A puzzle piece template is an efficient tool used to create different types of puzzles or puzzle-based projects. These templates have pre-designed patterns that come in a variety of shapes such as squares, circles, triangles, and irregular shapes. Also, you can print them in different sizes according to the requirements of your project.
In addition, you can use a puzzle piece template to create different types of puzzles including jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, word search puzzles, and more. The template also provides instructions for cutting or assembling the pieces.
What is a puzzle piece?
A literary or creative work that includes a puzzle; a part or piece of a puzzle, mainly the jigsaw puzzle.
Benefits of playing with Puzzles and Puzzle Pieces:
Doing puzzles has quite a lot of benefits for adults. Assembling the puzzle and putting all the pieces together is not only relaxing but they have also various benefits;
Boost your memory
You would require resourcefulness and ingenuity while trying to solve a puzzle and connect the pieces together accurately. You would have to go through different trial and error processes in order to be able to assemble the whole puzzle. All these processes stimulate your brain function and speeds up your ingenuity. Through puzzles, problem solving skills are exercised. The more you assemble the puzzles, the faster you would be able to complete different kinds of puzzles.
It reinforces your entire thought processes
You would have to determine and recognize each of the puzzle pieces while solving puzzles. Then, relate them to the entire puzzle so that you see the image in your mind. From start to finish, this process needs superior logic and cleverness. In solving puzzles, different parts of the brain are involved even the parts that you don’t use in ordinary conditions. Since you are working through something as simple as a puzzle, this indicates that your whole brain and thought processes are working together.
Form of meditation
We have discussed above that puzzles stimulate your brain and activate it. Aside from this, they can also act as a form of relaxation and meditation against the stresses of daily life. In fact, after a stressful day, a lot of people select to assemble puzzles in order to unwind. While working with puzzles, relaxing and unwinding actually boosts your psychological state and your brain functions.
Hence, they are a lot of benefits for your mental processes and your psychological condition to working on puzzles.
Materials that you require to make puzzle pieces:
You should prepare a number of materials before you start making your own puzzles at home. Keep these materials on hand so that you will be able to finish your puzzle completely when you start making it.
A picture and paper to print it on
You would need to have a design or a photo in mind when you make a puzzle. Then, you can directly draw or paint onto a piece of paper. Also, you can print it out using a computer and a printer. To place your image, you should have a good quality piece of paper so when you’re ready you can print or paint on it.
For your puzzle backing, material
You have to attach your image on a good piece of cardboard so that you will be able to cut up it easily. It should be thin enough so that with a sharp pair of scissors you will cut it. But, keep in mind it should be thick enough in order to be durable to use as a puzzle again and again.
Gluing and cutting tools
You’d have to have the right kind of glue to be able to attach the first two materials fully and well. Spray glue usually would work best. This is because it would enable you to apply glue evenly and none of the pieces would be peeling off when you’ve cut up your puzzle. When you are cutting up your puzzle, you should have a good and sharp pair of scissors so that while cutting the edges are clean and when it’s time to assemble your puzzle, you won’t have any trouble putting the puzzle pieces together.
Thus, when you are planning to make your own puzzle, these are the most important materials you must prepare and have on hand.
How Can You Make Your own Puzzle Pieces Templates?
Here are some steps and tips that help you out in making your own puzzle pieces templates.
- First, select an image that you want for your puzzle and print it on a good-quality paper. You can also draw or create an image on your own.
- Then, select the backing for your puzzle. You have to choose good quality cardboard that is not too thick or not too thin either. It should be flat so while assembling a puzzle your pieces will fit well together.
- With the help of glue stick your image to the puzzle backing. Then, cut out the excess cardboard its size is the same as your image.
- Make sure all the puzzle pieces are stuck completely so that there is no piece that is peeling off.
- When it’s completely dry, draw a grid at the back. It’s up to you how many pieces you would like and what sizes they would.
- By adding balls and sockets shapes on every side of the pieces complete the puzzle. If you want to make it more complex then add different shapes instead of balls and sockets.
- Then, with the help of scissors cut out the puzzle pieces.
- Now, you can start assembling your puzzle.
Ideas for Puzzle craft:
You can use puzzle templates in many different ways. Here are the six ideas that can help you to get started;
Unique cards
At first, print out the puzzle template. Give it to your children and ask them draw a picture and write a message. Cut out the pieces and put them on an envelope. Also, write a note that describes the recipient will require to assemble the puzzle to receive his or her card.
Scavenger Hunt
By requiring participants to assemble puzzles to reveal each clue, make a scavenger hunt more fun. With the PDF or PNG template, this craft could be done.
Party Invitation
In case, you are having a surprise party, then under wraps, keep event details by sending out invites that need a bit of assembly. Again, with the PDF or PNG template, this craft could be done.
Party favors
By turning a picture, make party favors that associate to the theme of your party into a puzzle. After that, pack the pieces in a box. For instance, to make a party favor for a child’s Lego-themed birthday celebration, you could overlay the PNG puzzle template on a picture of Lego minifigures.
Creative scrapbook layout
By using the PNG template, turn a favorite photo into a puzzle if you’re tired of boring scrapbook pages. In three large chunks, assemble the majority of the puzzle. Next, glue the chunks to your layout with a small gap in between each one. From the lower right hand corner across the bottom of your layout, trail the remaining pieces.
Puzzle picture frame
To make puzzle pieces from patterned paper, use the PDF template. Around a favorite photo, glue the cut out pieces in order to make a pretty frame. If desired, for the pieces of a traditional puzzle, this technique could also be used to create a decorated box.
History of puzzles:
In 1760, the first puzzle was created by London-based cartographer John Spilsbury. He placed his map on wood and cut countries from their borders. This map puzzle was used as an educational tool in England in children’s geography lessons until 1820.
Jigsaw puzzle-making accelerated with the creation of the pedal saw in 1880 and the introduction of plywood in 1900. Also, cardboard puzzles started to be used in the same years. The puzzle started to live its golden years in 1920-30. More complicated and challenging puzzles were made in those years. Cheap puzzles were produced in the 1930s due to increased unemployment.
Nowadays, puzzles with different qualities, materials, and techniques are created due to advanced technology. Aside from children, adults also relieve their stress by playing with them.
(FAQ) Frequently Asked Questions
Most puzzles are square, rectangular, or round. With corner pieces, they might be straight or smoothly curved to create these shapes. If the puzzle is square or rectangular then it has four corner pieces. Other puzzles are designed in such a way so that shape of the whole puzzle forms a figure such as an animal. In such cases, edge pieces may vary.
The origin of the puzzle piece symbol for autism came from a UK organization in 1963 in the National Autistic Society. Gerald Gasson was its founder. He and other board members believed that autistic people suffered from a puzzling condition, so they took on a logo of a puzzle piece with a weeping child, displaying the thought that autism is a tragedy that children suffer from. Due to this visualization of autism, autistic people have been receiving unwanted treatments and therapies to cure a disease that they don’t have for decades.
The jigsaw puzzle with the most pieces contains 551,232 pieces. On 24 September 2011, it was completed with an overall measurement of 14.85 x 23.20m (48ft 8.64 in x 76ft 1.38 in) by 1,600 students of the University of Economics of Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), at the Phu Tho Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This puzzle portrayed a lotus flower with six petals in symbolic representation of the six areas of knowledge predicted by the mind map study method. Students took 17 hours to break up the 3,312 parts, each involving 176 pieces, into which the puzzle has divided, and then re-assemble them to create a puzzle.
