choice, you need to note what abilities mosaic for children develops. This will help you determine what qualities you would like to develop in your child through play.
How to play?
How to start working with your child? It is unlikely that your baby will start creating shapes if you just give him the toy. To attract the child’s attention to the game process, give him tasks gradually, starting with the simplest ones.
First, tell your child about the colors of the chips. Then ask him to give you the item of the desired color. After which you can form all the chips into groups of shades. After your child masters colors, move on to learning mosaics with geometric shapes. Tell him which is a circle and which is a triangle. When showing a detail, focus the baby’s attention on the specific features of the figure: the sharp corner of a triangle, the ability to roll around a circle, the straight edges of a square. After this, ask your child to give you a certain chip. If you realize that mosaics are not exciting for your child, put the game aside for a month and then try to start all over again.
Your goal is to teach your child to sort chips by color and shape.
The next step is assembling pictures and creating patterns. Do not demand strict adherence to the scheme when assembling the mosaic; tell your child the sequence of actions, but do not collect the chips instead of him. Analyze what he likes most, pay more attention to this activity, gradually making it more difficult. Over time, you will understand what your baby’s favorite mosaic is. A game for children should take place in an atmosphere of expectation of something new, because children really love to acquire skills.
Mosaic for memory
Modern mosaics for children are so good, and the finished works are so beautiful, that sometimes you don’t want to disassemble the model at all. If you want to save the composition created by your child, please note that some sets come with a special frame for a perforated board and a thick sheet for gluing a cardboard puzzle. Take photographs of your work and the creative process, because these moments will never happen again.
Price
The price of this game is not too high in any of its versions. However, the differences between certain species can be significant. On average, a mosaic for children costs about 150 rubles.
What is mosaic?
Mosaic is a special type of creativity; it is a way of creating pictures, patterns, images using small pieces (details) of different colors. The pieces can be made from different materials (plastic, ceramics, pebbles, mollusk shells, etc.) and are chips of different geometric shapes, almost flat or on a “leg,” or three-dimensional figures.
What are the benefits of mosaics?
A child who knows how to correctly fold chips and makes the simplest patterns on his own does not seem to be doing anything unusual.
But not everything is so simple! While arranging small parts of the mosaic, the child performs such different actions - from looking at the picture in the instructions to matching the parts by shape and color and laying them out on the surface - that playing with the mosaic, in the end, cannot be called a simple “killing time.”
Making a mosaic is fundamentally different from drawing. If, with a pencil in hand, a child thinks almost at lightning speed, and an image on a canvas (a drawing of a house, a sun, a man, a flower in an album) is created spontaneously, then when working with a mosaic, creating an image requires maintaining attention for a longer period. The drawing itself may undergo some changes and ultimately be somewhat different than in the instructions. In general, of course, this is drawing, but drawing is dotted (that is, with chips point by point).
When playing with mosaics, the baby’s development is stimulated:
- setting a goal and striving to achieve it;
- fine motor skills of fingers;
- logical thinking;
- imaginative thinking and imagination;
- artistic taste.
In a word, when making a picture from the mosaic details, the baby is imagining. And this serves as a powerful tool in psychosomatic development.
The role of puzzles in children's development.
Puzzles are a multifunctional material for child development.
◊ Develop fine motor skills. The child takes the puzzle pieces with his fingers, rearranges them, sorts them out, and assembles them into a complete picture. This is the impact at the level of fine motor skills. Its development plays a huge role in the development of many child skills.
◊ Development of logical thinking. Before putting a part in one place or another, your child thinks about it. And the more opportunities a child’s brain is given to think like this, the better.
◊ Development of spatial and abstract thinking. This is one of the main characteristics of puzzles. They contribute to the fact that the baby learns to imagine an object, a picture in space, without seeing it before his eyes. In this way, the child develops fantasy when he is able to invent something or imagine something that is not currently in front of him.
◊ They teach to understand that everything in this world consists of parts, details. And if you put them together, correctly match one to the other, you get a real object.
◊ Develop the concept of more and less. That is, there are puzzles where there are few or many parts.
A child's brain development depends on actions and manipulations in the world around him. Puzzle games for kids provide many key features. Children learn to work directly with their environment and change its shape and appearance when they work with puzzles. It should be noted that many of the puzzles are difficult and require repeated attempts in order to complete them. Puzzles can be put together in a group, this brings the participants together, it makes them think, solve problems, make decisions collectively!
For those who are not aware of the benefits of mosaics, I will describe a few points:
- mosaics are a tool for the targeted development of fine motor skills. The very development of fine motor skills stimulates the part of the brain located next to the part responsible for speech. Thus, when playing mosaic, indirect stimulation of the “speech” part of the brain occurs.
