Flower blossoms, insects, and more signs of springtime are filling the LilyPad store. Have you seen all the gorgeous spring kits there are to play with? My kids have been obsessed with puzzles lately. I decided a great way to encourage them to do more puzzles would be to create a puzzle for them. I took some of the beautiful spring kits in TLP store and did just that! My puzzles focused on a bumblebee and a butterfly because my kids are learning about the letter B. Puzzles are easily adaptable for kids of all ages, just based on the design. Let’s get started on the tutorial!
Supplies Needed:
Spring Fling Paper Pack by Gina Miller
Backyard Bugs by Jacque Larsen
Puzzle Template
Chipboard
Sticker Paper
Scissors or Cutting Machine
Paper Trimmer
- Open a 8.5 x 11 document in your photo editing software. Use the rectangle tool to create a square the size of the puzzle you want. I chose 8 x 8 because that was the largest puzzle my printer would print.
- Using Spring Fling Paper Pack and Backyard Bugs create you desired design on top of the rectangle. Use a clipping mask to “attach” these to the square. My design looked like this:
- Print your puzzle design on sticker paper. NOTE: If you do not have sticker paper available, cardstock and glue could be substituted.
- Trim around your puzzle design using scissors or a paper trimmer.
- Adhere design to the corner of your chipboard.
- Open your puzzle template in your cutting machine software. Resize to the size of your design. (I obtained my puzzle template by googling free puzzle design. Many were available.) NOTE: If you do not have a cutting machine, resize your puzzle in your design software, print it out and trace your puzzle template on the back of the chipboard.
- Cut out puzzle design.
This my finished bumble bee puzzle.
And this is my finished butterfly puzzle.
Super simple! My brain is already whirling with thoughts of different puzzles to make for kids. I’m super excited to make a more difficult one for my older children! Be sure and share any puzzles you make with us! We love to see your creations in TLP gallery!
Monica says
Do you have a certain place you buy chipboard? I’ve never bought it before so I want to get a good price. I love this idea and already have sticker paper.
Jewelle says
Monica,
I bought my chipboard from Hobby Lobby. It is the silhouette brand. I do know that cereal boxes are made from essentially the same material. I have cut up them in the past to make things using chipboard. I’m sure they would fair well as puzzles too if you are doing it manually (aka scissors). I cannot say whether the cereal boxes would be safe to send through your silhouette or not.