One of the most fun activities for people of all ages is when a group gathers around to play card games, puzzles, and anything that teases their brains and drives them to think hard. According to studies, those games are highly stimulating and super beneficial to everyone, regardless of age.
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| 1. Can you find the value of the missing number? |
They are mostly used in daycares and senior housing centers to stimulate the brains of kids and seniors to keep them healthy and active. This article will discuss the benefits of playing puzzles and brain teasers for the two groups separately, starting with kids and moving to seniors.
The benefits of playing puzzles and brain teasers for kids
The best way to challenge young minds and encourage their critical thinking is by giving them brain teasers. Riddles, puzzles, brain teasers, and all the activities that require kids to think laterally help them develop essential cognitive skills like logic and reasoning. Those activities also help kids improve the skill of focusing on one task until they complete it and assist them in sitting still. Other benefits include:
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| 2. Can you find the Missing Number? |
Sharpening their thinking process
Brain teasers are thinking puzzles, and kids must use logic to find the answer. Although the task they are trying to solve might be simple, it needs implementing a different thinking process to be solved.
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| 3. Which Tank Will Fill up First? |
Solving the problem using an indirect approach, a creative one, or lateral thinking is often used and helps kids come up with a solution using a different angle. Brain teasers were designed to stretch the mind, so they encourage the kid to find their answers by coming at them in an alternative way; this kind of practice can help the children later in their lives.
Exercising their minds
Puzzles and brain teasers exercise the mind in a way that is different from conventional learning. Like all other muscles, the brain must be kept in shape; people must keep up their mental strength and encourage their kids to keep theirs from an early age.
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| 4. Can you Find the Missing Number? |
Maintaining an active, exercised mind helps with the kids’ school work and strengthens their abilities to adapt to new situations much more quickly; playing a variety of brain teasers and puzzles, a part of the kids’ daily routine, helps develop their senses and keep a strong mind.
Doing a mixture of brain-teasing activities is better than sticking to one, like doing riddles, crosswords, sudoku, solving a Rubik’s cube, or solitaire.
Stimulating their creativity
Brain teasers require lateral thinking, and lateral thinking means finding creative solutions. A brain teaser can help boost and encourage kids’ creativity. When solving a puzzle, kids need to think outside the box, and this thinking can also be applied to other areas of learning along the way; it can be applied to art, creative writing, music, and even when having discussions and playing games with their friends.
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| 5. Can you read this? |
Subjects with strict rules, like mathematics and science, can also use the help of creative thinking, especially if it appeals more to the kids and helps them learn better.
One thing that recently showed kids’ high levels of creativity is creating memes. Kids created memes that seemed like puzzles only certain people could understand and get the point of. When using a blank meme template to fill with a sarcastic line or a reference to a show, kids practice high levels of linguistic creativity.
The benefits of playing puzzles and brain teasers for seniors
Once a person hits a certain age, life begins to slow down. People start taking longer to do tasks they usually would finish fast; they begin to get tired quickly, and their motor skills regress. Once that happens, people retire from their jobs and start to have much time on their hands that they do not know what to do with; for many, their symptoms are accompanied by early stages of dementia.
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| 6. Can you solve this Brain Test Picture Puzzle? |
In cases like this, playing puzzles and brain teasers is more than just beneficial; it is essential.
Stimulates their memory
Most puzzles contain many pieces, whether physical pieces or pieces of information and for the person to solve the puzzle, they must remember its components. Given the senior’s age, storing such information is a great exercise for the brain.
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| 7. What is the top View of the Pyramid? |
It reinforces neural connections in the brain, which enhances the person’s thought process and mental speed. Brain teasers and puzzles strengthen the endurance and development of new neurons in the senior’s hippocampus.
The hippocampus is an area in the brain that handles long-term memory. So, the seniors’ short-term and long-term memory receive a major boost.
Relieves their stress
Senior citizens struggle with pressure from their past years and bodily changes. They are mostly stressed about their health, families, kids, wealth, what they achieved in their lives and what they did not, debts, and overall lifestyle changes.
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| 8. Which One is Different in this Picture Puzzle? |
Those things combined can take a toll on a person, and puzzles can help relieve stress and counter life’s pressure. When someone plays a puzzle, they are fully immersed in it in a way that makes them forget their problems and focus on enjoying the game.
Improves their mood
Puzzles excite the brain, especially when the person completes them successfully, and they lead to the release of the dopamine chemical responsible for human happiness. Therefore, playing puzzles and brain teasers improves seniors’ mood, self-esteem, and health by giving them a sense of accomplishment and achievement.
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| 9. Can you solve this Quick Picture Puzzle? |
Puzzles are very convenient for seniors because they are timeless and can be played whenever the person wants to; if they are in low spirits or in a bad mood, they can feel better simply by solving a puzzle.
In conclusion
Brain teasers and puzzles are good for both the kids’ and seniors’ health, it keeps an active brain and helps in growing confidence and self-esteem. They are a group activity, which means they also develop social skills with strangers and strengthen family members’ relationships. They help all people release stress and are a great way to pass the time.
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