The missing animal puzzles with some animals of the invertebrate animal classes.
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Introduction
Because the 5 vertebrae animal puzzles are so popular at the Children's House, I decided to make some invertebrae puzzles. For the arthropods I designed: a grasshopper for the insects, a hermit crab for the crustaceans. There are still a few missing - at the moment I am thinking about making a nautilus or squid for the molluscs.
Required materials
- 4 sheets ofplywood birch (20x30cm, 4mm thick)
- wooden beads
- Ink and / or food coloring
- Coping saw and blades
- Hot glue gun with sticks
- Sandpaper
- homemade beeswax polish
Please use the slightly more pricely plywood BIRCH - it is mor durable and more pleasing to hand and eye. Don't use poplar, the longer fibers will ruin your color-artwork!
Steps
Print out the template and cut the animal out with all of its puzzle pieces. Fix the puzzle parts onto the piece of wood and transfer the outlines using a pencil.
Using a drill make a little hole on the line and feed the coping saw through. Carefully cut out the puzzle pieces.
Sand the puzzle pices and the negative shapes. Place the pieces in the negative form and test if everything fits, if a piece is too tight sand again till it fits perfectly. Then glue the negative shape onto a new piece of plywood board.
Paint the puzzle pieces with ink or food colouring - for the outlines and the drawing you can also use a fine-Liner pen.
After they have dried rub Beeswax polish onto the pieces and the negative form, take off any excess of the wax with a cloth. Lastly glue a wooden beat as a grip using a hot glue gun. Let dry over night.
Downloads
Template - Free
3 part cards in English and German
No time to make your own?
The puzzles can't be purchased in this form - but there are some alternatives:
Next step: deepening knowlegde, following interests:
- Interests: Plants Vocabulary
- Skills: Concentration fine motor skills Hand-Eye-Coordination
- Type of Play: Jigsaw puzzle
- Sensitive Period: Sensitivity for Language