Puzzles: history of origin, Interesting Facts, usage ideas
We all love the puzzle called "puzzle", which is a mosaic consisting of various pieces of different shapes. Nowadays, this word has become a household word for puzzles consisting of pieces of a once-solid picture, cut with special technologies(by stamp or laser) into hundreds or thousands of figured parts.
Puzzles are loved by both kids and adults. This game is great for developing thinking, memory, imagination and attention. Undoubtedly, the puzzle develops fine motor skills, figurative and logical thinking, perception (distinguishing elements by color, size, shape, etc.), correct perception of the connection between a single whole and its part, and arbitrary attention.
The name of the puzzle comes from the English word puzzle and in translation means a puzzle, a riddle or a "game for endurance".
The English engraver John Spilsbury invented and first made puzzles, and this significant event happened more than 200 years ago - in 1763. He began to paste black and white engravings geographical maps on a luxurious thin panel of Lebanese cedar and mahogany and cut the resulting sandwich into small pieces of bizarre shape. Each such piece contained some geographical information, and, collecting the necessary sections element by element, the student studied geography. In spite of high price(more than monthly wages industrial worker), the novelty was a huge success. At first, this educational tool was called: “Sawn Map”. Subsequently, such cards were no longer used in training and turned into just a form of entertainment.
The first map that John Spilsbury made was the "Map of England and Wales Divided into Counties". It has been hand painted. Well, the first map that has survived to this day is the “Map of Europe, divided into kingdoms” of 1766. There she is:
For decades, jigsaw puzzles were used only for geographical maps. Then they began to be used to study other subjects, in particular, puzzles from the chronological table with the dates of the reign of English kings and queens were preserved. What was not further divided into pieces - portraits, images of historical battles and even biblical events.
But the 19th century made its own adjustments to the fate of folding pictures: by the middle of it, thanks to the widespread use of stamping on cardboard in America, puzzles had become much cheaper and became available to everyone. This has led to the widespread popularity of puzzles around the world. Soon their mass production began and puzzles appeared in every home. Revolutionary was the discovery of a special technique for cutting puzzles.
As a result, the individual elements interlocked with each other and made up a compact pattern, which, after assembly, did not crumble so easily. This is the essence of puzzles and this is how they differ from ordinary mosaics.
The so-called puzzle-parties began to enjoy great popularity. parties at which the participants assembled puzzles in groups. There were even special competitions for puzzle lovers. Rather frivolous pictures from illustrated magazines, photographs of expensive cars, luxurious women, caricatures, etc. were often taken instead of reproductions. They say that even the famous Dutch gangster Schultz liked to collect a picture or two at his leisure.
Puzzles began to quickly gain popularity, including in pre-revolutionary Russia, and in just a few years they became a fashionable salon hobby. Puzels - as they were called at that time in Russia - were imported mainly from England. In those days, collecting puzzles was a very expensive pleasure. V. Nabokov writes about this quite interestingly in The Defense of Luzhin: “In that year, English fashion invented folding pictures for adults, “puzels”, as Peto called them, carved extremely whimsically ...”. Puzzles were never produced in the Soviet Union.
In 1909, Parker Brothers opened the first factory in the United States to manufacture jigsaw puzzles with fastened parts, which have since become popular throughout the world.
There is currently a large number of various kinds and puzzle modifications. Puzzles are divided by the size of the elements and the size of a single picture. The complexity of the puzzle is determined by the pattern, but the main criterion is the number of elements - the higher it is, the larger and more difficult the puzzle. classic size small puzzle - 54 elements (puzzles with this number of elements and above (up to about 260) are for children and are intended for the development of children as individuals).
Puzzles with sizes exceeding 260 pieces are intended for older children, teenagers, and adults. Puzzles large sizes are a serious hobby. It takes a lot of time to assemble them.
There are different types of puzzle pieces. The most common and classic are rectangular (with protrusions and notches), but there are also puzzles with triangular, round, oval pieces, as well as pieces of other shapes.
The weight of puzzles with the number of elements of about 10,000 is more than a dozen kilograms.
The more elements, the less detail - but this diagram is usually valid only for mosaics with sizes up to 200 elements. Above, the dimensions of all elements of the mosaic with the number of parts in 500 and 10,000 are the same.
Mosaic sizes range from small (about 50 cm²) to very large (several square meters). For example, standard size mosaics of 500 elements - 47 × 33 cm. There are also mosaics of a small number of elements (for example, 70) with the same size - especially for small children.
