Craft Sticks Winter Puzzle Craft to Do with Kids

In three days we went from -17 degrees F to 48 degrees F. Despite this “warm” weather after the polar vortex, we know we are no where near the end of winter. So, we are still delighted to work on more winter projects. Fairy and Pixie spent the night on Saturday, and they helped me with this project. The beauty of this project is once the craft sticks are taped together toddlers through adults will have fun. We spent a couple of hours working on puzzles, although I must admit there was a tremendous amount of tomfoolery occurring while we painted so we were exceedingly inefficient! (If you wish to see our zany side, scroll to the end of the post!) Anyway… the Craft Sticks Winter Puzzle was tons of fun. Of course, you can paint anything on your puzzles as long as you have fun doing it!

Book Corner – Books you may enjoy!

• The Mitten – by Jan Brett
• The Missing Mitten – by Steven Kellogg
• The Mitten Tree – by Candace Christiansen
• The Three Little Kittens – by Paul Galdone
• The Jacket I Wear in the Snow – by Shirley Neitzel

Craft Sticks Winter Puzzle Materials

• jumbo craft sticks – tongue depressors
• acrylic paint
• painters tape
• pencil
• paint brushes
• mitten pattern (optional)
• ceramic rose paint palette (VERY optional!!!)

Craft Sticks Winter Puzzle Directions

Go through the craft sticks. You want to find 8 straight sticks that lie tight against one another. Some sticks are curved or slightly warped. Save those for another project. Notice that most of the sticks are slightly bowed. Place them side by side so the bowed arch is on the top. Not all of the sticks have this bow. Try to get 8 sticks that are similar. When you found 8 good sticks, keep them in the same order and turn them over. From the back, use painters tape to hold them together.

You may want draw a picture before hand on a same sized piece of paper as the craft sticks, then transfer the design to the sticks. We have included the mitten pattern. If you want some other simple, check out our Applique Gallery.

You can also draw your design directly on the sticks.

Erase any extra lines before you begin to paint. Then paint your design.

I decided to leave my background the natural wood. Pixie and Fairy painted their backgrounds.

Let the paint dry completely. After the paint has dried, while the tape is still on, roll the sticks towards the back. This will pop the dried paint where two sticks are connected.

Remove the tape from the back of the sticks.

Your puzzle is now ready to put together!

This is what we choose to do with the tape we pulled off the back of puzzles! Yes, a wee bit wack-a-doodle!