I've been trying to come up with a way to make my own puzzle for some time now. Thankfully, Ashley at The Handmade Home figured it out for me.
I thought the kids would enjoy having some of their own art as a puzzle, and this tutorial that Ashley put together would be great for that, or photos, or art prints. The tutorial even shows you how to make a double-sided puzzle, so you get twice the bang for your crafting buck (and time!).
Read More: The Handmade Home
(Image: Ashley Mills, The Handmade Home)
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What fun!
A couple yrs ago, I snagged a bag of handmade wooden blocks at the CS for $2.00. Of the various shapes & sizes, there were nine 3" squares - perfect cubes. I secured them with a strap around the perimeter forming a 9X9 square and hand painted a picture (a simple stencil would work here just as well).
Once the paint was dry, I turned each a quarter turn (all in the same direction) and painted the next pic, etc. Once four sides/pics were completed, the blocks were flipped forward then back for the two final pics before sealing them.
Six puzzles in one PLUS they can still be used as building blocks. The whole project cost me $2 as I had all the other supplies on hand. I shipped them to my toddler g-son for his birthday and they were a big hit. It took his older brother (then 8) about 10 minutes to figure out the 'bigger puzzle' - he could complete all 6 puzzles in a nano second.