Materials
Camera and film, or existing pictures of your town
Clear contact paper, tape, or glue
Blocks
Instructions
1. Use a copier to enlarge each child's photo to fit onto an 8 1/2 " x 11" (21 cm x
27 cm) piece of card stock paper. Copy the enlarged photo onto card stock
paper. (If you don't have access to card stock paper, make copies of the pictures
on regular paper and then mount them on poster board using rubber
cement.)
2. Give the children their own pictures and explain to them that they are going
to make their own puzzles.
3. Provide specific suggestions for the two initial cuts so that the children have
distinct visual clues for matching up the puzzle pieces.
4. Help the children with the cutting for this activity.
5. Ask the children to cut horizontally through the eyes and then put the pieces
back together.
6. Ask the children to make the next cut from the bottom of the picture and go
through the mouth and nose. Shuffle the pieces and ask the child to assemble
them.
7. Next, the children can make two vertical cuts out of the top puzzle piece (hair
and forehead). Shuffle the pieces and ask the child to assemble them.
8. Ask the children to make a diagonal cut across one of the large pieces that
contains half of the nose and mouth. Shuffle them and ask the child to assemble
the pieces.
9. Cut the remaining large piece into two pieces, separating the nose and the
mouth. Shuffle the pieces and ask the child to reassemble them.
More to do
Ask the children to draw pictures on card stock paper. Cut the pictures into puzzle
pieces. Save the puzzle pieces for another day and make additional cuts
depending on the ability level of the children. Cut up free posters provided by
book clubs and use them as basic floor puzzles to connect an activity to a special
book or author.
