I have been trying to update the picture frames in my house as well as work on Riley’s album and keepsake calendar. So that means I have a lot of pictures and Riley has been all about pictures lately. Anytime we go in a room, she always points out the picture frames. If I have pictures laying around that I am trying to do something with, she immediately comes over to look at them. She especially loves pictures of herself. This love of photos inspired the photo puzzle, which is a hit! She plays with her photo puzzle every day!
Materials
- Simple, wooden puzzle that is easy for little hands to manipulate and play with (I like the Melissa and Doug puzzles and for this DIY activity, I went with a simple shape puzzle)
- Photos of people your child knows and would recognize (I put Riley’s friends, our dog, two pictures of her, and of course, mom and dad)
- Tape (Scotch tape is fine for this activity)
- Scissors
- Writing utensil
Directions
- Figure out where each picture will go. You want to measure the puzzle piece on top of the person’s face in the picture to make sure that you cover up the whole face.
- Once you’ve figured out which puzzle piece goes with each picture, trace around the puzzle piece on the picture.
- Cut along the traced lines.
- Tape the pictures into their spots on the puzzle. I just rolled a single piece of tape, taped it to the back of the picture, and pressed it into the spot. I wanted to be able to change the pictures whenever I want without damaging the puzzle because I am sure one day I’ll also want to remove the pictures altogether. The pictures are secure and Riley hasn’t tried to pick them out at all.
- Cover the pictures with the puzzle piece and let your baby be pleasantly surprised as they uncover familiar faces!
Riley's experience
Riley loves puzzles to begin with. She loves removing all the pieces and waiting for mama to put all the pieces back before starting over again. When I set this puzzle down in front of her, she immediately set to work removing all the pieces. She is so efficient removing the pieces that I am not sure she recognized the pictures underneath the pieces until I pointed them out. Now she has it memorized where mama, dada, and Riley are in the puzzle. She loves to pull off mama’s piece and point to mama’s picture. She does the same with dada’s picture as well. She always smiles whenever she uncovers her pictures. When Riley finds Felix’s picture, she says “dog”. She gets excited by the pictures of other babies though she isn’t quite certain who they are yet. We keep this puzzle in her room and she plays with it every day!
Benefits
- Fine motor skills: grabbing and removing the puzzle pieces is strengthening your little one’s hand and finger muscles
- Hand-eye coordination: reaching for and grabbing the puzzles pieces develops your child’s hand-eye coordination
- Language development: helping your child connect the names that go along with these faces
- Social/emotional skills: recognizing family members and friends and feeling excited to see them
- Object permanence: this activity helps develop the understanding that the picture is still there even when hidden under the puzzle piece
- Memory and matching: As your child becomes familiar with the faces in the puzzle, they may start to match the name to the face and can find specific people when asked. (“Where is mama?”)
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