Headu: Montessori Puzzle – Tactile Animals

Introduce the child to the puzzle through the pictures on the box and, withthe 12 puzzle pieces laid out, encourage the child to match the pairs together;then they can assemble the puzzles. Talk about the animals with the child,stating their name and describing their features, such as the colour, pattern,the sound they make, and so on. Then bring out the tactile inserts for the childto match to the right animal. Encourage sensory exploration and discuss how thesurfaces feel to touch, introducing new vocabulary such as “wool”,“scale”, “shell” and so on. Assemble again and again to promote languagedevelopment and object recognition as the child starts to be able to identifythe animals and their features for themselves.

There is also a Bingo game which can be played and is explained in detail inthe instructions.

Features:

• Main Intelligence: Body-kinesthetic
• Skills: Touch and manual skills
• Learning Objectives: Tactile sensitivity; Fine manual dexterity; sensorycoordination; First discoveries with animals; Language development; Objectrecognition
• Topic/Context: Animals
• Game Type: Tactile Puzzle
• Age: 1–4