Sliding Puzzles

From early childhood right through to adulthood, we all love solving puzzles. We like the way it challenges and exercises our minds. Besides, you’re lucky that you can find several options of puzzles out there in the market today. And one prominent one that suits both adults and children alike is the sliding puzzles . But, just like any other product, you need to be well aware of the product to get the best one online. Well, to make things easier for you, we’ve put together the significant elements that you need to know about this product in this article.

Sliding puzzles are an excellent learning tool for toddlers and young children. That’s primarily because it fosters many skills and mental learning advantages and opportunities. For example, cognitive skills; problem-solving; excellent motor development; social and self-esteem are just a few critical learning skills that your child must develop at some point in his/her early life. Indeed, these puzzles are a great starting point. But the number of puzzles available for kids is seemingly endless. And it can be overwhelming to decide which one will perfectly fit your child’s liking. With this in mind, we have put together a list of puzzles for kids according. This will not only simplify your life, but it’ll ensure that the product challenges your child appropriately.

Types of sliding tile puzzles to choose from

Completing a puzzle, even the simplest of puzzles sets a single goal to achieve. It requires your toddlers and children to think and develop strategies on how to approach achieving this goal. It’s evident that this process involves problem-solving, reasoning skills and developing solutions. Your kids can transfer this into their personal or adult life at a later stage. But here’s the thing, these puzzles come in a whole range of themes and topics such as alphabet letters, shapes, vegetables, numbers, pets, transport and colours. It increases their visual awareness and develops a deeper understanding of these themes and topics. Let’s have a look at a few prominent types of puzzles.

The Klotski puzzle

The Klotski puzzle originated in the 20th century. Ideally, the name refers to a specific layout of ten blocks. Like the other sliding block puzzles, these puzzles too have several different-sized block pieces. Generally, you place them inside a box, which has typically a 4×5 size. Further, among the block, you’ll find a special piece (usually the largest and of a different colour). As per the game rules, you as a player need to move this block to a designated area. By the way, you’re not allowed to remove the blocks. However, you can only slide the blocks horizontally or vertically. The common goal is to solve the puzzle with a minimum number of moves in the minimum amount of time.

The number slide puzzle

The number slide puzzle, commonly known as the 15-puzzle is one that consists of a frame of numbered square tiles. They’re placed in random order with one tile missing. You can also find the puzzle in other sizes such as smaller 8-puzzle. For example, if the puzzle’s size is 3×3 tiles, then you call them the 8-puzzle or the 9-puzzle. Similarly, if you have a 4×4 tile, then you call the puzzle the 15-puzzle or the 16-puzzle. In short, they’re named based on the number of tiles and the number of spaces. Besides, you’ll also see the n-puzzle. It’s a classical problem for modelling algorithms involving heuristics. You can explore the various options of number slide puzzles and buy them online.

The sliding picture puzzle

Jigsaw puzzles or picture puzzles were initially created by painting a picture on a flat, rectangular piece of wood. People then cut the picture into small pieces and then mix it up. This allows them to rearrange the pieces to make the perfect picture that it initially was. Typically, the picture sliding puzzles usually include scenes from nature, buildings, and repetitive designs. However, you can use any kind of image to make a jigsaw puzzle. The solvability of a sliding picture puzzle is very similar to the solving tricks of the jigsaw puzzle. However, the only difference is that in the case of a puzzle, you can only slide the picture puzzles horizontally or vertically.

The rotate and slide puzzle

Rotate and slide puzzle is basically a model that’s a tweaked version of puzzles. The basic shape of these puzzles is cylindrical. The cylinder is divided into several “ring-shaped sections.” You can rotate these sections independently. Besides, each ring section includes multi- individual parts, with one piece missing. You can move these parts along each ring by using the missing piece (empty space). By rotating and sliding the pieces in and out of the space, you can create a multitude of solutions. In short, the objective of the puzzle is to place the tiles into patterns by making rotating and sliding moves that manipulate the space.