Becky's Puzzle Problem
Becky's Puzzle Problem Becky's Puzzle Problem Becky Finds the Perfect Puzzle It was a gloomy, rainy Saturday, but even so, Becky was very excited. Today was the day she would be picking out a new puzzle—a birthday gift from Mom and Dad. Becky was a "puzzle person," or so her mom said. She had started with baby-size wooden ones, progressed to 50 pieces, then 100, and then 200. Now it would be a bigger challenge, her first 300-piece puzzle. And even better, she had a three-day weekend ahead to
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Becky's Puzzle Problem
Becky's Puzzle Problem
Becky Finds the Perfect Puzzle
It was a gloomy, rainy Saturday, but even so, Becky was very excited.Today was the day she would be picking out a new puzzle—a birthday gift from Mom and Dad.
Becky was a "puzzle person," or so her mom said.She had started with baby-size wooden ones, progressed to 50 pieces, then 100, and then 200.Now it would be a bigger challenge, her first 300-piece puzzle.And even better, she had a three-day weekend ahead to put it together.
At the toy shop, she was overwhelmed with the array of puzzles.Some had as many as 9,000 pieces!At last, she found the 300-piece puzzle section, and saw one she liked.
"Mom, I found it," Becky said. "Right here, the one with the animals."It was beautiful-a painting of African wild animals near a watering hole.A snowy mountain was in the background, and birds were flying around."It's neat because you can see the whole picture in the water, too," she said."It's like having two puzzles in one."
At home, she carefully cleared off the large dining room table and measured the area the puzzle would cover.The box said 16 by 24 inches.
Becky carefully dumped the pieces out onto the table, and turned them over, right side up.This took a little time, and she was impatient to get going."This does look like a lot more pieces," she said.In fact, there were twice as many pieces as the last puzzle she completed.
It's All in How You Look at It
First, she searched for straight edges to make a frame for the picture.Some of these pieces were easy to spot; others had just a teeny-weeny bit of a straight edge.Then she began to spot pieces that might go together.... pieces of a tree ... the zebra's stripes ... the distinctive marks of the giraffe.Those pieces she put together in little piles off to the side.She was getting organized!By lunchtime, Becky had two sides completed.
Later that afternoon, her dad came and sat down next to her."How's it going?" he asked, as he picked up a piece.
"Okay," Becky said, "but this is taking longer than I expected."
"I always look for shape first," Dad said. "It's a trick I learned from my father."
Becky looked up at her dad. "Grandpa John?"Try as she might, Becky could not imagine her father as a little boy doing a puzzle with Grandpa.
Dad said, "I put all the ones with the loop out over here, and the long ones over here."Well now, that was news to Becky!She had never considered shape as a way to separate pieces.He continued, "This way when you need one like this," he held up a squarish piece, "it will be here in this pile."
Dad pushed his piece in place, and said, "Got one!"
