A few days ago I wrote about a homemade block puzzle that seemed to resonate with readers. So I thought today I'd share our favorite storebought puzzle, and a whole series of them made by the same company. Like block puzzles, these introduce a level of complexity to puzzle-making beyond simply adding more pieces and making them smaller.

Belgian educational toy company Beleduc (get it? Bel-educ?) has a series of cleverly-designed multi-layered puzzles, by which we mean they are actually a sequence of puzzles completed from the bottom up, with pieces fitting only in their layer. This intriguing idea allows them to demonstrate a variety of concepts:


Stages of development: Their Frog Life-Cycle Puzzle shows the transition from a tadpole into a frog. The base shows a cluster of eggs, and each multi-piece layer illustrates a stage of the amphibian's development. They do the same with the caterpillar-to-butterfly transformation.


Periods of a cycle: The four seasons are also presented in a "forced sequence," with puzzle layers completed in order that reinforce their chronological order. The only thing missing from this demonstration is that the first follows the fourth - layers cannot really represent a true cycle as well as some other toys might. Also, there seems to be at least a partial missed opportunity in not allowing parts of layers to be interchangeable in this particular puzzle - I'm sure Z would get a kick out of being able to show kids in summer gear in the dead of winter.

But our favorite of these puzzles, and the only one we've actually used, is the one we bought Z for Christmas.


Layers are, in order of depth, clothes, skin, muscles, and organs, with the skeleton printed on the bottom layer. All we could have asked for is a circulatory/nerve layer and a bit better differentiation between the girl's head in the "skin" and "clothed" layers.


The puzzle comes in a boy and a girl version, each a bargain at $20 on Amazon.com. It is one of the best Christmas gifts we bought her, and has sparked innumerable conversations about how her body works.

This post from the ZRecs Archives was originally posted on February 27, 2008.

Block puzzles are an easy homemade toy young children will enjoy. Since block puzzles typically have few pieces but all pieces have six sides, the toy has two levels of complexity that can help early learners develop visual and critical thinking skills. For young kids or novices, turn the blocks so that six faces to the same image are showing, and then watch your child fit them together. Older kids can interact with the puzzle three-dimensionally, choosing the right six pieces from 36 options and fitting them together.

Here's what you'll need:

• Wooden craft blocks. Available at most craft stores, we bought a bag of a dozen or so 1" blocks for under $2.


• Six pictures you'd like to use. Think about consistency of theme but also how different they are from each other. Dominant colors are particularly important; if they are too similar, young children may have difficulty determining which side of each cube relates to which picture, but the added challenge will keep older children engaged.


• Mod Podge decoupaging varnish-glue-sealant, and a paintbrush. If you can't find it locally, try Amazon.com.


• An Xacto blade and cutting surface or scissors and a pen.


• A ruler.


• A piece of white paper or card stock: To create a frame for composing and cutting out your puzzle images.

I got three of my pictures from the single image shown above, taken from a beat-up, drawn-in copy of Danny Kaye's Around the World Story Book, and the other three from elsewhere in the same book.

Add up the dimensions of your craft blocks to determine the size of your completed puzzle, and cut a window in the paper or card stock to make a frame to compose your final images. This is the easiest way to get the right dimensions at the best position in a larger picture.

While you have your ruler out, mark your block edges along the edge of your frame - the long side in thirds and the short side in half, along all four edges - based on the size of your blocks.

Frame up an image in a way that pleases you. Make a very small notch or pen mark at your block edge markings all the way around, and cut the full image out with your Xacto blade, or draw the border with your pen and cut out. Then cut out the individual block pieces based on the notches or markings you made along the edges, using a ruler and Xacto blade or folding and then using your scissors. Repeat with five more pictures, keeping each puzzle set separate.

Brush the backs of a set of images with Mod Podge and affix them to one face of each block. Repeat with the other five image sets. Gently wipe away any excess Mod Podge and let dry.

Brush the surfaces of all six sides of each block with more Mod Podge and let dry in two stages (unless you can figure out a way to let all six sides dry at once). You might even do an extra layer, to make sure the edges of the pictures don't fray later.

I'm thinking our next project along these lines will be based on photographs of people Z knows.