National Puzzle Day
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of puzzles? I’ll share what comes to my mind: TIME. As in, I never have the time to do any sort of puzzles.
A puzzle can be a crossword, jigsaw, trivia, word searches, brain teasers, Sudoku, etc. When we solve puzzles, we put our minds to work. I am totally jealous of anyone who regularly engages in any sort of puzzle activity because I wish I had time to engage in them too.
When the paper calendar version of National Day Calendar indicated that National Puzzle Day was approaching, I jumped onto my desktop and clicked on the link provided on the digital format. According to the website, “…Jodi Jill created National Puzzle Day as a way to share her enjoyment of puzzles. As a syndicated newspaper puzzle maker and professional quiz maker, Jodi Jill developed classroom lesson plans especially for the observance and the popularity has grown year after year.” Puzzle Day has been a national day since 2002.
A few years ago, after a month of being on Covid lock down, I realized that I had the time to do a puzzle. Besides cookbooks and books, my MIL enjoys giving us puzzles. She had given us a 500 piece Vikings puzzle for the holidays that year. In April 2020, my family sat around the table putting the puzzle together. It was the first time I had worked on a jigsaw puzzle in decades. For my son’s birthday last year, my MIL gave him the 500 piece Prince puzzle shown in the first picture above.
According to Nationaldaycalendar.com, “Studies have found that when we work on a jigsaw puzzle, we use both sides of the brain. And spending time daily working on puzzles improves memory, cognitive function, and problem-solving skills.”
The completed Vikings puzzle that my MIL gave us. My family, including my mom who lived with us at the time, was so proud to finish putting this puzzle together. SKOL!
Some other reasons why I’m jealous of puzzle solvers and why I should make more time to work on puzzles are:
I love the thought of one or more people sitting around socializing as we work on a puzzle together. Instead of being on our phones, this old school tradition of conversing while working together on something is so rewarding and fun. Similar to quilting back in the old days, there are social benefits of working on a puzzle together and the end result is a completed project. Win-win.
Speaking of social interaction, when we work on brain teasers or crossword puzzles with another person, the chances of improved vocabulary, social and vocal skills are greater than if we were to work on something alone.
And even if we worked on a puzzle quietly together, the opportunity to focus the mind in a meditative way is very beneficial as well. We can be in perfect harmony with another person just by being together; no words necessary.
Solving puzzles is an activity that doesn’t require a lot of prep work, it doesn’t cost a lot of money and there is no sweating or sore muscles involved. These reasons make it easy to start a puzzle by ourselves and/or very inviting to entice others to join in.
This year and every year, National Puzzle Day falls on January 29th. If you’re wondering how you can celebrate this day, check out what Nationaldaycalendar.com suggests:
“HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalPuzzleDay
Invite a friend to put a puzzle together with you.
Try a new puzzle game or revisit an old one.
Create a puzzle game.
Visit the National Day Calendar Classroom for numerous puzzles and projects.
Use #NationalPuzzleDay to post on social media.
Focus your mind on these 7 Puzzling Mysteries from History.”
Or another way to celebrate National Puzzle Day is to buy a thoughtful pinch for the puzzle lover in your life. A win-win would be to buy a puzzle from a local business to support stores like Wish Gifts which is in my neighborhood. My friend Hannah declared that she loves puzzles when we were shopping at Wish before the holidays. I figure if she didn’t get this puzzle for herself, then she will enjoy getting it from me. Hannah and her husband met at a music festival.
The second thing that comes to my mind when I think of puzzles is NERDY. Which is a complete opposite description of Hannah who happens to be a successful model and loves puzzles. But nonetheless, I should clarify that when I think of puzzles and nerds, I am doing so in the most admirable way. Learning about National Puzzle Day from the Nationaldaycalendar.com site reminded me that solving word searches and crossword puzzles results in increased vocabulary and language skills. And testing our memory and thinking logically stimulates the brain and sharpens our number skills. So yes, I think of nerdy.
I loved that my daughter was a total nerd all throughout lower school. She had the best teacher, Mr. Burton, when she was in second grade. He taught little second graders some life skills that would last a lifetime. Sudoku was one of those skills. Sudoku is a puzzle that requires the sequencing of a set of numbers on a grid. Mr. Burton taught us parents how to solve them too. I felt very smart when I knew how to Suduko and I liked the feeling of being a nerd. However, since I didn’t keep practicing, I will have to learn how to solve Sudukos all over again.
I know that solving puzzles may not sound very sexy but to me, being smart is. Even more so, being a nerd at solving puzzles has its own appeal that cannot be bought or faked; we either solve a puzzle or we don’t. National Puzzle Day on January 29th is a perfect opportunity to show off our sharpened minds and share the experience of solving puzzles. My hope is to spend some time on a puzzle so that I can get that nerdy feeling back.
Pinches,
Barb
