Looking After My Mind – Jigsaw Puzzle and Matching Game – 12 Puzzles!

Looking After My Mind - Jigsaw Puzzle and Matching Game

12 fun four-piece puzzles helping young children explore the everyday things we can do to look after our mental health and wellbeing.

Piece together, match and talk! A hands-on set of 12 simple puzzles introducing young children to different ways we can look after our minds, complete with matching labels and adult Discussion Cards.

Meet Brain! - Across 12 colourful four-piece puzzles, our little brain character shows children some of the many everyday things we can do to look after our minds and bodies.

Children can discover Brain reading, moving their body, eating healthily, sleeping, doing things they enjoy, learning new things, being creative, being kind, spending time with people they love, naming their feelings, spending time outside and playing.

Each activity includes:

• A four-piece picture puzzle for children to build
• A matching activity label to identify what Brain is doing
• A Discussion Card with simple Talk, Ask and Explore prompts for the supporting adult

Made for Younger Children

Designed especially with EYFS and younger children in mind, the activities introduce wellbeing through something familiar and fun: play and puzzles.

The simple four-piece design makes the activity accessible to little hands, while the colourful brain characters make potentially abstract ideas such as mental health much easier to explore.

There's also no need for children to understand the phrase mental health before using them. Adults can start with the much simpler idea that there are lots of things we can do to look after our minds and bodies and help ourselves feel good.

What's Included?

The set explores 12 different areas of wellbeing:

Reading • Moving My Body • Eating Healthily • Sleep • Doing Things I Enjoy • Learning New Things • Being Creative • Being Kind • Being With People I Love • Naming My Feelings • Spending Time Outside • Playing

The accompanying Discussion Cards extend each puzzle with short prompts designed to get children thinking and talking. For example, the Reading card explores what children enjoy reading and other activities that help busy minds slow down, while Naming My Feelings introduces noticing emotions and the clues our bodies can give us.

Features

• 12 different wellbeing puzzles
• Simple four-piece puzzle design
• Colourful, child-friendly brain characters
• Separate matching label for every puzzle
• Individual Discussion Card for every activity
• Consistent Talk, Ask and Explore format
• Covers physical, emotional and social wellbeing
• Introduces early emotional literacy through Naming My Feelings
• Includes relationships, play, creativity, movement, sleep, food, learning and outdoor time
• Hands-on and play-based
• Suitable for individual, pair, small-group or whole-class use
• Can be laminated and reused
• Designed with EYFS and younger children in mind

Benefits

These puzzles help young children begin to understand that looking after our minds can involve lots of different things.

As children build, match and discuss the puzzles, they can practise:

• Problem-solving
• Visual matching
• Fine motor skills
• Communication
• Expanding their Emotional vocabulary
• Recognising healthy habits
• Listening
• Turn-taking
• Talking about preferences
• Understanding wellbeing

They also introduce the idea that different people enjoy and need different things. One child might love being outside, another might enjoy reading, creating or playing with somebody they care about.

How to Use

• Prepare: Cut out the four pieces of each puzzle, its matching label and Discussion Card. Laminate them if you'd like to reuse the set.
• Puzzle: Give children the four pieces and challenge them to put Brain back together.
• Match: Once complete, ask “What is Brain doing?” and encourage children to find the matching activity label.
• Talk: Use the corresponding Discussion Card to explore the idea together. Each card gives the adult three simple prompts to Talk, Ask and Explore.

You don't need to complete all 12. Pick whichever puzzles work for your children, topic or setting.

So Many Ways to Use!

These puzzles can become much more than a one-off activity. Here are some ideas of how you can use them in your setting:

• One puzzle a day: Introduce a different way of looking after our minds each day and have a quick conversation together.
• One puzzle a week: Focus on one idea each week and gradually build a class collection of ways to look after our wellbeing.
• Different tables: Place a different puzzle at each activity table and let children move around the room to complete them.
• Small groups: Give each group a different puzzle to build, match and discuss before swapping with another group.
• Mix them up: Once children know the puzzles, mix pieces from several pictures together for an extra problem-solving challenge.
• Match the labels: Build several puzzles first, then mix up the labels. Can children work out which phrase belongs with each Brain?
• Continuous provision: Add a selection to your provision, wellbeing area or quiet space for children to revisit independently.
• Circle time: Build one puzzle together and use its Discussion Card as the starting point for a short class conversation.
• Topic work: Choose a relevant puzzle when exploring feelings, sleep, healthy eating, kindness, exercise, relationships or another area of wellbeing.
• Create a display: Put completed pictures and labels together to create a colourful Looking After My Mind display.
• Use the Discussion Cards: The Discussion Cards are there to help adults take the learning a little further without needing to prepare their own questions. Each contains three types of prompt: Talk introduces the idea in simple language. Ask gives children an accessible question to answer. Explore takes the conversation one step further. For example, the Spending Time Outside card encourages children to think about what they enjoy outdoors and notice what they can see, hear, smell and feel around them. You can use every prompt, choose just one, or simply let the conversation go wherever the children take it.

Perfect For

EYFS • Nursery • Reception • KS1 • Early Years Settings • Childminders • Wellbeing Activities • PSED • PSHE • Circle Time • Continuous Provision • Nurture Groups • SEND • ELSAs • Parents & Carers