Puzzle fun!

Friday's Grand Connection Fun
by Mary May Larmoyeux

Two of the grands were at the house last night and they had a great time putting a package of School Zone puzzle cards together to make three-letter words. For example: the entire picture of a dog was on three 4x6 cards (the ears and head were on one card: D; his stomach on another: O; and the third card had his tail: G).

From a stack of cards, the kids had to find the three cards that formed the picture of the dog and put them together. Then the older grandchild spelled the word by looking at the letters.

It would be so easy to make our own sets of puzzle cards. We could do this by printing pictures on cardstock and cutting each picture into pieces. If we wanted to make easy three-word puzzles for the young crowd, we could print a picture (example, family dog) on cardstock, cut it in thirds, and put the individual letters of a word on the separate pieces.

We could make larger printed pictures (on cardstock) for the older crowd, and cut them into many pieces.

Here are some more puzzle ideas. The website Discovery Education has a neat puzzle-making program! In a few minutes we can make a maze, word search, hidden message puzzle, and more. I want to bookmark this site. Wouldn't it be great to mail special, custom-designed puzzles to the long-distance grandkids!

Do you work puzzles with your grands or have special childhood memories of putting puzzles together?

Have fun,
Mary
www.marymaywrites.com

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© 2009 by Mary May Larmoyeux. All rights reserved.

Getting Grip on a Big Mess

Tuesday's Grand Connection Thought
with Mary May Larmoyeux

Last weekend Pops and I babysat for two of our grands. Well ... our granddaughter decided to go through the toy cabinet and was really excited about all that she found there. But before I knew it, she had dumped out the puzzles—I think there were about 20.

What a mess! And there was no way that she could put all of the puzzles back together without some help.

After a prayer for patience and a reminder that God can work out everything for good, I assured her that I would help. My job was to put the correct pieces with the correct puzzle. Her job was to put each puzzle together. We made a good team and eventually everything was back together, and the toy chest was neater than it had been in a long, long time.

As my little granddaughter and I worked to clean up the big mess, I thought of how my life at times seems like the pile of mismatched puzzle pieces. Sometimes I just don't know where to turn and need someone to show me the way.

I hope that our grandchildren will turn to Pops and me as they get older and need a little advice or extra hand. What a privilege it will be to help them sort the pieces of life ... to point them to the One who knows the way and has all of the answers.

How do you help your grandchild with the messes of life?

Have a great week,
Mary
Mary May Larmoyeux
www.marymaywrites.com

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© Mary May Larmoyeux. All rights reserved
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