DIY Montessori Chunky Puzzle

This lasercut chunky puzzle is great for young toddlers starting at about 18 months. It can be made for any theme!

Chunky puzzles are great for developing fine motor skills for young toddlers and can also help develop vocabulary. I made this bird puzzle to teach the names of the birds we would frequently see on our walks along the Mississippi River. However, this can be made for any theme. It should use photographs or realistic illustrations to be Montessori-aligned.

My puzzle is made from 1/8" Baltic Birch. Two layers are used to form the puzzle and two layers for each bird. I etched a leaf design on the front for interest, but that’s not necessary (it does add a LOT of time to the cut, so I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re able to stick around). The images are printed on regular printer paper, carefully cut out, and then attached to the wood with Matte Mod Podge. My bird puzzle is available as a ready-to-cut svg, with **one file representing the base and [one file representing the birds and images](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qhluaoe1rl4g1cdyijn66/bird-puzzle-images.svg?rlkey=boxa0faak55iedl3latnsq9ly&dl=0)** (the birds and images are on separate layers, so you can hide the image layer while laser cutting).

However, the real fun of this idea is making your own version of the puzzle to capitalize on your kid’s interests. You can even make it featuring family members or pets! Here are the steps in Inkscape or a similar program:

1. Import images you would like to use and resize to be the size you want for the puzzle pieces
2. Create a new layer and use the pencil tool with high smoothing (I used 50, but experiment to see what works for you) to outline a tad outside each object, creating a simplified shape
3. Create two copies of the shape you’d like to use for the base (e.g., the bird puzzle uses a rounded rectangle); optionally, add a pattern or image to etch on the top piece
4. Position the puzzle shapes within one base shape (be careful not to change size unless you also change the size of the underlying image)
5. Laser cut the base bottom (the blank one), the base top (the one with the shapes), and an extra set of just the puzzle shapes
6. Glue together the base and glue together the puzzle pieces
7. Give everything a good sanding if you like
8. Print two copies of each image from the first layer and carefully cut around each object so that no background is visible
9. Use Matte Mod Podge to attach the images inside each puzzle cutout on top of each puzzle shape

Some really cool ideas would be construction vehicles, fruits or veggies, aquarium fish, pets, and tools.