Traditional toys like jigsaws and Lego boost children's problem solving skills

Psychologists from Rhodes College in Memphis find playbox treats improve cognitive skills and spatial awareness

Box of Lego
The psychologists recommend making things from Lego or doing a jigsaw Credit: Photo: Alamy

Children who play with old fashioned toys like jigsaws to building blocks will become better equipped to deal with problems from maths to map-reading, according to new research.

Traditional playbox treats, which also includes board games, improves cognitive skills, the areas of the brain associated with what psychologists call spatial awareness.

These are the everyday skills that involve solving logic - from navigating one's way around a busy street to how to load a dishwasher or even putting flatpack furniture together.

In academic terms, it helps them in the so-called stem subjects - science, technology, engineering and mathematics from an early age, said the university study.

The findings, reported in the specialist journal Psychological Science, will be welcomed by those wanting to see children spend less time playing games on a screen.

Instead the experiments by psychologists from Rhodes College in Memphis, USA, suggest getting children as young as four to make things from Lego or do a jigsaw instead.

Psychological scientist Jamie Jirout and team analysed data from 847 children aged 4-7 from across America who had taken a commonly used IQ test for youngsters.

It then looked at the home life of the children to find those who did best were more likely to play with traditional toys at home rather than sitting in front of a screen all day.

Cognitive skills form a large part of the test - matching shapes and patterns for instance - and those who played with such toys six times a week or more did best of all.

However, it does not mean all traditional forms of play are better for spatial awareness, said the researchers.

Perhaps surprisingly, activities with parents from reading stories to doing maths games, made little or no difference.

Neither did physical activity such as riding a bike or skateboard or playing with noise-making toys, said the researchers.

Other patterns emerged from the tests. Middle class children did better than those with blue collar parents and boys did marginally better than girls.

This could be because boys, generally, tend to enjoy playing with Lego and puzzles and board games more than girls, the study suggests.

Jamie Jirout said: "Spatial play specifically is related to children's spatial reasoning skills.

"This is important because providing children with access to spatial play experiences could be a very easy way to boost spatial development."

In particular it could be used to boost those children currently underperforming in maths at school.