Benefits of Doing Jigsaw Puzzles

Even with the state of the world and a whole lot of technical ways of entertaining ourselves, jigsaw puzzles are not obsolete. Why? They're fun, they work the brain, and there's something tangible at the end of your hard work. There are some great benefits of doing jigsaw puzzles for the whole family. Whether you are 3 or 100, a puzzle is a productive use of your spare time and a great catalyst for some couple or family bonding time. If you haven't done a puzzle in a while, why not look at the options?


Great for Problem Solving
Doing a jigsaw puzzle promotes using your brain. Puzzles are great for stretching your imagination. You need to plan, problem solve, and as you see a puzzle coming together, it's really rewarding. The problem solving skills that puzzles promote are great for people of all ages. They can be educational and provide kids with reasoning and problem solving skills and they also help elderly people keep their mind active. For parents, it's a great time to spend time with the whole family in a way that doesn't rely on technology.


Family Time
Families who do jigsaw puzzles together can enjoy great family bonding time. This can be great for a rainy day or for game nights. Sure, you might already do family movie night and / or a board game. But spending time together doing puzzles can also be a great time for talking and staying in touch.


Wall Art
After the puzzle is done you can put it away for another day, pass it on to a family friend (people who love puzzles often do a puzzle exchange), or you can hang it on a wall. Framing a jigsaw you've done together is something you can do proudly.


Plenty of Options
Today, there are more puzzle options than ever. You can buy small board options for children, to help them develop skills with reading, matching, reasoning, and so on. There are small character options for kids, of their favourite super heroes or cartoon characters. You'll also find a number of gorgeous landscape options. Beyond that, today there are 3-D puzzles as well. Whether you want something with just a few hundred pieces or are feeling really ambitious and want to do one with thousands of pieces.

Worried that you'll start a puzzle but take ages to finish? That's ok. You can buy jigsaw puzzle storage accessories to help you keep progress without taking up too much room. If you do it on the table and want to whisk it away until later, you can buy mats that help you roll it away until you're ready to work on it some more.

Check out a great selection of jigsaw puzzles at http://www.jigsawpuzzlesexpress.com.

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Jigsaw Puzzles, Great for Toddler Development

There are some great age appropriate jigsaw puzzles available for your tot. Jigsaw puzzles and learning puzzles can help with a number of learning areas including motor skills, reasoning, and problem solving skills as well. Small children can benefit from puzzle play in many different ways, such as learning and for entertainment purposes as well. They are one of the greatest learning toys you can invest in for small kids and if you take good care of them, you can pass them on to younger siblings, to cousins, or to family friends. Read on for some helpful information about doing puzzles with your child.

Doing puzzles together with little ones builds an interest in the problem solving attributes jigsaw puzzles bring. Smaller children generally enjoying doing new things, such as learning activities, with a parent first. It's a great one on one activity to do with your kids. It may begin with you showing your toddler how to put puzzle pieces together and before long your little one may choose to lead the way and eventually do the activity on their own.

There are some simple but stimulating puzzle options for small children that include board puzzles where numbers or letters are put into slots. By talking about the puzzle and identifying pieces you'll help develop early reading and letter / number recognition skills. Some puzzles can help with other areas as well, such as geography, telling time, learning about anatomy, nursery rhymes, alphabet letters, numbers, animals, and more.

If your child seems uninterested at first, don't give up. It may take a few attempts before the interest grows and /or before the skill is mastered. Once your child has done a puzzle several times you may want to rotate that activity so that he or she doesn't grow bored with it too quickly. Many parents will also share puzzles with other families and rotate these educational activities so that a puzzle that has been played with numerous times will get to be enjoyed by others. Keeping them in their box and encouraging kids to put them away promptly after play minimises lost pieces and the frustration of dealing with trying to complete a puzzle and realising you don't have all the pieces.

As your child grows, more advanced options exist to build on learning skills or to help promote new skills. And, puzzles can also entertain, as well, with your child's favourite hobby or television character.

Check out a great selection of jigsaw puzzles for all ages at http://www.jigsawpuzzlesexpress.com.

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Cornhole Rules

First let's discuss the game parts of Cornhole.
The cornhole boards should be 2 feet by 4 feet and placed 27 feet apart, facing each other.
The cornhole bags are used for tossing them at the cornhole board and should be made of duck cloth canvas measuring 6 inches square. The filler of the bags should be hard shell feed corn weighing 1 pound each. Each team of two players should have 4 bags of a specific color to differ from their opponents.

Cornhole rules are very easy to learn and that adds to enjoyment of the game itself. Since there is less time learning to play that means more fun for all who are actively participating in the game itself. Keep in mind that this is a game of fun and playing by the corn hole rules allows you to play at different events using the same rules of play, no matter where you find the next game.

There are two primary cornhole associations that deem themselves as the official cornhole organization and there are some small variances that are involved in cornhole rules between the two associations, so depending on which you adhere to, make sure this is decided among players before beginning game play.

the two entities are: The ACA or American Cornhole Association and The ACO or American Cornhole Organization. Each can be found online and their individual guidelines for cornhole rules and tournament play.

First let's discuss the game parts of Cornhole.

The cornhole boards should be 2 feet by 4 feet and placed 27 feet apart, facing each other.

The cornhole bags are used for tossing them at the cornhole board and should be made of duck cloth canvas measuring 6 inches square. The filler of the bags should be hard shell feed corn weighing 1 pound each. Each team of two players should have 4 bags of a specific color to differ from their opponents.


Game Play

1. The game begins with either 2 teams of 2 players each or it can be played with only 2 players competing against each other.

2. After a coin toss to determine which team starts first, the tossing begins and all 4 cornhole bags of each team are tossed from the same end so that all 8 bags can be used to either score or alter another teams bags on the cornhole board being tossed toward.

3. After all 8 cornhole bags are tossed at the game board it's time to add up the score for that toss;
   3 points for a bean bag that goes through the hole.
   1 point for a bean bag that is on the board surface.
   1 point for a bean bag that is hanging into the hole.
   1 point for a bean bag that is hanging off the edge and is not touching the ground.
   NO points for a bean bag that is on the playing surface, but also touching the ground.
   NO points for a bean bag that is hanging off the board and is resting on a cornhole bag on the ground
  NO points if bean bag bounces from the ground and lands on the board

4. After each toss the score for each player is kept and continues with the opposite team players tossing from the other end of the game and the first team to combine a score or 21 WINS!

5. Should the two teams end up with only a single point separating their final score, 21 to 20, then the game continues until the winning team wins a toss off when the final score has won by at least 2 points
(example: 22 to 20 or 23 to 21, etc)

How Fouls occur:
1. A foot foul is when a players foot goes past the front of the cornhole board while tossing the bean bag  that toss is void and cannot be re-tossed

2. If a player foes out of turn, no points are allowed from that player's toss

3. Any foul committed is cause to remove the bean bag(s) used during the foul occurrence and no scores  can be applied Hopefully, you among friends that know you and your playing etiquette and no arguments are apt to occur, but it is always a good sport policy to spell out to each player what the cornhole rules are as everyone understands prior to playing the game. The few minutes it takes to discuss the rules before play will ensure any events that may come up during play will be an agreed state beforehand.


Corn-in-the-Hole.com

To learn more about the exciting game of Cornhole and the Official Cornhole Rules visit us and see all the great things associated with the fun and competitive game of Cornhole.

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