Making Homemade Puzzles for Kids

Kids love to make puzzles. Now they can have fun making the puzzle they are going to make! Here are some simple ideas for making homemade puzzles that will entertain your kids for hours and hours. You will need glue for some of the puzzles below. I have some fun glue recipes that you can use for your puzzle making projects. You can use any of the glues in the following articles: How to Make Collage Glue, How to Make Decoupage Glue, or 2 Glue Recipes: Waterproof Glass Glue and Waterproof Leather Glue

Simple Cereal Box Puzzle: A simple cereal box puzzle is an old time favorite, at least it was in my house when I was growing up. Take a cereal box and cut off the front of the box. Then cut the front of the box into pieces, making shapes like squares or triangles. Then mix up the pieces and lay them out on a table with the colored side of the cereal box facing up and put the pieces back together! You can store the puzzle pieces in a zip lock bag for the next time you want to make it.

Thick Jigsaw Art Puzzle: A thick jigsaw art puzzle can be made using a cardboard similar to the cardboard used for a shipping box. Just cut a piece of box to the desired size then color it or paint in in any design. Then draw a jigsaw shape on the back of the cardboard. After the pieces are drawn, cut the pieces apart (an adult needs to do the cutting). You now have a nice thick jigsaw puzzle that will stay put when you make it. And you also have a nice work of art to look at!

Building Blocks Puzzle: This is a fun puzzle that kids really enjoy. Get some old square building blocks (craft blocks will work too) and lay them down in rows and columns until you get the desired size square or rectangle you need. Then take a photo or a magazine page or whatever you want and glue it to the face of the blocks. After the photo has dried, use a knife to cut the paper so you can separate the blocks (an adult needs to do the cutting). Then jumble the blocks and put them back together again. Want to make this super hard? Make a six sided puzzle! Just use a different photo for each side!

Giant Floor Puzzle: Making the pieces for a giant floor puzzle is as much fun as making the actual puzzle! You will need a vinyl tablecloth and enough poster boards to cover the tablecloth, and glue. Spread the tablecloth on the floor with the print side down. Then glue the poster boards, end to end, to the back of the tablecloth and trim the poster boards to match the shape of the tablecloth. After the glue has dried you can cut the stiffened tablecloth into shapes to create a giant floor puzzle. If you really want to turn this puzzle into a fabulous activity, color or paint the poster board (this can take all day!) so you have a two sided puzzle! One side will be the tablecloth print and the other side will be your work of art!