Friday, October 7, 2011

Popsicle Stick Puzzles Tutorial

My friend pinned this on Pinterest the other day:
And I thought, hey that would make a super cute toddler activity! And, how fun would it be to make some seasonal themed puzzles! I decided to make a set to send to my little niece since my kids are a little too old for these. Although, my eight year old had a blast helping me with these today! Here's what we did:

First we printed off some cute Fall pictures--just regular 4x6 prints from Walmart. I like to put my pictures on photo paper whenever I am going to glue them to something. Photo paper won't wrinkle or tear when you're working with it, and the quality of the finished product is just better!

Then, we cut the pictures into sections just a tiny bit smaller than the width of a big craft popsicle stick. 


Next, we Mod Podged the strips to the craft sticks.
And that's pretty much it! Here's a look at a few of the puzzles we made...


We just put each puzzle in it's own ziplock sandwich bag, and put them in a box. I think this weekend I will sew her a cute little Halloween purse to carry these around in. Such a cute and easy little project!
All of these adorable pictures come from Just So Scrappy which you can find HERE!
Have a great weekend!

Linking up here:

52 comments:

  1. and I shall be pinning this on pinterest!!! Thank you!

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  2. I love this, I'm definitely pinning this idea to make for my boys. Thank you for sharing!! I'm stopping over from IheartNaptime!

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  3. Oh for cute! I love quick and easy projects like this-- especially when the end result of the quick and easy project will entertain my three year old!

    Visiting from iheartnaptime's Sunday Scoop
    Jenn Schires
    www.theschiresfive.blogspot.com

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  4. Now my "kids" are all young adults now but I am pinning this idea because I teach Sunday School and I'm sure it will come in handy at some point! These are just adorable and I love the idea of using the photo paper to give a better and more durable quality to them!

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  5. These are so cute! This is exactly the kind of thing I would have loved to have in my preschool classroom back when I was a teacher. :o)

    I'm a new follower from the Sundae Scoop.


    Please feel free to link up to my Make Yourself Monday blog hop!

    Jamie
    For Love of Cupcakes

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  6. I love this! So flexible! I bet if you were awesome at drawing, you could draw a design as well.:)
    Thanks so much for sharing!
    everydaygameplan.net

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  7. This is so cute! Thanks for sharing.

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  8. Hi, What a fun idea! I love having an activity for the grandies after Thanksgiving dinner. It would be so fun to do a Pilgrim, Turkey, or Indian. Your Halloween ones are super fun. Thanks for sharing. Now a new follower.

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  9. shared this to our facebook followers!
    love this idea!
    new fan of yours! following your blog now!
    mindy from CREATIVE JUICE
    http://getcreativejuice.blogspot.com/

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  10. So adorable! Just joined your blog, please check out mine and join if you'd like! Thanks for sharing such a kid friendly craft and game!

    Warmest Regards & Happy Fall,
    Annamaria
    www.ArtByASM.BlogSpot.com

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  11. You are just too cute! I so wish I had a toddler! I love these! I have to pin it! Too cute not to!

    Thanks for linking these up at Mushki Loves!
    Have a great day!
    Kirsten

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  12. This is such a fantastic idea! My son is crazy about puzzles and this is a great way to get him a bunch more without paying store prices for them! You could even use a personal photo too...how fun is that? I love these; thanks for linking them at One Artsy Mama!

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  13. OMGosh! This is adorable! These would be a great gift for a little one...and the tutorial is great too. Would love it if you would link this up to our Rockin' link party going on now at RoCa and Company. Here is the link: http://rocaandcompany.blogspot.com/2011/10/you-rock-5.html. Come and show off what you got. Hope to see you there...

    Remember...YOU ROCK!!

    Carmen @ RoCa and Company
    www.rocaandcompany.blogspot.com

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  14. i love these!! how cute. i want to use them with my preschool kiddos! i would love for you to link this or any other post up to my link party flashback fridays....a place where bloggers can link up vintage, retro, old posts, or anything that comes to mind when hearing the word "flashback".
    here is the link if you are interested:
    http://lovenotesbylauryn.blogspot.com/2011/10/flashback-fridays-6.html

    {love} lauryn @ lovenotesbylauryn.blogspot.com

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  15. I love these! They would be great Halloween party favors too! Thanks so much for linking up to The Creative Spark. I'll be featuring this on my facebook page - feel free to grab a featured button!
    Jenn :)

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  16. Oh, you're so awesome you already HAVE a featured button! Well, now you were featured x 2!! lol
    Jenn

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  17. Really appreciate the inspiration! Thanks for joining us at Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop :)

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  18. Just wanted to let you know I featured this today! :)

    http://oneartmama.blogspot.com/2011/10/picture-perfect-puzzle.html

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  19. I feature your puzzles on Everything Under the Moon! Feel free to grab a feature button :)
    http://everything-underthemoon.blogspot.com/2011/10/you-dazzled_16.html

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  20. What a fun idea! Can't wait to try it for my daughter! Thanks for linking up with us at Show & Share! Can't wait to see what you link up this week!

