From the Index Card Files

Make your own puzzles. Save the styrofoam trays that some meats and cheeses come on. Wash them very well. Using a sharp razor cut a puzzle out of the center. For very young children cut a large shape out of the center (a square, triangle, or circle). For a slightly more complex puzzle, cut the shapes in half. Or draw and then cut out eyes, nose, and a mouth for a face. Or trace and cut out the basic outline of something like a car, a house, a horse, or a bird.

You can also use magazine pages for temporary puzzles. Pull out pages with interesting pictures; faces are also very fascinating to most young children. You can take two or three pages of faces, cut them in half, mix them up and have the child sort them and match the halves together. For younger children two pieces is good to start with. If you want these to last longer you can laminate them or past them to thicker pieces of cardboard. When the older girls were younger I occasionally glued magazine pictures to a piece of cardboard that came in packages of nylon stockings and then cut that out into puzzles.