- Playing with mosaics introduces children to diligent and monotonous activities.
- For children from 3 years old, mosaic provides scope for creativity - making patterns.
Mosaic details can be used for educational activities:
- with flowers. The most popular exercise is sorting by color;
- with counting, using them as counting material;
- with shapes, laying out geometric shapes;
- about the concept of symmetry. Lay out half the pattern, then ask your child to lay out the other half;
- the concept of parallels and perpendiculars for older preschoolers.
Features of playing with mosaics at 1-2 years old. When purchasing mosaics for children of the second and third years, do not expect much from the mosaic. Mosaic for one-year-old babies is not intended for laying out patterns, but for getting acquainted with colors and gaining the skills to attach parts to a base. A child at this age will only learn to put the parts on the convex base. There is no talk of creative drawing from colored chips in a year or even two. For example, only at the age of 2, Yana learned to fold the first flowers according to a pattern and fill the entire canvas.
The best mosaics for little ones (1-2 years old)
I would like to start this review with Quercetti towers, but they are constantly disappearing from stock, so I will start with Stellar. Quercetti is the second mosaic.
Stellar mosaic for kids
Impressions from the mosaic: The Stellar mosaic is simple, and in this case nothing complicated is required. One of the downsides is that the base is too flimsy - thin plastic, the quality of plastic bottles. On the other hand, after 4 years of operation, the base remained in perfect condition. An important mosaic parameter for kids is the ease of pairing the parts with the base. This mosaic has 5+ ease of joining parts, in fact, just like the next one.
Our model contains 80 parts and this is too much for children 1-2 years old. From my experience now, I would stop at 50 details.
This mosaic has a very attractive price-quality ratio. Nowadays you can find many of these. But at the moment, much more interesting options have appeared on sale - With templates, including democratic ones from Stellar. I provide links to them below -.
Quercetti mosaics for kids
Impression: In my opinion, this is the best mosaic for one-year-old babies! Towers made of cubes a year turn out to be unstable and always fall. Ordinary mosaics do not provide space, because laying out patterns is not yet accessible in terms of development. The Quercetti mosaic developers took all this into account and created the ideal mosaic for the 1+ age category. This mosaic is essentially a hybrid of a constructor and a mosaic:
- due to the design of the parts, stable towers emerge from this mosaic;
- You can also lay out flowers and other designs in a plane.
Of course, with all the advantages, a high price tag was added to the mosaic. In addition, it is difficult to find :-(. From time to time it appears on ozone. The mosaic exists in several versions. There are smaller sets. They do not include a plastic container for the parts. In general, if you see it, grab it. In my opinion, it is relevant with 10 months to 2 years At 2.5 years, Lego Duplo will probably be more relevant.
It is important not to be disappointed in the purchase: Children develop real construction skills from the age of 3. After purchase, don’t expect your child to start diligently building towers. Don't wait until after your child has built their first tower for a construction boom. This often happens later. The construction boom does not come immediately after the construction of the first tower, but at the moment when the child has firmly grasped the principles of building towers. This can happen several months after your baby's first tower. If your baby has not started assembling towers from cubes and using other “developmental toys” for their intended purpose within one year, be patient and remember that by going through and examining the details of the “developmental toys”, the child is also developing.
When choosing this mosaic, I asked myself the question “which is better, similar mosaics or Lego Duplo?” In our experience, Lego Duplo was inaccessible to Yana until she was 2.5 years old—it was practically impossible for her to pair the parts together. Based on this, I consider such a mosaic to be a much more successful purchase for a child under 2.5 years old.
Mosaics with patterns - a toy that can hold children's interest
The two previous mosaics are very good, but they are not able to significantly hold a child’s attention. Mothers can offer various tasks with mosaic pieces, but after completing the task the child will lose interest again. This is how the child’s psyche works: he took a toy, looked at everything that interested him, tried all the actions available to him and that’s it... it’s time to move on to the next toy, item or object. Consequently, the younger the child, the faster he loses interest and needs a change in activity.
In children aged 1-2 years, due to their age, their imagination still does not work, and logic is only gaining momentum. Consequently, games with mosaics at this age are episodic and chaotic.
Four-year-old Yana has long outgrown this mosaic, but she gladly joined the game when I asked her to pose with a variety of mosaics. The kids' favorite mosaic is buttons with patterns. This mosaic provides even two-year-olds with an activity with results! This is a very important point. The child, finishing folding the next picture according to the template, feels pleasure that he was able to cope with the task. Games based on patterns have an end point and a feeling of satisfaction from the result. When a child is given an ordinary puzzle, a pile of blocks or a construction set for free play, the child begins to suspect that this activity is endless, and infinity is immense. When your activity has a finite nature, then more interest is shown in it.
