My main project over the last month or so has been to make a peg puzzle for my niece’s first birthday. I was able to celebrate her birthday with her at my brother and sister-in-law’s house yesterday, and give her the newly-made puzzle.

First, after tracing the shapes I wanted on a thin sheet of wood, I drilled a small insert hole at different points of each shape for a scroll saw blade to fit through. Once I got the blade through, I could cut out each shape, leaving me this:

Then, I glued that onto another piece of wood of equal thickness.

I had to re-cut the inside pieces since the pieces I originally cut out had drill holes on the sides of them. I then painted each piece and also painted a scene on the main board.

Finally, I found some little wooden pegs at a craft store and glued them to the Michigan/animal pieces. I had to saw off the end of each peg because they were a little long, but they worked really well otherwise. Here’s the finished product:

Happy birthday, Madeline!

Trevor