Above every column and to the left of every row there are numbers. They tell you how many squares are colored in one piece.
Several numbers mean several blocks in that line - in this order and with at least one empty square between them.
Start with the biggest numbers. A 5 in a line of five squares fills the whole line.
If you color everything correctly, a picture appears. That is your check - you do not need a solution page.
Example
For parents
What does this exercise practice?
The picture puzzle practices reasoning instead of calculating. The child combines two pieces of information - what the row demands and what the column demands - and deduces which square is certainly filled and which is certainly empty. Because a mistake visibly ruins the picture, the exercise checks itself.
Common pitfalls
Two numbers next to each other mean two separate blocks - “2 1” is not the same as a 3. And whoever only looks at the row quickly colors something the column forbids. Always check both. Anyone building such puzzles themselves easily falls into the most common trap - a pretty picture whose numbers allow two different solutions. Then you can do everything right and still get no picture.
How to practice at home
Take squared paper, count out a 5x5 field and color in a picture yourselves. Then write the numbers along the edge and hand the puzzle to somebody else. Whoever solves it has to end up with exactly your picture.
Related: The Stained Glass Window, Magic picture