The biggest puzzle
The world's largest puzzle with a total area of about 24 square meters, created in the form of a tile roof by the Kryshavel company, was assembled by the most famous people in Russia. The plot of the world's largest puzzle was the legendary painting of the genius Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa (La Gioconda)
With the seeming ease of the task, it was very difficult to collect a portrait of the Mona Lisa. The fact is that the size of each small piece of the puzzle was 42 by 33 ... centimeters, and each such puzzle weighed 4.5 kilograms. Measured by the experts of the Book of Records of Russia, the exact dimensions of the assembled puzzle amounted to 3.93 meters by 6 meters, which ultimately gave 23.58 square meters of the total area. Mona Lisa is in a painted frame, so in this unique case, the area of the painting was measured taking into account the area of the painted baguette, which became part of the overall image. The puzzle consists of 234 pieces (tile tiles) 18 vertically and 13 horizontally. Total weight paintings amounted to more than a ton! More precisely - 1053 kilograms.
The world's largest selling puzzle.
The largest puzzle in the world "LIFE - The Great Challenge" (Life is a great challenge), consisting of 24,000 pieces, was created by Royce B. McClur. Its dimensions when assembled are 4.28m x 1.57m. The puzzle is included in the Guinness Book of Records.
The world's longest jigsaw puzzle in the Guinness book.
On Sunday morning, September 27, 2004, local residents of the German town of Königsbron began to collect puzzles. Families took to the streets in full force - from three-year-old children to grandparents. Everyone wanted to participate in an event that would glorify their city throughout the world. This time seven thousand people united in unison. The participants of the experiment occupied strategically important positions - someone got a job in a cafe, someone on a bench, and someone right on the pavement.
According to the organizers, local firms submitted more than 4,000 "assemblies" to the competition.
Among the plots are lyrical landscapes, scenes from Disney cartoons and episodes from films. Finished works they were glued to a common canvas and covered with cellophane film so as not to get wet from the rain.
According to the terms of the Guinness Book of Records, the length of the puzzle had to exceed one kilometer. The inhabitants of the city showed unprecedented enthusiasm and overfulfilled the plan. Their result is 1235 meters. The longest assembly in the world covered the main street of Königsbron and looked into several side streets.
Money in the form of... a puzzle.
In 2001, a silver coin was put into circulation in Liberia, made in the form of ... a puzzle and dedicated to the signs lunar calendar. The face value of the coin is 100 Liberian dollars (equal to 100 US dollars).
The coin consists of a central disk and 12 separate parts located around it, made in the form of puzzle elements and connected to each other in an appropriate way. Unbelievable but true - this coin is the official tender of Liberia. In this case, the coin weighs a whole kilogram! In total, 1000 of these coins were issued.
The walls of the houses were decorated with... puzzles.
You can’t confuse a house with a puzzle with anything - the most correct address! In Russia, in Novocheboksarsk, a house appeared, the wall of which was painted with puzzles. From September 10 to 17, 2005, many cultural events took place here as part of the “Cultural Capital of the Volga Region” program. One of them was supergraffiti, when the walls of two houses in the city were turned into jigsaw puzzles. The authors of this work specially came from Dimitrovgrad (Art Group "HA-HA") to leave a memory of themselves for decades in the form of bright pictures on the walls of dull houses. The authors and developers of the project explained that the idea of puzzle houses was born by chance - in the course of reflection on the elements that make up the urban environment. This is how an associative series arose - the city consists of houses and people, like puzzles, which, connecting with each other, form an interesting, unlike anything structure.
Puzzle Jewelry
Traditional puzzle rings usually consist of four, six, eight or twelve interlocking rings. Usually these rings are made in the Celtic style. Previously, puzzle rings were used as wedding rings.
At one time, the puzzle ring was described in her saga by the Australian writer Kate Forsythe, her character Hannah must search for the four lost pieces of the puzzle ring in order to break the fairy's ancient curse on her family. The puzzle ring in the book is forged in the shape of a rose.
Furniture, utensils in the form of puzzles
Folding tables are yesterday. But those assembled from pieces are already more interesting. Of course, not everyone will like the idea of assembling the table before the guests arrive, and then taking it apart again. But there is always something to do, if in the future there is an absolutely free evening without any plans and visits.
And this chair consists of soft cushions of a cozy shape. Each cushion has a magnet inside to keep the pieces of the armchair, chair, sofa or pouffe you've built from falling apart. From the details you can build comfortable armchair, chair, sofa, pouffe, bed. Individual elements can serve as footrests or cushions.
Kitchen cutting board- a thing irreplaceable and convenient. You can only increase its functionality to make it even better. This is exactly what the designers from OOOMS did when they created a series of Puzzleboard puzzle boards.
