10 Incredible Benefits of Solving a Rubik’s Cube

The challenge of solving a Rubik’s cube always fascinates children. While its colourful squares make it seem like a simple game, only 5.8% of the population can solve this complex cube.  Among the best-selling toys of all time, this three-dimensional puzzle is not only fun to play with but also challenges the mind. In fact, it was first created by Erno Rubik to help college students understand spatial dimensions. From twisting tiles to transforming minds, solving a Rubik’s cube has numerous benefits that go beyond the feeling of accomplishment. 

10 Reasons Why You Should Try Solving a Rubik’s Cube

Explore why you should encourage your children to solve a Rubik’s cube.

1. Enhances Cognitive Power

One of the biggest advantages of solving a Rubik’s cube is improving cognitive power. This iconic cube can be in a whopping 43 quintillion different positions! That means there are many ways to crack this brain-teasing puzzle. Solving a Rubik’s Cube without using set instructions allows you to create your own method, which boosts your cognitive skills by constantly challenging your brain to reach a solution.

Solving the cube successfully depends on developing strategies and recognising specific patterns, thus strengthening pattern recognition skills. Studies also suggest using Rubik’s Cubes in school math activities sparks interest, encourages abstract thinking, and develops spatial ideas.

2. Boosts Memory

As you focus on solving the cube, you have to memorize where each coloured tile is, boosting your ability to recall spatial patterns.

Additionally, when you solve a Rubik’s Cube, you follow a set of steps or moves. Doing this over and over helps improve your sequential memory – that means your skill to remember and repeat a series of steps in the right order. So, each time you work on the cube, you’re not just figuring out the puzzle. You’re also training your brain to remember and perform tasks in a specific sequence.

3. Develops Problem-Solving Skills

Twisting and turning the cube to get the same color on each side can spark curiosity and improve problem-solving abilities. When faced with the challenge, you’re prompted to break it down into smaller parts, focusing on each step. With countless combinations, the cube becomes a little universe where you train your brain to see patterns.

These analytical reasoning abilities can be applied to mastering other areas like mathematics, learning new languages, and facing different challenges.

4. Improves Brain-Hand-Eye coordination

When you try to solve a Rubik’s cube, your hands become more agile, moving swiftly to move the cube’s layers. Meanwhile, your eyes become sharper as you closely watch and react to the shifting colors. This improves your reflexes and enhances your coordination between your eyes and hands.

These quick reflexes can be handy in everyday tasks such as reading, where your eyes need to move across the text swiftly. Additionally, identifying objects becomes easier as your brain processes visual information faster.

5. Improves Concentration

The Rubik’s cube demands your full attention because one wrong move can mess up everything. The focus needed to solve the Rubik’s cube trains your brain to filter out distractions and maintain attention on a single task.

When students take on the challenge of solving the Rubik’s Cube, they are confronted with a task that requires sustained attention and mental effort. This makes it an excellent tool for enhancing concentration due to its unique combination of challenge and cognitive engagement.

6. Builds Strategizing Abilities

Solving a Rubik’s cube is just about trial and error. It is about pushing you to explore different possibilities and create strategies on the spot. Whether you are an amateur trying to solve a Rubik’s cube for the very first time or a professional trying to solve it in record time, planning is essential.

In these efforts, your mind learns to devise and carry out successful strategies and skills that can be applied in any area of life, whether personal or professional.

7. Boosts Patience

The benefits of solving a Rubik’s cube extend to improving perseverance and patience. Sadly, many people who own a Rubik’s cube end up leaving it unsolved on a shelf only after a few tries. 

Solving a Rubik’s Cube can be frustrating and difficult, especially when you first start. However, you will gain patience and resilience as you persist and learn from your mistakes. These qualities are useful not only in puzzle-solving but also in confronting life’s obstacles head-on.

8. Enhance Creative Thinking

Limited by six faces and nine squares, the cube forces you to think outside the box and explore numerous possibilities. You learn to make the most of your resources, finding creative solutions with what you have.

The cube’s three-dimensional form trains your mind to manipulate space in your imagination. Each turn becomes a mental leap, helping you visualise complex structures and objects from different angles.

9. Stress Reduction

Solving the Rubik’s cube acts like a therapeutic break from the pressures of everyday life or routine schoolwork.

The challenge of solving the puzzle diverts your mind from stressors, offering a meditative experience. It encourages relaxation, allowing you to take a break from worries and promoting a sense of calm and mindfulness.

10. Builds Confidence

Looking at the jumbled cube gradually turning into solved faces can boost your confidence for bigger challenges. While struggling to solve the cube initially, you discover that success does not come easily, and the effort becomes a badge of honor, inspiring confidence in your problem-solving abilities.

Solving a Rubik’s cube involves multitasking, including concentration, memorization, hand coordination, and pushing your mental limits.

Solving a Rubik’s cube is a mental workout that helps strengthen cognitive, creative, and coordination skills. At Billabong International High School, we understand the importance of incorporating different ways of learning beyond the textbook. Through our curriculum, we try to cultivate logical thinking, spatial reasoning, and a problem-solving mindset in our students. To learn more, contact us today.