The easiest way to make a DIY craft-stick puzzle for preschoolers and kindergartens using the free In the Ocean coral reef and sharks printable.
What’s the best way to build your child’s logic skills and spatial awareness and help them recognize shapes and patterns? Make DIY craft stick puzzles with your little one! It’s a fun crafty project that will keep little hands busy and minds occupied. Besides, this DIY is very cost-effective since you can either use brand new craft sticks or clean and then dry already used wooden popsicle sticks. Most importantly, DIY ocean craft-stick puzzle is an excellent preschool activity to promote hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, and cognitive thinking.
You’ll Need for DIY Ocean Craft-Stick Puzzle
- puzzle 🧩 images (download below)
- wooden craft sticks
- glue
- tape (tape dispenser here)
- a craft knife
Instructions
First, print In the Ocean PDF on hard cardstock. (Since these are beautiful watercolor images, I printed them on watercolor paper.)
Secondly, cut out each image.
Then, determine how many craft sticks you would need for each image by placing an image over them.
Next, apply tape to the craft sticks to hold them together.
Then, glue a printed image to the other side.
Lastly, use a craft knife to carefully cut between craft sticks. (Place a cutting board under it.)
DIY Ocean Craft-Stick Puzzle
How Many Puzzles To Present
Now, mix up all the craft sticks and let your little one figure out how to assemble the puzzle. Start with a single image puzzle. Then, as a child gains confidence, you can offer two puzzle sets all mixed up. You can keep adding more and more puzzles to offer at the same child as a child masters the sorting skills.
Why Puzzles Are Important
Puzzles are an excellent tool to enhance your child’s cognitive and mental development by stimulating intellectual and mental abilities such as thinking, reasoning, and understanding through fine-motor manipulation.
Studies have found that children use both sides of their brains when they work with puzzles. Brain stimulation leads to improved memory, cognitive function, and problem-solving skills. Puzzles also promote hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, association, and task completion. Most importantly, puzzles are fun, offering independent child play, which is productive and constructive!
And the first six years is when a child’s brain grows exponentially! For example, a three-year-old’s brain is 80% of adult size with over 1000 trillion synapses. Thus, offering a sufficiently stimulating, prepared environment where children can grow to their fullest potential is essential.
Download Ocean Printable Puzzle HERE.
For more In the Ocean DIY Craft-Stick Puzzle Ideas See Below
Check HERE DIY Craft Stick Puzzle Preschool Activity.
Have you tried DIY Ocean Craft-Stick Puzzle? Leave a comment if you did!
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