Each individual board looks like a puzzle piece that children of all ages love to collect. Also, in addition to cutting, you can use it as a tray. It is convenient to hold on to the protruding "handle", and a glass with a drink will fit perfectly into the hole on the other side, which will prevent it from falling or overflowing.
Well, if you are dealing with some kind of long product, such as a baguette, you can cut it much easier by connecting several boards together, forming more room for work.
How to collect puzzles and where to apply them?
You can collect puzzles in different ways, and for sure everyone has their own little secrets.
1. Prepare a place where you will collect your puzzle - coffee table, floor area, etc. For convenience, we suggest you get a special rug for folding puzzles, which is rolled up for storage and easy transportation of puzzles.
2. To begin with, it would be nice to carefully consider the image of your future puzzle, remember where the main details will be placed.
3. Select puzzle pieces with a smooth edge - these pieces can be laid out first as a frame for the entire puzzle.
4. Sort all pieces by color scheme, usually such pieces are located close to each other.
5. Add up the most significant elements, leave the details for later.
6. Well, if you want to work hard - forget about these tips and put the puzzle together for your own pleasure!
Having collected the puzzle, you will definitely think about where to put it next? The collected pictures will perfectly fit into the interior of your home, and keeping them assembled is a breeze.
At your service is a special glue (which is also used for decoupage), you just need to carefully apply it to the grooves of the picture from the front side and let it dry. Since the glue is transparent, you can cover the entire front side of the canvas with it. You can also use double sided tape. Fold the picture on a large sheet of cardboard.
Cover it with a second sheet. Turn over carefully. On the sheet that will be the basis of the picture, stick strips of double-sided tape, glue end-to-end. Then remove the protective layer from the adhesive tape and attach the backing sheet to the puzzle.
When carrying out these procedures, it is required that the air in the room is clean. Dust particles, hairs, pet hair can annoyingly spoil appearance paintings.
In our Shop we offer you puzzles from two world-famous manufacturers of these products - companies sun out and Masterpieces. The puzzles of these companies have found their fans all over the world thanks to the highest quality of products, the richest assortment, which is intended for both adults and little fans of this hobby. There are also combined puzzles (part for children, part for adults), contour puzzles, three-dimensional and other types.
We wish you many pleasant family evenings for the exciting activity of folding puzzles!
Crossmania gives you the opportunity to purchase puzzles in our Shop
Partial or complete publication of article materials without an active link to the site "Krestomania" is prohibited.
John Spilsbury. That was the name of the man to whom the world has been thanking for the third century for the invention of puzzles. In 1761, a Londoner, a member of the English Royal Geographical Society, produced an unusual textbook. Having stuck a map of England on a piece of plywood, he sawed the picture along the borders, mixed the fragments and invited his students, who were learning the basics of geography, to assemble the map of the country into a single whole. Thus, the first puzzle appeared.
Who is John Spilsbury
Little is known about John Spilsbury. Born in 1739, he studied with the royal geographer at the court of the British King George III, served as a cartographer and engraver. He made his invention as a very young man, he was a little over twenty. He managed to establish a handicraft production of new items, after five years geographical puzzles were willingly bought by schools all over England. A little later, the toy became a salon entertainment.
But John did not have time to fully enjoy the money and fame, he passed away in 1769 at the age of 30. By the way, the game known to us as a “puzzle” is still called jigsawpuzzle in English-speaking countries - that is, a “jigsaw” puzzle, recalling the original manufacturing method. One of the Spilsbury puzzles is still kept in the British Museum.
How the puzzle took over the world
For more than a century, Spilsbury's invention was not widely used. The structures were bulky, the fragments were not attached to each other, but simply laid out on the surface. From any awkward movement they scattered, and the picture had to be reassembled. In addition, the toy was not cheap.
Mass success came to puzzles only in 1909 when the American company Parker Brothers opened the first factory for the production of puzzles in the form that we know today.
Plywood was replaced by cheaper and lighter cardboard, the curly elements of the puzzles were fastened together, and the final picture was attached to them, which had to be assembled (this was not done before). In addition, the cards were replaced by art reproductions, and it was much more exciting! And most importantly, puzzles were so cheap that they were available even to the poor.
Interestingly, the peak of the popularity of puzzles in America came during the Great Depression. In the thirties, in a country engulfed by famine and unemployment, the income from the sale of puzzles was $ 40 million a month!
Since then, the passion for puzzles has firmly established itself among the most common hobbies, from time to time turning into a real puzzle. Millions of people on the planet spend long hours to put together a single picture from individual elements.
