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Make learning fun for your kids this Easter with this inexpensive handmade gift for Easter baskets. |
Here is a new twist on an old idea, craft egg puzzles for children ages three through seven, using multiple decorative papers and eggs shapes cut from heavy poster board. You will also need white school glue and a sharp pair of scissors.
Start teaching with just one egg puzzle then gradually add more eggs to children's egg puzzle collection with different patterns.
Store all of the egg puzzle pieces together. Then children will need to separate related patterns and colors from that group before beginning to assemble each egg. Both the sorting activities and the fitting of pieces together are excellent practice for early readers!
- What children know and need to learn about patterns and algebraic thinking. - from Stanford University, and learning these must begin early folks!
- Read about The Power of Color from Montessori.org
- Fun and Easy Tips for Setting Up A Preschool Puzzle Center! - excellent advice from PreK Pages! Not all children think the same way about puzzles. I began teaching puzzles to my students at three years of age. They grew to love this exercise! Start with very easy wooden puzzles.
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| See how the eggs are cut into puzzle pieces. |
Step-by-Step Instructions for Parents/Older Siblings:
- You can use any flat egg template to make your own versions of these egg puzzles or draw your own. Eggs don't need to be all the same size either; these may vary in size and proportion.
- Cut out the egg pattern, trace around it on top of poster board. Repeat and cut out as many eggs as you like.
- Brush on white school glue to one side of the poster cut outs. Press on colorful wrapping papers or decorative scrapbook papers. Use only one kind of printed wrapping paper per egg. The more distinct the papers are from each other, the better. Remember these puzzles are for children ages three to seven.
- To increase the difficulty of putting the puzzles together you can: multiply the number of eggs, mix the pieces together in the same box/bag, make the pieces for each puzzle smaller or increase the number of puzzle pieces included for each egg. Watch your child putting the eggs together closely in order to determine what changes to make for this game in the future.
- Decoupage a small box or sew a simple draw string bag to store the handmade egg puzzles together. Gift them for Easter in a basket if you like.
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