A Child's Puzzle Mat

RATED: 4 For Difficulty

This adorable puzzle mat is great for your child's infant, toddler, or child fashion doll.  Made of 2 millimeters of foam its an adorable addition, though is probably for an older child or collector, as the foam can be damaged with dings.

The most difficult part about making this mat is getting the pieces to fit "just right," it takes patience and time to get it down, otherwise its simply cutting it out.  Because of that difficulty I rate it a 4 (because it takes time and can be tedious and should be close to exact).

The foam is available at JoAnn's for $1.49 per sheet of glittery 2 millimeter foam.  (There is also sticker backed foam available if you want it permanently attached to the floor - my daughter loves puzzles so I chose not to do that.)

You will need:

Scissors

An X-Acto Knife

A Pen

2-4 mm Foam sheets

Patience and Time

1) Its easiest to start with a corner piece and simply draw a puzzle out and then cut it out (I found scissors easier than the X-Acto knife.) .

2) Once you have the finished piece cut out set it aside and using the full sheet minus the piece trace (very snugly) one edge of the puzzle on the back of the puzzle sheet (make sure flat edges line up.)  *Note: Make sure that you're putting the sheet front side to back side (glitter to dull) or your puzzle will not fit together properly (some pieces will be facing backwards if you do it wrong.)

3) If you are "diagonally matching colors" as I did (notice the blue bordered by 2 pinks in the bottom right corner) then go ahead and trace the opposite side as well.  Then proceed to draw a new puzzle piece from there.

4) To cut it make sure you are cutting it on the outside edge of the puzzle (see the photograph above).  Leave yourself a little space even to trim later for a snug fit.  If you used the puzzle piece to trace you will have to cut inside the lines.

5) Ensure the fit is snug.  If they are too big then using the X-Acto knife shave them off.  If they are too small then you have 2 options.  One say "Oh well" and continue on, two re-cut a slightly bigger piece.