Jigsaw puzzles today - innovations and tournaments
The manufacture of these popular puzzles has long since become a huge industry! What manufacturers just do not offer to fans of this fun. In addition to the classic ones, holographic and three-dimensional puzzles, computer and photo puzzles appeared, there are even “soft” ones for kids.
Multi-genre, complex, simple, small, large. By the way, did you know that the largest of the currently existing puzzles consists of as many as 32,000 and 256 pieces? The weight of the "puzzle giant" is 17 kilograms, and the area is 10.5 square meters. Can you imagine the size of the room required for its assembly? And what time?
Could John Spilsbury, sawing out the pieces of his first puzzle with a jigsaw, that two and a half centuries later, such an essentially simple idea would become part of mass culture? Hardly. But today it is true, “puzzle lovers” hold championships and online tournaments, compete alone and in groups.
Scientists write books on “puzzle topics”, and psychologists actively recommend putting together a puzzle or two for relaxation. And children! Certainly for children! For the development of fine motor skills, logic, memory and much more! And the most dedicated people to puzzles are even awarded the Spilsbury International Prize (there is, it turns out, there is one) - for a significant contribution to the development of the popularity of puzzles. A worthy memory of the author of the idea, isn't it?
And now find out, and how, because these toys are no less popular with modern people.
Proskuryakova Ekaterina
Download:
Preview:
INTRODUCTION
"Puzzle is a beautiful mosaic" - children say.
"Puzzle is a direction in the field of developing games and activities," the manufacturers say.
"Puzzle is a real art" - connoisseurs and connoisseurs of this unusual and incredibly exciting activity say. At the same time, the question arises: how much such classes are necessary for the child? ATpuzzle research workI learn more about puzzles.
I will explore puzzles starting from the history of their appearance, I will also try to enrich my understanding of puzzles.
Undoubtedly, puzzle is a puzzle game, which is a mosaic that needs to be assembled from many fragments of a picture of various shapes.
The puzzle is considered to be one of the most accessible games that develop thinking, attention, memory, imagination and cognitive abilities of a person. According to psychologists, one can add to this list the development of figurative and logical thinking, arbitrary attention, perception, teaches you to correctly perceive the connection between the part and the whole, develops fine motor skills of the hands.
The modern world is hard to imagine without board games for children and their parents. Many varieties of games have been invented, but among them there is one unpretentious game that has gained immense popularity all over the world, we are talking about puzzles.
The relevance of my research work about the history of puzzlesis that nowadays in any toy store you can find a huge number of puzzles related to the compilation of pictures. The most difficult of them - puzzles - are addicted even to adults. At the same time, the question arises: how much such classes are necessary for the child? What is it - empty entertainment or useful developmental activity?
Based on the urgency of this problem, there aremy research goals: learn about puzzles in more detail, starting with the history of their appearance, enrich the idea of puzzles as one of the most entertaining educational and educational games for children.
Tasks set during the study:
- To give knowledge about the history of the appearance of puzzles, their distinctive features.
- Introduce the classification of puzzles.
- Reveal the developmental value of puzzles.
- Draw attention to interesting facts about puzzles.
- To develop a practical interest in collecting pictures from puzzles.
The effectiveness of puzzles lies in the following: colorfulness, accessibility, brevity of information. Use of my personal photos and other photos.
AT different sources can be readdifferent versions of puzzles.
According to one version,Germany is the birthplace of puzzles, in which in the 18th century they launched the production of puzzles and their export.
An example of this is the well-known German painting by John Cladius Sarron, carved by Martin Engelbrecht in Agsburg in the middle of the 19th century.
According to the French version, puzzles were invented in France by a professional teacher, Madame Beaumont, who was French but lived and worked in England between 1748 and 1762. She was the head of a private school and published a collection of children's fairy tales.
This collection reported on a new method of teaching geography using cut wooden maps. The Danish version says that the oldest puzzles were made in the Netherlands in the early 18th century from geographical maps as a geography teaching aid.
most famous John Spilsbury is considered the father of puzzles., a member of the Royal Geographical Society, who cut the map of England and Wales in 1761.
To make the puzzle, he began gluing black-and-white engravings of geographical maps onto a luxuriously thin panel of Lebanese cedar and mahogany, and cutting the resulting sandwich into small, oddly shaped pieces. Each such piece contained some geographical information, and, collecting the necessary sections element by element, the student studied geography.
John Spilsbury received a patent for his invention and opened a store selling puzzle cards, thus putting the production of puzzle puzzles on a commercial basis.