    Marie
    mylilpinkpocket.blogspot.com

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  21. Just wanted to let you know I featured you today! Come grab a featured button! http://mylilpinkpocket.blogspot.com/2011/10/show-share-9-features.html

    Marie
    mylilpinkpocket.blogspot.com

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  22. I love this idea! I am going to try this when my daughter starts showing interests in puzzles.

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  23. Featuring YOU over on my blog today! This looks so fun. Me kiddos would love it! Thank you so much for linking up to my {wow me} wednesday party last week! :)

    Ginger @ gingersnapcrafts.com

    http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/2011/10/take-look-at-you-top-12.html

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  24. These are really cute! I am particularly interested in the barn picture. Where did you source the image from?

    Seaweedandraine@gmail.com

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  25. I seriously love this! I L.O.V.E mod podge, Just so Scrappy and Halloween!!!

    Hadar
    Miss Kindergarten

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  26. Love these! I am going to write holiday words alphabetically on the back so they can be sorted for a literacy station.

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  27. I have done a project like this in my classroom but on card stock instead of popsicle sticks. However in the blank space on the side of the picture, I numbered them. It really helps teach number recognition and numerical order. My kindergarteners love putting the numbers in order to see what the picture is!

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  28. What did you buy from that website in order to get items that you could print as 4x6?

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    1. Hi Sheri! All of the digital kits come with tons of separate images that I just sized to 4x6 on photoshop, and then had them printed out. I believe the kit that I used was "Happy Fall Ya'll". Let me know if I can help ok!
      Shannon
      flipchickdesigns@gmail.com

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  29. Hi Sheri,
    I just found you on Pinterest! I can't wait to make these. What a great idea-thanks for sharing!
    Carla
    Playful Learning Brooklyn

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  30. I love your post on busy bags, I have made a bunch for my own kids and they are addicted! I did a roundup of bags we have made on my blog and linked to your tutorial, you can check it out here: http://babesindeutschland.com/ Thanks for the inspiration!

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  31. Hello,
    I wanted to let you know that I featured your awesome tutorial on my DIY crafts for kids roundup and linked it back to your site. You can check it out here http://hugatreewithme.com/3/post/2013/08/10-green-craft-tutorials-to-create-with-your-kids.html

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  32. I love this idea. I don't know why crafts made with Popsicle sticks always seem fun (maybe because they make me think of Popsicles and summer days). Thanks for this idea.

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  33. I love this post! I recently made some of these and posted about them in my blog. I linked to this post so people can check out your tutorial! Check it out :) http://mamadecreations.blogspot.com

    Thanks for sharing this!
    Michelle

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  34. Hi there. I'm having trouble resizing my images to 4x6's. I bought my images from the same site as you (just a different kit) and they are printing too small. How can I get them to the 4x6 size in photoshop?

    Thanks!
    Desiree

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    Replies
    1. Hi Desiree! In Photoshop, when you create a new blank image, it will ask you what dimensions you'd like it to be so just make sure that you have it set to 6 inches wide and 4 inches high. Then once you have sized the image on the background as big as you'd like, just save it as a JPEG and you can print it at any photo kiosk. I hope that made sense! If you still have any questions or if I can help in any way, you can email me at flipchickdesigns@gmail.com. Thanks!
      Shannon

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  36. Do you think printing on regular paper then laminating would also work?

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  37. anyone have links for pictures of other themes? trains would be AWESOME! I am having trouble finding the right size images. ;(

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  38. hi! I really want to buy these templates, but the link can't find them, help! sultanna_vip@mail.ru

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  39. pop sickles are great way to make children learn . I use craft ticks to teach my students alphabetical phonic sounds. It was amazing. I used safe and quality assured products from http://woodpaintsticks.com/wood-craft
    . I think children learn more faster in fun way.

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  40. Are there any other good websites to find cute kid friendly images (decent quality/resolution) that are free?

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    1. Hi there! Yes! There are lots of places to find really cute free images! I just googled 'free clip art images' and then narrowed my search down by categories, like Christmas, school, whatever you'd like. Hope that helps! If there is something specific you are looking for please let me know and I'll see if I can help! Thanks!
      flipchickdesigns@gmail.com

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  41. it's very impressive. I want to buy it?

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  42. Would be fun to use pictures of family members or familiar places/objects for these too! My daughter would flip for puzzles of her stuffed animal buddies!

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  43. Hey I love this idea...what is the name of the ruler thing you are using with the knife on it..I can not find it anywhere...lol
    Thank you

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jenny! Mine is a FISKARS paper cutter. They can be found at just about any craft store, like Michaels or JoAnns. Hope that helps! :)

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  44. These are so cool! May I suggest a black and white version of the completed puzzle for the students to color in exactly like the completed puzzle?

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