Pre-school Wooden Puzzle

This is one of my favorite puzzles! I think it’s because the colors are so bright. I don’t know… it just makes me smile.

Bright colors, happy feet make this nine-piece puzzle fun.

I designed this one a few years ago when I gave a class on making children’s toys at a local hardware and woodworking store. I have since put it up on my woodprojectsonline.com website.

It was the first time I used the birch plywood and I was anxious to see how the colorful wood stains would look.

I loved the way it turned out!

When I went back to check on the availability of the wood stains I found that the company has gone out of business! Now what to do?

Because I was working with plywood I couldn’t use a lot of water to thin acrylic paint for a translucent look. After a little research I decided to try watercolors that come in tubes. With just a damp brush I could get the look I wanted, without too much water.

The only problem came when  trying to figure out which foot went where… all are slightly different. For the little ones I decided to place a matching colored dot underneath each foot on the puzzle tray with permanent markers.

Since then I have figured out how to make the dots temporary. I now use a small round white sticker with a the colored dot on it. When your child gets better at the puzzle you can just peel the sticker off!

Time to get busy making puzzles for Christmas gifts…