Popsicle Stick Picture Puzzles

Another quiet toy I found on Pinterest utilizing Popsicle sticks! This activity is definitely too young for Elise, but Kayla will love it. She helped me with some of the gluing and she even tried a few of them out.

All you need is some old pictures that you don't have another use for and some Popsicle sticks.

Step One is to decide how much of your picture is really usable. Extra space that doesn't have a person or large amounts of space where the scenery is very similar will be difficult for your toddler to piece together. Line up Popsicle sticks side-by-side and cut off the extra that you don't need.

Step Two is to turn the picture over, and trace lines using one of the Popsicle sticks.

Step Three is simply to begin gluing the pieces onto the Popsicle sticks. I make marks after I glue the first one so that my Popsicle sticks will all line up nicely at the end. Just make sure not to turn then upside down once you make the marks and glue the pictures in the same direction.

Step Four if you are making more than one puzzle is to number them (or make them in some way) so that if puzzle pieces get mixed up, you know which ones belong to which picture puzzle.

And voila! You have a lovely and very personal puzzle for your child to piece together.

This one will probably work when she is a little older, but Kayla had a hard time doing this one independently because since it is a collage, the pictures are smaller, and the ones on the end are hard to match correctly for a child. Look closely and you can see what I mean. It is best to stick with pictures where the subject is bigger in general.