I get a newsletter from PositScience (brain training software) and they recommend jigsaw puzzles to work the noodle:
Jigsaw Puzzles -- The Best Bet for Your Brain
Doing a challenging jigsaw (no fewer than 500 pieces!) requires your brain to perform many complex cognitive tasks at once: making fine visual judgments about where pieces belong, mentally "rotating" the pieces, manipulating the pieces in your hands, and shifting your attention from the small piece to the big picture. They give the brain a real workout!.
It was a challenge at first. I needed to relearn how to do a jigsaw puzzle from scratch! I learned to distinguish by color, then shape and shapes not there. And all of the things above.
The first had a lot of sky, and since I'm a big girl now, I chose not to do it.
Then Larry got me a box of four puzzles of various cats looking cute and cuddly. I can relate to that.
