How to Organize and Store Children's Puzzles

Puzzle racks are a nice looking way to keep things tidy. The puzzles slide into place so they can't be knocked off a table or shelf (giving someone the fun of picking up all the pieces). The nice clean lines of a puzzle rack also makes things look more organized in a room. 

But puzzle racks are only suitable for wooden or hard cardboard puzzles: The ones that have the hard backing board. Other types of puzzles will sag in the rack making it hard to get the puzzles out. They also won't make things look more organized. 

So puzzle racks are perfect for smaller puzzles (up to about 48 pieces) that have the firm puzzle backing board. 

If you need to organize your toddler's puzzles you will need to look for something like the Half-Size Wire Puzzle Rack. This type of puzzle rack has more space between each puzzle making it better for chunky puzzles.

Standard puzzle racks might not work for toddler puzzles. This is because the space between each puzzle in the rack is usually not enough to fit the chunky pieces. But if you want a standard puzzle rack you can try putting a puzzle in every other slot to give more room to each puzzle.

Boxed puzzle racks are also a good looking choice. These work well with most children's decor and  they look good in a child's bedroom. They even look nice enough to store puzzles in a main room like a living area.

These puzzle organizers work in the same way as the wire puzzle racks. So the tips I gave about the wire racks apply to these boxes racks too.

An easy way to keep puzzle pieces together is to put them in a plastic or mesh bag you can seal.

You can get small plastic or mesh bags that are made for craft supplies that are perfect for puzzles.

This type of puzzle organizer works well for puzzles if your child is older.

Puzzles with more than 48 pieces usually don't have a backing board. So you can't slide them into a puzzle rack. This means puzzle racks can't be used for standard puzzles which just have the pieces.

If you decide to use a bag to organize your child's puzzles remember to cut out the puzzle picture and pop it into the bag too. This will not only show your child which puzzle is in the bag, the picture will help show them how the puzzle needs to be put together. (It's hard to do a puzzle when you don't know what the finished puzzle should look like.)

You can buy bags like the two shown in different sizes at Amazon. It's a good idea to buy bags in different sizes to suit different sized puzzles. It's also best to buy clear bags so you can see what puzzle is inside without having to open the bag.

Picture: In the Galaxy 60 Piece Puzzle (available at Amazon).