DIY Wooden Shape Puzzles

In this blog post we will show you how to make DIY wooden puzzles for kids.

We will take you through how to make these simple toddler wooden shape puzzles with this easy tutorial. The shape puzzles are a great learning toy for younger children, and you can adapt the designs to suit your child’s needs and interests. 

This DIY Wooden Shape Puzzles post is contributed by Medina of Grillo-Designs.com

My son is quite the logical thinker. From a very young age, he has always loved puzzles and working out how to make things connect. I would love to say he gets this analytical thinking from me, but I’m not a very good problem solver so it must be from his Dad!

At the minute my son is obsessed with learning his shapes so I decided to foster that passion further. 

I had some scrap wood lying around my home from various DIY projects I had done in the past year. I decided to use them to make simple wooden shape puzzles.

Aside from the sawing, it really required little effort to make and is perfect for a quick afternoon crafty project.

Not to mention my son really enjoys playing with them! So a win win for this mama!

Supplies

Supplies you will need to create your own wooden Shapes puzzle

• Manual saw
• Wooden scrap blocks
• Velcro spots
• Acrylic paint
• Painters tape
• Pencil
• Clear varnish
• Sander

How to make the wooden shapes puzzle

First, I sanded the planks down just to smooth out the rough edges.

Next I drew on shapes to the centre of each wooden block. I’m no artist so I used household items to get the different shapes I.e cups to make the circle, books to make the squares.

I went with 7 shapes that I knew were my sons favourite. The basic shapes that you might like to include are

• Square
• Circle
• Triangle
• Heart
• Diamond
• Pentagon
• Rectangle

Next I taped around the edges of my drawings with tape so outlines would be sharp and clear once paint was applied .

I applied paint with a thin brush. This was fun and very therapeutic. I did more coats on some just to get a more even finish for all of the puzzles. 

Next, you just need leave the shape puzzles to dry and then remove tape once it’s dry

Once the paint is dry and the tape is removed, flip the blocks over and saw each of the puzzles into 4 equal sized parts.

It’s a good idea to coat each block with clear varnish so that the paint doesn’t scratch off over time.

And thats it! Your DIY Wooden shape puzzles are finished and ready to play with!

Puzzles have so many learning benefits for children, developing logical thinking and spacial awareness. Check out our article on 5 ways that puzzles assist early childhood development for more insight on this. 

Puzzles are one of my favourite activities to play with my kids, and simple shape puzzles like these DIY wooden shape puzzles are perfect for toddlers.

The level of challenge is great for younger kids, and the sense of accomplishment at putting them together correctly gives young children a real boost. 

By painting each shape a different colour, this makes it easier for children to recognise which pieces belong together and complete these shape puzzles even if all of the pieces are mixed up together. 

These wooden block puzzles work just by placing the pieces next to each other, side by side, without the traditional jigsaw piece shape. This is a little easier for small hands, and makes these wooden puzzles ideal for toddlers. 

You can also use the same method for other kinds of pictures to create even more puzzles, and if your child wants a little more challenge then create a larger amount of puzzle pieces, as they grow – for example progressing from four piece puzzles like this up to 8 piece or 12 piece puzzles.

Have fun!

More Shape Activities

Glue the Missing Parts Shape Puzzle Activity

Building 2D & 3D Shapes with Craft Sticks

Toddler Art with Shapes

Introducing Geometric Shapes with “Shapes Don’t Bug Me”

Exploring Symmetry with Wooden Building Blocks

Free Printable Shapes Worksheets

More DIY Puzzles

If you would like to make more puzzles with the kids, why not have a go at some of our printable colour your own puzzles activities. 

Try this

Free Printable Elf Coloring Puzzle

The elf puzzle printable comes with 12 pieces, but can be adapted to fewer pieces of a larger size for younger kids. 

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Follow Anna – In The Playroom’s board kids Ideas and activities on Pinterest.

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More Easy Woodwork DIYs

Want to make more wooden DIYs? Try these…

Wooden wall mounted bookcase DIY tutorial

DIY Sensory Table Ikea hack

Have fun!