1. What are popular number puzzles?

Well, I don’t really know much about puzzles, as I have little interest in them. I guess the most popular of all number puzzles, is the Sudoku puzzle. This puzzle is based on logic skills but it’s also considered a math puzzle because of the numbers in the puzzle. Many people make Sudoku a part of their daily schedule because it refreshes them and allows them to take on new challenges with different levels of difficulty. Playing Sudoku also helps players feel a sense of mastery – this is one reason why the game is so popular. Another popular math-and-logic puzzle is a puzzle called Kakuro /ˌkɑːˈkʊərəʊ/ puzzle. Like the Sudoku, Kakuro puzzle involves numbers from 1 to 9 and a grid block but the objective is totally different, but I’m not familiar with its rules.

2. Why do parents let their children play puzzles?

I think because of all the tremendous benefits that playing puzzles offers. The most significant advantage is that playing with puzzles has significant impacts on a child’s physical skills, developing fine motor skills through the coordination of small muscles. For example, through grasping pieces and matching jigsaw pieces together, children also improve their hand-eye coordination. In addition, when parents play puzzles with their children, it helps improve children’s language. I mean, after solving a jigsaw puzzle, for example, children are typically interested to learn about the assembled image. So, they talk with their parents and ask questions about things they see in the puzzle, like the animals and plants. This helps them learn new words and develop their speech.

3. What kinds of puzzles improve people’s intelligence?
Well, I think all kinds of puzzles can promote one’s intellectual development, for example, logic puzzles like sudoku, math puzzles, mechanical puzzles such as jigsaw puzzles, Rubik’s Cubes, then word puzzles like crosswords and Boggle, you name it. All of these puzzles require our full attention, help us wrest ourselves away from screens, devices, even the television, which seems like a nearly impossible task these days. And there are many benefits of playing puzzles for our intelligence. In other words, puzzles exercise the left and right sides of our brain at once. So we can think of it as a mental workout that improves our problem-solving skills and attention span. Besides, puzzles improve our memory, and visual-spatial reasoning, all of these are very vital to one’s intellect.