Elements of wooden puzzles did not fit well with each other and the assembled picture could be easily destroyed by a careless movement. Despite the high price (more than the monthly wage of an industrial worker), the novelty caught on, gradually went beyond the classroom and turned into an exciting pastime for the aristocracy. The first John Spilsbury puzzles went on sale in 1766.
For decades, jigsaw puzzles were used only for geographical maps. Then they began to be used to study other subjects, in particular, puzzles from the chronological table with the dates of the reign of English kings and queens were preserved.
What was not further divided into pieces - portraits, images of historical battles and even biblical events, dates famous people, paintings by famous artists.
In the 19th century, there was a decrease in the cost of puzzles. This leads to their great distribution and popularity. Black and white tones are replaced by colors, which increases people's interest in “little bricks of a big picture. Already by the middle of the 19th century, thanks to the widespread use of stamping on cardboard in America, puzzles became much cheaper and became available to everyone. This has led to the widespread popularity of puzzles around the world.
In Russia, puzzles appeared in the second quarter of the 19th century in St. Petersburg and were called "puzzles". The lithographer and artist P. Vdovichev had his own workshop for children's games in St. Petersburg. He produced pictures that had to be colored, pasted on cardboard and cut into pieces, so that they could be folded again. Collecting puzel was considered an expensive, salon hobby.
However, the peak of popularity of puzzles came in the 20th century. Puzzles with art reproductions began to be made as entertainment for adults. The game has become a popular parlor pastime in Europe.
The first factory production of puzzlesthe usual fasteners were opened in 1909 in the USA by Parker Brothers. Enterprising American industrialists decided to make the production of puzzles as cheap as possible and began to make them from cardboard. This allowed them to significantly reduce their price and, as a result, led to wide popularity around the world.
Puzzles peaked in America during the Great Depression of 1929-1933. The Great Depression is a period of recession of the entire world economy in 1929-1940, although the term itself is more often used in relation to the United States. In the conditions of overproduction of goods and lack of money supply, inflation, bankruptcy of enterprises, the sale of puzzles has reached an unprecedented value - 10 million dollars a week.
Puzzles were carried away by all segments of the population. Manufacturers released a weekly themed puzzle and held a competition among puzzle lovers. The names of the winners were published in the Sunday editions of the newspapers.
In America, during Prohibition, it got to the point that competitions in assembling puzzles were held in large cities. Team competitions were especially interesting, when huge paintings consisting of several thousand details were assembled. Rather frivolous pictures from illustrated magazines, photographs of expensive cars, luxurious women, caricatures, etc. were often taken instead of reproductions. They say that even the famous Dutch gangster Schultz liked to collect a picture or two at his leisure.
Pictures used a variety of. In Russia, Ukraine and Europe, images on the theme of art were preferred, in America - photographs of cars, women, illustrations of popular magazines. Now, it is probably difficult to come up with a topic that puzzles would not be produced on, but one thing is absolutely indisputable: puzzles, having undergone many changes, remain today a game and exciting fun for some, a serious and objective hobby for others.
At the beginning of the 21st century, puzzles continue to gain popularity now on the Internet. On the World Wide Web, there are many variations of this fascinating puzzle with different numbers of pieces and different principles for their connection. Puzzles online attracting the attention of more and more users.
Currently, there are a large number of different types and modifications of puzzles.
The goal when collecting puzzles is one- get a single picture from the disassembled elements.
Puzzles are divided by the size of the elements and the size of a single picture. Puzzle difficulty is determined by the pattern, but the main criterion is the number of elements - the higher it is, the larger and more complex the puzzle.
The classic size of a small puzzle- 54 pieces (puzzles with this number of pieces and above (up to about 260) arechildren's puzzlesand are designed to develop children as individuals.
On children's puzzles, heroes of fictional characters, cars, frames from cartoons are usually depicted.
Usually,there are sizes of puzzles:
These sizes are relative, and there are many puzzles with a number of pieces close to this category.
Puzzles with sizes exceeding 260 pieces are no longer intended for children to collect and are intended for adults. Accordingly, other, serious life scenes can be depicted on them, and the heroes of children's cartoons are no longer depicted on them. Puzzles can depict geographical places, fantastic scenes, very large puzzles (over 6,000) usually depict only scenes from the Bible, paintings by famous artists (Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo).
Large puzzles are a serious hobby. They take a lot of time to assemble.
3. Types of puzzles
Cardboard and wooden puzzles
In addition to traditionalpuzzles on cardboardwith a different number of elements and the type of their cutting: from the common and classic rectangular with protrusions and notches to triangular, round, oval pieces, as well as pieces of other shapes, there are alsowooden puzzlesmade from high-grade wood and covered with environmentally friendly paints.
