Photo Puzzles

• You can make a fun, personalized children's puzzle with a family photograph. You'll need to enlarge it because a 3-by-5 or 4-by-6 photo won't allow you to make very many puzzle pieces out of it. A good size is 8-by-10 or, for convenience's sake, 8 1/2-by-11. Glue the photo onto stiff backing. Cardboard is good, as is craft foam. You want the finished puzzle to be sturdy and stand up to lots of wear and tear. Foam will be easier for little kids to maneuver.
  
  Spray mount is the best kind of glue to use to attach the photo to the backing. Let the glue dry. Then flip the photo over, so the cardboard or foam side is facing you. Draw a grid. The smaller the child using the puzzle, the bigger the pieces should be. Draw convex and concave curves on each square to form your interlocking puzzle pieces.
  
  Put the cardboard on a cutting mat, and use an X-Acto knife to cut out the pieces. Put the pieces in a box, and glue a second copy of the picture to the top of the box to serve as a guide for the child putting the puzzle together.
  
  

Shape-Matching Puzzles

• Simple household objects can make great shape-matching puzzles. Take a sturdy piece of cardboard or craft foam. Dig out some cookie cutters from your cupboard. Put the cutters on the cardboard and trace around them with a pencil. Put the cardboard on a cutting mat and, using an X-Acto utility knife, cut out the shapes you've just traced. Now you have a sheet of cardboard or foam with several cookie-cutter-shaped holes in it. Let your kids figure out which cookie cutters fit in which holes.
  
  You also can trace around other household items, such as glasses, a remote control, keys and pens. Either cut the shapes out once you've traced them or draw thick, brightly colored borders around the shapes. Let your kids put the household objects into the holes or outlines where they fit.
  
  

Magnetic Puzzles

• Magnetic puzzles are great to put on the fridge and they take advantage of a work surface that can hold puzzle pieces together well. You can create your own by cutting shapes out of cardboard or craft foam. Get magnetic fabric from a craft store--usually these fabrics have one adhesive side. Cut small pieces of magnetic fabric, peel off the paper that's covering the adhesive, and stick them to the back of your puzzle pieces.
  
  You can make a car puzzle by cutting the shape into jigsaw-type pieces, or have the pieces be different parts of the car. For example, if you're making a pickup truck, the cab can be one piece, the flatbed another. The wheels can each be separate pieces, as can the windows and windshield. Make sure the pieces are big enough for little hands to grasp.