Sunday, September 20, 2015

Finding Stuff for Fun is Educational

Hidden puzzle mechanics are an educational and developing tool.

The founders of Highlights magazine, Gary and Caroline Myers, developed the magazine around the motto, "Fun with a Purpose." Specifically, they believe, " children develop positive self-worth by using their creativity and imagination, developing their reading, thinking and reasoning skills, and learning to treat others with respect, kindness and sensitivity" According to the official Highlights website, "children are best taught values by seeing positive examples in stories and articles," and many of the magazine's features, including the Hidden Objects page, were created around this idea.

The creators of I Spy, author Jean Marzollo and photographer Walter Wick, saw hidden puzzles as a way to combine fun and education. Marzollo's rhythmic and rhyming riddles combined with Wick's unique photographs help develop children's language, problem-solving, and creativity skills. As Marzollo puts it, "[The I SPY books] pull you in and hold you in a visual spell until you have found everything. [They] also make you think, and they can help you learn to read."

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