Such puzzles are offered for the development of babies from 1.5 years old. They can be in the form of a flat picture or in the form of cubes. By subject - the most diverse, but most often - these are animals.
Glowing fluorescent puzzles
Fluorescent or glowing puzzles, the surface of which is covered with a special composition that accumulates light and makes the contours of the main elements of the plot glow in the dark.
Volumetric holographic puzzle balls
Volumetric holographic puzzles - where, depending on the angle of view, the image of the picture changes.
puzzle balls , are plastic balls with slightly concave parts, which, when assembled, form a very strong ball that does not need additional gluing, which can be stored on a special stand included in the kit.
Textured and velor puzzles
Textured puzzles , the surface of which is made of various materials, such as cork, wood or Japanese paper. The collection of such a fell is able to give both aesthetic and tactile pleasure.
Velor puzzles , the surface of which is covered with velvety velor, are very pleasant to the touch.
Volumetric 3D puzzles
3D puzzles are three-dimensional puzzles of medieval buildings, cars, ships, houses with front gardens or the Seven Wonders of the World. The use of a special protective layer allows you to assemble them in such a way that the structure does not fall apart.
Exists Spilsbury International Prize, which is awarded to people who have made a significant contribution to the development of the recognition of puzzles. So, in 2007, the American Ann Williams received this award for writing two books on the history of puzzles and a number of articles on the impact of puzzles on popular culture.
By the way, under the term puzzle , which means "riddle", in the English-speaking world they understand any puzzles in general. The game in question is called jigsaw-puzzle - "jigsaw" puzzles, referring to the original wooden material for the basis of the pictures, which was sawn with a jigsaw.
The most popular puzzle manufacturers are:
Castorland, Clementoni, Edit Recordi, Educa, Gibsons, Heye, Jumbo + Falcon, Heye, Piatnik, Ravensburger.
There are also manycomputer puzzles.
In compiling puzzles, championships are held, online competitions are organized.
How to collect puzzles?
- From the total mass, we select pieces for the frame: with one smooth edge; with two smooth edges - we will place these details in the corners of the future picture, choosing their location according to the color of the image on the box.
- The remaining parts are carefully laid out on the prepared surface, sorting them by color and a similar image. Focusing on the control image on the box, we begin to lay out individual blocks of the image.
- Our puzzle is ready. All the pieces have found their place and exist as a whole!
- We disassemble the puzzle and put it in a box until the next time.
- We decorate the room with paintings and puzzles.
- We use the collected picture in everyday life.
- We give beautifully designed works from puzzles to our friends.
Interesting facts about puzzles
The weight of puzzles with the number of elements of about 10,000 is more than a dozen kilograms.
The more elements, the less detail - but this diagram is usually valid only for mosaics with sizes up to 200 elements. Above, the dimensions of all elements of the mosaic with the number of parts in 500 and 10,000 are the same.
Mosaic sizes range from small (about 50 sq. cm) to very large (several square meters). For example, the standard size of a mosaic of 500 elements is 47x33 cm. There are also mosaics of a small number of elements (for example, 70) with the same size - especially for small children.
The world's largest puzzlewith an area of about 24 sq.m, created from tiles was assembled in Russia. The plot of this puzzle was the legendary painting of the genius Leonardo da Vinci Monna Lisa (Giaconda).
The world's longest jigsaw puzzle in the Guinness book.
On Sunday morning, September 27, 2004, local residents of the German town of Königsbron began to collect puzzles. Families took to the streets in full force - from three-year-old children to grandparents. Everyone wanted to participate in an event that would glorify their city throughout the world. This time seven thousand people united in unison. The participants of the experiment occupied strategically important positions - someone got a job in a cafe, someone on a bench, and someone right on the pavement.
According to the organizers, local firms submitted more than 4,000 "assemblies" to the competition.
Among the plots are lyrical landscapes, scenes from Disney cartoons and episodes from films. Finished works were glued to a common canvas and covered with cellophane film so as not to get wet from the rain.
According to the terms of the Guinness Book of Records, the length of the puzzle had to exceed one kilometer. The inhabitants of the city showed unprecedented enthusiasm and overfulfilled the plan. Their result is 1235 meters. The longest assembly in the world covered the main street of Königsbron and looked into several side streets.
Money in the form of... a puzzle.
In 2001, a silver coin was put into circulation in Liberia, made in the form of ... a puzzle and dedicated to the signs of the lunar calendar. The face value of the coin is 100 Liberian dollars (equal to 100 US dollars).
