DIY Puzzle Cube - Using Balsa Wood

DIY Puzzle Cube
Puzzles and games have always been a thing in our house. Canasta , scrabble, words with friends, connect four, Cranium, Tripoli, Cribbage, memory , Pictionary… Although no one will play with my sister and I because we’re kind of awesome and perhaps a tad obnoxious and a lot competitive! I’ll play any game that does not involve singing, and that is only because I would big time lose, and what fun is that! (humdingers in Cranium are as close to singing as I’ll get, and still there is an 80% chance I either will not know the song or have no idea how to hum the tune!) My youngest brother, Steven, taught himself the Rubicks cube a few years ago (with the help of youtube videos ), and I know he would enjoy this easy homemade gift…

Here’s what you need:

• wood glue
• q-tips
• paint
• wooden cubes

The best dea lon craft cubes I’ve found is at Hobby Lobby. Each pack has 72 individual cubes, each 3×3 cube needs 27 individual cubes. (insert nerd voice) According to my calculations, if you bought 3 packs (72 x 3= 216 and 216/27=8) you could make 8 cubes! A few more calculations tell us that each 3 x 3 cube costs only $1.12 a piece to make.

Here’s what I did to make my cube puzzle…

Let me explain:

• Step 1: Count out 27 cubes
• Step 2: Build your 3×3 cube so you have something visual to work with…
• Step 3: Use a q-tip to carefully start gluing your cubes together. It gets kind of tricky.
• Step 4: A few times I glued only 2 cubes together so I could keep the 3×3 cube shape, and better see what I’m working with.
  

Here are my 5 puzzle pieces (picture them not yet painted)…

Now, it’s time to paint… I picked an Americano theme only because those are the Plaid paints I had on hand
I don’t suggest painting with q-tips… I tried since the Q-tips were out and I didn’t want to dirty a paint brush… trust me on this one, it’s not worth it
Not to mention why I tried to paint and glue on a magazine, another dumb move… I culd have at least opened the magazine up for more surface area!

I used sand paper after the cubes dried because a few pieces were clumpy. I like how it turned out. Take a few pictures like the ones below so that you can remember how the pieces go back together!

I think it might also be fun to give someone all the materials to make this little craft! Are you a puzzle person? Do you think someone in your life would enjoy this toy? I think this would make a great stocking stuffer too.