Picture-Puzzle Prodigy

Later, her grandmother brought her one of the same kind – ‘Barney, the Friendly Dinosaur’— from Malaysia.

Samara’s aptitude for the art became increasingly evident early this year, when she outgrew such basic jigsaws and tackled the type which gave no clue to where the bits belonged. Samara then graduated rapidly from simple puzzles of six, nine and twelve pieces to those of a more advanced variety; notably a 15-piece ‘Mickey Mouse’ meant for older children.

Still two-and-a-half months short of her third birthday, Samara now manages ‘Noah’ of 20 pieces, ‘Dora’ of 24 pieces and – perhaps the most difficult to date – ‘Tom and Jerry’. She is fascinated by this two-part set of 30 pieces each because she enjoys the cat-mouse cartoon on TV. Besides, Samara is warmly attached to all animals, especially Ginger, the family’s pet labrador, whom she calls Jinju!

Samara relishes the challenge of putting together several irregular shapes to make a perfect whole. On the rare occasion when she gets stuck, she seeks assistance from whoever is at hand. However, despite her parents’ and grandparents’ ready response to Samara’s, ‘Come and help me’, she does not unquestioningly accept adult advice. She critically surveys the portion of the puzzle already in place, eventually deciding what goes where on her own. “Samara visualises, at an initial stage, the complete picture,” explains her grandmother.

 Samara has made significant progress in her craft but, as new complex jigsaws test her expertise, she does not dispense with old friends. For instance, she returns to ‘Noddy’ of a former phase because the puzzles Samara likes best are related to her favourite books. Noddy ranks high on the list, as does ‘Dora the Explorer’. ‘Noah’ is a familiar figure from the Bible stories she hears regularly.

She has a fondness for fiction, and never tires of being told (and telling!) tales of Thumbelina, Rapunzel, Peter Pan, Bruno the Bear and Red Riding Hood.  No doubt, she looks forward to meeting those well-loved characters in jigsaw puzzles she hopes to acquire!