The coin consists of a central disk and 12 separate parts located around it, made in the form of puzzle elements and connected to each other in an appropriate way. Unbelievable but true - this coin is the official tender of Liberia. In this case, the coin weighs a whole kilogram! In total, 1000 of these coins were issued.
The walls of the houses were decorated with... puzzles.
You can’t confuse a house with a puzzle with anything - the most correct address! In Russia, in Novocheboksarsk, a house appeared, the wall of which was painted with puzzles. From September 10 to 17, 2005, many cultural events took place here as part of the “Cultural Capital of the Volga Region” program. One of them was supergraffiti, when the walls of two houses in the city were turned into puzzle pictures. The authors and developers of the project explained that the idea of puzzle houses was born by chance - in the course of reflection on the elements that make up the urban environment..
Puzzle Jewelry
Traditional puzzle rings usually consist of four, six, eight or twelve interlocking rings. Usually these rings are made in the Celtic style. Previously, puzzle rings were used as wedding rings.
At one time, the puzzle ring was described in her saga by the Australian writer Kate Forsythe, her character Hannah must search for the four lost pieces of the puzzle ring in order to break the fairy's ancient curse on her family. The puzzle ring in the book is forged in the shape of a rose.
Furniture, utensils in the form of puzzles
Folding tables are yesterday. But those assembled from pieces are already more interesting. Of course, not everyone will like the idea of assembling the table before the guests arrive, and then taking it apart again. But there is always something to do, if in the future there is an absolutely free evening without any plans and visits.
And this chair consists of soft cushions of a cozy shape. Each cushion has a magnet inside to keep the pieces of the armchair, chair, sofa or pouffe you've built from falling apart. From the details you can build a comfortable armchair, chair, sofa, pouffe, bed. Individual elements can serve as footrests or cushions.
A kitchen cutting board is an indispensable and convenient thing. You can only increase its functionality to make it even better. This is exactly what the designers from OOOMS did when they created a series of Puzzleboard puzzle boards.
Each individual board looks like a puzzle piece that children of all ages love to collect. Also, in addition to cutting, you can use it as a tray. It is convenient to hold on to the protruding "handle", and a glass with a drink will fit perfectly into the hole on the other side, which will prevent it from falling or overflowing.
Well, if you are dealing with some kind of long product, such as a baguette, you can cut it much easier by connecting several boards together, forming more room for work.
5. Conclusion and conclusions of the study
Many people note the relaxing effect of this puzzle. Adults, as much as children, if not more, enjoy making pictures; they can spend weeks assembling puzzles consisting of thousands of parts that themselves “lead” a person’s hand, suggesting a solution. Such gathering does not require mental effort and creative effort.
Folding the picture allows you to remove excessive excitement, so it is good to use it as a relaxing and calming tool for the mobile or just overexcited. Well, if a person is shy, closed, unsociable, then they often use picking up puzzles as a kind of escape from the outside world. Such people can be seen in absolute loneliness sitting somewhere in the corner and almost spend hours collecting these very puzzles, automatically selecting the details.
But it is important to note that in order for puzzles to really have a developmental value for children, the participation of an adult is necessary. After all, an adult presents any toy to a child, it is he who reveals its essence and that's it. possible ways games with her. A child who is left alone with a box of puzzles is likely to reduce the game to a mechanical selection of picture details.
In the course of the research work, a sociological survey was conducted among classmates (students of grades 4-A), as well as their parents, about the benefits of collecting various puzzles.
During the survey, parents were asked the following questions:
- Does the puzzle develop fine motor skills and coordination of movements
- Does the puzzle develop logical and spatial thinking
- Develops imagination and fantasy
- Does the puzzle develop attention and memory
The survey results are displayed in the chart:
Also, in the course of the study, I conducted a survey among students in grades 4-A, on the subject of collecting puzzles at home.
Survey results:
Doing conclusion from this research paperwe can say that the developing task of puzzles is to form images and ideas of a person.
In order for puzzles to contribute to the development of thinking, a person must focus on the plot of the picture, i.e. precisely on what collects, and not on the frame or the shape of the pieces.
1
In our language there are quite a lot of concepts and jargon that came to us from abroad. Most of them are quite understandable and do not raise questions, but there are those whose meaning is hidden in the fog. Today we will talk about another word, this Puzzle which means you will read a little below.
However, before continuing, I would like to recommend you some interesting publications on random topics. For example, what does Chevapchichi mean, who is Chimera, what does the word Bubnit mean, who is Khaivan, etc.
So let's continue what does puzzle mean? This term was borrowed from of English language "puzzle", which can be translated as "puzzle", "difficulty", "bewilderment".
