I hadn't realized until the other day that January is national puzzle month. I absolutely love doing puzzles and invariably I lose a piece or two and then what to do with the pieces that are left behind? I came up with several fun, quick, and kid-friendly projects to help those "left behind" pieces find new meaning. This month I will share with you two such craft projects.
Supplies:
- Left over puzzle pieces, about 25 and I used the smaller size; if you don't have a puzzle that you want to use, stop by a thrift store or a dollar store and pick one up
- White paint, I used an a cheap acrylic paint from Walmart or a craft store
- Paint brush
- Glitter (totally optional because let's be honest, with kids, glitter goes EVERYWHERE!)
- Liquid glue
Start by spreading the pieces out to paint white (a piece of wax paper or aluminum foil, etc. will help keep them from sticking to your painting surface). Depending on how much time you want to spend on this project, you can paint just one side of the pieces or both. If you decide to do just one side, try to be consistent with painting on just the printed shiny side so it will look more uniform when you're done.
Paint your pieces. Mine needed two coats of paint. Immediately after painting the second coat you can sprinkle on the glitter and it will stick to the wet paint. Allow everything to dry.
Start laying out your snowflake shape. You're snowflake will have at least 2 layers of puzzle pieces. The more layers you add, the stronger it will. I decided to just do 2 layers of pieces. For the bottom layer, I started with one piece
in the middle and then laid 6 pieces around it for the snowflake spokes. Put a dot of liquid glue on the "ends" of the pieces where the next layer of pieces will touch so the layers will stick together. You'll want to put a puzzle piece over each gap for strength. Once I got the snowflake spokes glued together, I didn't like the open spot in the middle of the snowflake, so I added one more piece in the very middle.
If you want, you can add a string to hang up your snowflake from a window or save them for next Christmas and winter to use and give them as ornaments and gifts.
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