1 / 3

A family works on a puzzle Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, at Boardwalk Puzzles in Lindon.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

2 / 3

Two girls pose with their completed puzzle Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, at Boardwalk Puzzles in Lindon.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

3 / 3

A boy works on his puzzle Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, at Boardwalk Puzzles in Lindon.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

❮ ❯

With patients at Shriners Children’s Salt Lake City facing significant physical challenges, the hospital staff is always looking to create safe, fun environments where the kids can feel like kids. 

The pieces came together Monday night for patients and their families to take part in a memorable activity at, of all places, a puzzle factory.

Boardwalk Puzzles welcomed Shriners families into their massive factory warehouse in Lindon to pick out a puzzle and work on it together, while enjoying snacks and interacting with others.

“Any time a child can truly feel like a child and be in a situation where people aren’t staring at them, and create an environment where they feel safe, whether they have a prosthetics, braces on their leg or are in a wheelchair, is one of my favorite things,” said Shriners recreational therapist Laura Hollingshead.

The idea to hold the private event for Shriners patients came from Boardwalk’s social media manager, Deserae Dorton, who previously worked at Shriners. Hollingshead said Dorton reached out to her to collaborate, and she went down to visit the puzzle factory for herself. 

“I was blown away,” Hollingshead said. “I bet I’m not the only one that has no idea about the inner workings of a puzzle factory. It’s crazy cool. So we decided to put it together.” 

While the rain prevented some from making the trip south, many still showed up with smiles on their faces and successfully put together jigsaw puzzles. The social benefit seemed paramount — children were engaging with their parents and siblings and doing a unique activity. 

But puzzling itself has additional benefits, according to Boardwalk Puzzles founder Joseph Ogden. He said puzzling connects brain neurons and improves hand-to-eye coordination, memory skills, facial recognition and other aspects.  

“This is a tactical, physical, disconnected activity, and you can do it for as long as you want,” Ogden said. “You could do a 100-piece puzzle in a few minutes, or you can spend days, weeks doing a 2,500-piece puzzle. So you can kind of gauge your involvement, and you know it’s just really a fun activity for the kids that are here doing it.” 

Hollingshead was pleased to see the kids could work hard on something, and, at the event’s end, have a finished product to take home. 

“You have something that you, as a family, can look back on and go, ‘Oh my gosh, we just did that. We all put in a little bit of something, and we were all able to collectively make something even better.'”