Elephant Puzzle for Kids

A cut-and-place number puzzle starring a smiling baby elephant. The picture at the top is divided into sixteen numbered pieces: the elephant holds a yellow star in its trunk, wears a striped scarf and sits in a toy room with a teddy bear, alphabet blocks and a stacking-ring toy. Below it is a grid of sixteen boxes of black dots, starting with a single dot.

Cut out the picture pieces, count the dots in each box and place the piece with the matching number on top. It practices counting, number recognition and matching, with some scissor practice too, and suits preschool and kindergarten.

The Tortoise Puzzle uses the same dot-counting idea with a different picture. For printed numerals instead of dots, try the Giraffe Puzzle.