Lauri Foam Fit-a-Space Puzzles

My two daughters (who are now in their 30's) had the original Lauri Foam Fit-A-Space Puzzles when they were young. Those puzzles are now loved by their own children who love these foam puzzles dearly. The original puzzles got brittle and gritty--no longer feeling like "foam", so I searched the web to find some new geometric shape puzzles for the grands. I did not have the original box with "Lauri" on it, so it took me forever to find these puzzles using only "geometric shaped puzzles" or "rubber shapes puzzle" in search engines.

Finally, I got lucky and found these Lauri Geometric Puzzles. Now you are the lucky one because I am sharing these fabulous learning puzzles with you.

Image Source: Lauri Fit-a-Space Puzzles on Amazon.com

I used to teach kindergarten many moons ago and the school that employed me had these wonderful circlular shaped, small puzzles. Wanting my kids to have the best and being only a teacher with limited income, these puzzles were on my wish list.

I loved (still do) the size of these puzzles. They are only 4 inches in diameter and a child can easily hold them.

Another reason I adore these puzzles for children:

One can use these puzzles to teach so many skills:

The names of the colors.

The names of shapes.

Category games

Tracing shapes

Creative pretending (the pieces were sometimes served up as "cookies" on a Cabbage Patch Kids plate)

Since children can have different interests and skills, I am curious about yours. You can enter a comment about your feelings, too.

Since products tend to sell out quickly on Amazon, you should check back often.

A beginning game--

Get a sturdy string (the newer version of the Lauri puzzles comes with "shoe laces"). Make a circle with the string. Put only yellow pieces inside the circle. Ask your child something like "How are the pieces inside the circle just alike?" Answer you are looking for: "They are all the same color (yellow)".

You can make the game more difficult by putting red, yellow and blue triangle pieces inside the circle. "What do they have in common now?" Answer: they are the same shape (triangle).

My grand-daughter loved to make "categories" and ask me the question. You will be surprised at how quickly a child will catch on.

My youngest grandchildren tend to put the small shapes in their mouth. So, if you have a child that likes to do that, get these larger puzzles.

Lauri makes too many foam puzzles to name them all. Keep checking back to see what Lauri brand puzzles show up on eBay.

These learning puzzles are very popular in schools. They can be used for many learning games and activities. I, personally, like the way a child can be creative using these puzzles. For example, if your school aged child loves art and can use colored pencils, he/she can trace the shapes using these crepe rubble puzzles. Oh, they can be cleaned easily, too.

If you do not own these puzzles yourself, I bet your child's school has them.

Share with us any games your kids might play with these puzzles, too. You do not have to be a member of Squidoo to leave a comment.