By the way, an adult has similar properties of interest:
- Imagine if someone told you that you need to pick strawberries from a field that stretches to the horizon. If you collect them, you can eat as many berries from this field as you like. The moment you imagine or see this huge field, you will immediately get bored, lose interest and think: “Oh, a whole field! I'd rather buy as much as I need. I’ll pay, but I won’t strain myself.”
- And if they show you a small garden bed and say: “You pick all the berries, and they are yours.” The attitude towards such a task will be completely different. There will be immediate interest.
When we give a child a large pile of construction set pieces, cubes or mosaics, his interest quickly subsides. To maintain interest, it is important that the toys offered contain dosed tasks. For example, fill one picture with chips by color. And if there are not a lot of these chips, and the number corresponds to ages 5-10, then the task is up to the child. Such mosaics are available to children from 2 years old. Moreover, at 3-4 years they continue to be interested even more than at two years. In middle preschoolers, attention becomes more concentrated and of higher quality:
- At 2 years old, when playing with such a sink, Yana got tired after 2-3 pictures;
- At the age of 3, mosaics with patterns engrossed her. She could put pictures together in patterns one after another, sometimes even all of them. Take a look at the video below. Yana is 4 years old there. I pulled the jigsaw puzzle out of the closet where the non-age-appropriate games are kept, but the patterns instantly caught her interest.
Mosaic options with templates for kids
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Specifications* (prices as of May 2018) *Prices in the table are shown as of May 2018 without discounts. Mosaics with Djeco templates (Italy) for middle preschoolersAs I wrote above, children really like to collect pictures using templates. In general, the average preschooler considers collecting according to templates a useless activity. By and large, I agree with this opinion, but still, sometimes we must give the child not only healthy, but also tasty food and an interesting game. And besides, a mosaic with patterns is an ideal option to balance the nervous state of an active child. Jigsaw puzzles can be offered before bed or when the child is excited. I believe that toys are a must in the home arsenal, including for relaxation and relaxation. In the process of preparing the review, I came across a couple of mosaics with templates for older children and threw the one with 230 pieces into the basket.
The range of educational games in children's stores today is huge. Meanwhile, the palm in popularity is held by time-tested children's mosaics. The game, which appeared many centuries ago, is still loved today by both children and their parents. Why is mosaic so good? And how to choose the best one? Let's try to figure it out in our article. The benefits of children's mosaicsMany centuries ago, mosaic appeared as one of the types of artistic craft. People assembled huge paintings from small parts, decorating rich halls, churches, and building facades with them. This type of art is still alive today. Children's mosaics are based on the same principle - it is necessary to assemble a complete picture from small parts. How does this activity affect the child?
1. Development of fine motor skills. Playing with small particles is great gymnastics for little fingers. This is an excellent preparation for using cutlery, pencils, and pens. In addition, stimulation of the fingertips has a beneficial effect on the development of speech centers. That is why mosaics are recommended for children who will not start talking. Choose mosaics for children in the store https://miramida.com.ua/. There is a wide range, excellent quality and affordable prices. 2. Development of imagination and love of creativity. Mosaics are very different from, for example, puzzles. After all, puzzles are the only correct version of the picture that needs to be assembled. And mosaic gives much more scope for creativity - from small pieces you can create an infinite number of “masterpieces”. In the process, the baby develops an artistic taste, he begins to better understand colors and shapes.3. Development of attention, patience, perseverance. You can’t create a beautiful picture at once. This requires time and concentration. This means that the child develops qualities that will be very necessary for him in the learning process. Types of children's mosaics
Today the choice of children's mosaics is huge. On the website miramida.com.ua you will find mosaics of all types and for all ages. What types of children's mosaics are there? 1. Floor. If your baby is not even two years old, a mosaic with large chips and without a special field is ideal for him. In order for the parts to be fastened together, they have special protrusions and recesses.2. Classic. Consists of a field with holes and multi-colored chips on a leg. Often the kit also includes a booklet with options for pictures. Suitable for children over three years old. 3. Magnetic. This type of mosaic will be interesting for older preschoolers. The elements in it contain a magnet inside, and the field is made of metal. 4. Self-adhesive. Elements of this type of mosaic need to be pasted onto a field on which the contours of the pattern that should ultimately be obtained are indicated. Mosaic is a wonderful helper for a mother who wants to develop her baby! Popular in the category:
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