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Young kids learn by playing and having fun. And puzzles are great for this! Putting together a puzzle helps kids develop problem-solving skills. They also get the chance to practice fine motor skills and coordination. If your kids love puzzles, the good news is that you can also create them at home! Here are 10 ideas for easy homemade puzzles that are fun and educational! You can make them in a few minutes and young children will certainly enjoy them!
My son likes puzzles and he was always enthusiastic when we bought a new one for him. But as soon as he was able to quickly solve the puzzle, he was no longer interested in it and wanted something new. This is when I decided that I should make some homemade puzzles for him! In this way, we could have new puzzles at hand anytime he wanted without spending a lot of money.
I found a lot of ideas that are both easy to make and educational, so we create new puzzles really often. In addition to having nice store-bought puzzles, we now have a lot of homemade puzzles as well!
Here are our favorite ideas!
1. Craft sticks puzzle with drawing
You will need:
– tape.
Lay some craft sticks flat and tape them together. The number of sticks depends on the age of the child and how difficult you want the puzzle to be.
Turn the sticks over and draw a picture on them. You can use markers, crayons, or watercolors. You can also invite the child to draw the picture if he is old enough.
At the end, remove the tape, mix the sticks, and invite your child to solve the puzzle. If your child is not used with puzzles, it’s useful to number the sticks in the correct order so that he will have some additional clues in solving it.
2. Craft sticks puzzle with sticker
If you have some big stickers on hand, here is another way of creating craft sticks puzzles.
You will need:
– a big sticker
– cutter
– tape.
Lay some craft sticks flat and tape them together. The number of sticks depends on the size of the sticker.
Turn the sticks over and attach the sticker. Then cut the sticker along the craft sticks using the cutter.
At the end, remove the tape, mix the sticks, and invite your child to solve the puzzle.
Tip: Instead of the sticker you can also use a picture from a magazine or an activity book and some glue.
3. Lego puzzle
You will need:
– Lego pieces
– a big sticker (or a picture and some double-sided tape)
– cutter.
Stack the Lego pieces together and create a tower. The size of it depends on the dimension of the sticker/picture.
Place the sticker on the Lego tower. (If you want to use a picture instead, just place some double-sided tape on the Lego tower and then attach the picture.)
Use the cutter to slice along each crease of the Lego tower.
At the end, unstack the tower, mix the pieces, and invite your child to solve the puzzle.
4. Construction paper puzzle with sticker
You will need:
– colored heavyweight construction paper
– a big sticker
– scissors
This is really simple: Just put the sticker on the construction paper and then cut it into several pieces. The number of pieces depends on the age of the child. I prefer to cut it into irregular shapes to make the puzzle more fun.
The next 3 homemade puzzles are less visually appealing than the first ones but they are great learning opportunities! And my boy liked them a lot!
5. Number puzzle from construction paper
This activity is great for practicing counting.
You will need:
– heavyweight construction paper
– a marker
– scissors.
Write a series of numbers on the construction paper. The length of the series depends on the age of the child.
Then cut out each number into an irregular shape.
At the end, mix up the pieces of paper and invite the child to solve the puzzle.
6. Letter puzzles from construction paper
This simple activity is a fun way of learning lower case and upper case letters and their correspondence.
You will need:
– heavyweight construction paper
– a marker
– scissors.
Cut several rectangular pieces of paper. On each one write an upper case letter and the corresponding lower case.
Then cut the rectangles in half with an irregular line.
At the end, mix the pieces of paper and invite your child to match each upper case with the correct lower case. Cutting the rectangles with irregular lines enables the child to determine on his own whether he is matching them correctly.
7. Name puzzles
This activity helps the child to learn the letters of his name.
You will need:
– heavyweight construction paper
– a marker
– scissors.
On one paper write the name of the child. Draw a rectangle below the name and then split it into as many parts as there are letters in the child’s name.
Use another paper to cut pieces equal with the ones in the rectangle. On each piece write a letter of the child’s name.
At the end, mix the pieces together and invite the child to put them into the correct order for displaying his name.
Tip: For preschoolers and older children, you can create similar puzzles for a lot of CVC words.
Other nice ideas
Shape Puzzles from Munchkins and Moms are great for practicing shape recognition with toddlers. You can also use craft sticks instead of Jenga blocks.
Homemade Cereal Box Puzzles from Happy Hooligans are easy to make and great for keeping the kids entertained.
Family Photo Puzzle Craft from Kix is cute and you only need a photo, cardboard, and scissors to create it.
preview photo credit: Yuganov Konstantin / Shutterstock.com
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