DIY Counting Clovers Puzzle!

So DIY puzzles are my new thing 😉

I think puzzles are an amazing learning tool for kiddos, but puzzles for toddlers can be crazy expensive! So I’ve decided, like I do about most expensive things, to attempt a DIY version!

I think it turned out pretty cute!!!!! And it only cost me a couple dollars and some paint!

Here’s how I did it…feel free to improvise if you find a better way (and tell me how you did it in the comments!) because I’m literally making this up as I go 😉

I made a trip to my trusty Dollar Tree store and picked up a white foam poster board ($1) and an 11×14 picture frame ($1), and cut out a piece of the poster board to fit right on top of the glass (don’t measure the poster board piece by the size of the glass, the backing, or the picture inside because generally they are made slightly bigger than the actual opening of the frame).

Next I traced out my shamrock shapes as I wanted them – I was going for a math activity – counting the leaves and find the 4-leaf clover – so I made two with three leaves and one with four.

To add another math component, I made all the leaves in the shapes of hearts!

Next I cut out the hearts (I used a scissor edge like a box cutter to carve them out) and cleaned up the edges.

*Now that I’ve done it once, I can advise you to make each shamrock a different size so that the puzzle pieces fit ONLY in their correct spots. It would have helped keep the pieces in the right places and therefore help the kiddos make the connection that if the piece doesn’t fit, then the numbers must not match etc.*

Next I painted the leaves green front and back.

While they dried, I traced out (highly recommend unless you are much more talented at drawing than me and can get it all right the first time 😉 ) and colored my letters, rainbow and pot of gold and added some little shamrocks.

For the back of the puzzle, I simply taped a piece of green construction paper to the back of the poster board and drew the numbers in, so when the puzzle pieces are removed you see the number of the matching puzzle piece.