Puzzle is a puzzle game that consists of a picture or photograph cut into many pieces. The point is that you need to connect the fragments of the mosaic so that the image becomes whole again.
It is stated that such entertainment can improve imagination, memory, thinking, attention, etc. The game develops fine motor skills of hands, perception, promotes discrimination separate fragments, and allows you to correctly recognize the relationship between the part and the whole.
For the first time, puzzles appeared in England in 1761
year, they were invented by a map dealer from London, John Spilsbury. Originally, puzzles were part of educational material when the kids had to collect from pieces, various geographical atlases.
John made mosaics for wealthy students, so the materials he selected were not the cheapest. He took black and white prints and glued them to a thin panel of mahogany and Lebanese cedar, then cut his work into small pieces. fragments the most bizarre form.
The price of such a novelty was equivalent to the monthly salary of a London worker, and despite this price, Puzzle gained popularity.
In the 19th century, enterprising Americans learned how to make puzzles based on cardboard, as a result, these puzzles have become noticeably cheaper. Later, black and white drawings were replaced with color ones. However, this game gained the greatest popularity in the 20th century. This puzzle was played by both adults and children in the salons of Europe at that time, it occupied a place of honor.
As for Russia, this fashion has not bypassed our country either. Before the revolution, this puzzle was called " Puseli", and it was imported from the UK.
By the way, this foreign product was very expensive at that time, so very wealthy people indulged in this entertainment.
Concerning USSR, then the industry did not produce them, however, this overseas miracle was on sale, although it was a large deficit. CMEA countries, which they just did not produce for children, including puzzles.
By the way, instead of those same puzzles, the children of that time collected cubes with pasted pictures, which, of course, was not an equivalent replacement, but also gave a kind of pleasure.
Puzzles! In modern society, it is perhaps impossible to find a person who has not collected these color pictures at least once in his life, or at least has not heard about such entertainment for children and adults. This "mosaic of many fragments" according to Wikipedia is really an ingenious invention. I wonder who came up with it and how? Interesting? Then let's go on a trip to the past!
XVIII century. London.
John Spilsbury - the progenitor of all modern puzzles was a manufacturer of geographical maps, an engraver. To increase the interest of his students in teaching geography, he suggested that they collect a map from pieces, each of which was pasted on a wooden base.
Of course, the first puzzles had many shortcomings:
They were quite complicated and quite loosely connected to each other;
Were not so beautiful (after all, color images appeared much later);
And, finally, they were too expensive for most of the inventor's contemporaries.
However, interest in the new fun grew rapidly. And having appeared in 1760, within a few decades, puzzles became an exquisite salon entertainment. After some time, the images of geographical maps were replaced by the most diverse ones. These were portraits of beautiful women, expensive cars, historical battles, biblical scenes and even caricatures!
XIX century.
As time went. In the nineteenth century in America found wide use cardboard stamping. This made it possible to replace expensive materials and make puzzles accessible not only to the wealthiest segments of the population. The growth in popularity in many countries around the world has become truly grandiose. The appearance of color images only accelerated it even more.
Puzzles have grown from a purely educational tool and have finally secured the glory of an interesting entertaining game.
XX century. America.
Our time is getting closer! The 20th century was a stellar time in the history of puzzles. Perhaps partly contributed to the prohibition introduced in America, when the people were carried away by real "battles" to collect puzzles. Several teams took part, each of which was preparing to put together a picture consisting of several thousand pieces! Gradually, images of expensive cars, scenes from social life or portraits of frivolous beauties appeared before the eyes of an admiring public.
Everyone is addicted, even gangsters! As they say, interest in puzzles even penetrated the criminal world. The Dutchman Schultz, for example, taking a break from banditry, spent time collecting puzzles.
And in the USSR?
No, puzzles were not produced in the Soviet Union. Moreover, it is interesting to know that they were in pre-revolutionary Russia. Back in the second quarter of the 19th century in St. Petersburg, Vdovichev, the owner of his own workshop for children's games, produced special pictures for coloring, sticking on cardboard and cutting. In the future, the game could be folded back into a single image. Since the author was an artist and lithographer, the quality was quite decent. The theme was stories that were understandable and interesting to children. This is an image of a child's room, toys, etc.
1909
The first jigsaw puzzle factory opens in the USA.
XXI Century.
Today, such a huge variety of puzzles is produced that it is difficult to even list all possible types. They also differ in the materials from which they are made. For example, you can find "fluffy puzzles", both in size (there are small ones for kids, and there are real giants for the whole wall), and in thematic focus, as well as their purpose.
The point in the development of puzzles has not been set. What new will they bring us in the 22nd century?