puzzle with family name written on it and photos in the background

4 Things You Never Thought to do with a Puzzle

Detective work is just like solving a family history puzzle, and your kids get to actually create one with an activity kit! Kids can illustrate their favorite family story or memory on the puzzle in their activity kit, and the fun doesn’t stop there…here are four ways you can keep the fun alive and continue connecting with your family.

Mail Your Family History Puzzle

But maybe not all of it. Mail half of your puzzle to someone else and include a secret meeting location. At the designated place and time, you can meet up to assemble it together. This would be really fun for kids to do with a cousin, and then they could share a story about their puzzle design while enjoying a treat together. You can repeat this as many times as you want!

Write on the back of it

On the back of your family history puzzle, your child can write the story about the puzzle design. Your kids could then pass it along to another family member, and when they decode the message they can share their favorite family memory or story. You could even mail it to a family member and ask them to find the secret message on the back. Then they can mail the puzzle back to your kids with their favorite family story or memory.
Puzzle with Envelope

Name It

Don’t worry, I’m not a crazy person asking you to give your puzzle a name. But if you write the name of an ancestor on each puzzle piece you can teach a powerful object lesson for family home evening. You can show your kids that we are wonderful as individuals, but we are each a small piece of something much bigger that is unique and special. If even one piece is missing from the puzzle, it’s not complete and loses some of its beauty…just like families. Each person in your family is special and needed.
scattered puzzle pieces with family names written on them

Play Hide and seek

Divide your child’s family history puzzle into fourths, placing each section in a bag. Then hide the bags in a room, and play the hot and cold game until the kids find it all. Now the kids have a puzzle to piece together! The DIY puzzles in our Detective Kits have “rows” so it’s super easy to divide it into four sections.
 
You could even use this activity as a Family Home Evening lesson. Your kids will remember that finding their ancestors can be fun, and when they put all the pieces together it creates a beautiful picture! 
 
You can get your puzzle in an activity kit, and if you have more than one child you can easily add a puzzle (and an invisible ink pen) for each kid in the family so you don’t have to purchase additional kits. Happy memory making! 
Blank DIY Puzzle with an invisible ink pen
Puzzle with name on it, photos in background
puzzle pieces next to envelope
puzzle piece with a name written on it and photos in the background