If you and your child love the Elmer books and magnetic tiles, you will adore this Elmer the elephant puzzle activity. For those who don’t know Elmer, he is a multicolored patchwork elephant who lives happily among a grey herd, and after he tries and fails to hide his true self, he learns that his friends love him for his uniqueness. Elmer is the perfect character for a puzzle activity because of his bright and colorful patchwork skin.
To create the patchwork elephant, we used magnetic tiles. Magnetic tiles are fantastic toys for children of different ages. They are versatile and open-ended and can easily be combined with various other toys for STEM and imaginative play. And as you can see, they’re also perfect for creating puzzle activities.
Different brands sell magnetic tiles; any brand will work. If you don’t have magnetic tiles, you can replace the magnetic tiles with other similarly shaped blocks/squares, or you can create them yourself from cardboard or paper.
To match the puzzle, we created an Elmer the patchwork elephant printable, which you can download for free right here. The free downloads are for personal or classroom use only.
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Different ways you can play this puzzle game
- Create a cardboard elephant puzzle just like the example. Add a white or black marker to a raster, so it’s clear which puzzle piece (magnetic tile) goes where for your child. You can also leave the raster out to make it more challenging.
- You can also do the quick and easy puzzle version. Just trace the outside lines of the elephant on white paper and add a raster. Again, you can leave the raster out to make it a little more challenging.
- If your child is older, give the cards and see if they can create the elephant shape by looking carefully at the card.
- Use your cardboard puzzle or trace the elephant on paper; choose one of the elephant cards and put a few magnetic tiles on the form to see if your child can guess which elephant cards you’re recreating.
Would you like to create this craft from cardboard? Then gather the following craft supplies below.
Craft supplies:
- Cardboard
- Magnetic tiles or colored shapes
- White/black marker
- Glue
- Scissor/craft knife
- Elmer the Elephant book
- Elmer the patchwork elephant printable cards
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Gather your craft supplies.
Step 2: Create an elephant shape from Magnetic Tiles like in the picture. If you don’t have Magnetic Tiles, use a similar product or create them from cardboard.
Step 3: Start with two big cardboard squares of the same size. One for your puzzle background and the other square you use to trace and cut out your elephant shape.
Step 4: Trace your elephant shape on one of the cardboard squares and cut it out with a craft knife.
Step 5: Take your background square and create a raster with a black or white marker; make sure the lines are the same size as the magnetic tiles and that the strings match op with the elephant
Step 6: Glue both squares on top of each other.
Step 7: Create a little elephant tail from yarn, or draw a seat with a marker.
Step 8: Enjoy playing and learning!
For more information about our favorite craft supplies and stores, check out the blog post favorites. And don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for step-by-step craft instructions!
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