Jigsaw Puzzle Storage Ideas

Jigsaw puzzle storage is something you have to think seriously even before your first child starts a collection of jigsaw puzzle. Otherwise, down the line you and your child will almost certainly end up with missing pieces. Not to mention the potential of having these pieces scattered everywhere.

Here we give you tips and advice on storing and organizing both wooden jigsaw puzzle and cardboard jigsaw puzzle. Scroll down, or choose from one of the menu below:

Peg or knob puzzle storage using puzzle storage box or case
Wooden puzzle storage - the cheap way
Cardboard puzzle storage tips
Tips for storing unfinished or finished cardboard jigsaw puzzle
Tips for avoiding the mess while playing with jigsaw puzzles

Therefore, we recommend you to buy a puzzle storage case or puzzle storage box for storing this type of wooden puzzle.

A puzzle storage case is like a box with several rows of racks in it. There is enough clearance between the rack to allow sufficient room for knob or peg puzzles. We think that puzzle storage case or puzzle storage box is an ideal system for wooden jigsaw puzzle storage. When it comes to play time, it is easy to take the wooden puzzle out of the puzzle storage case and when the play is over, it is equally easy for you or your child to slide the knob or peg puzzles back into the case. This system is so easy to use that even a young toddler can be taught to do it.

These puzzle storage box usually comes with enough racks to store 12 peg puzzles. Melissa and Doug makes one of these puzzle storage box and their box fits wooden peg puzzles perfectly. (*NOTE*: It won't fit bigger knob puzzles, like the ones made by Camera, Light, Interaction because the clearance between the rack is too narrow). This rack is available here. However, if you have big knob puzzles, you have to get a special kind of case because their sizes are different from those of the ordinary peg puzzles. You can have a look at these two products which are designed to supposedly hold knob puzzles:

• Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wire Puzzle Rack, or
• Kaplan Knob Puzzle Case

Cheap ways of storing wooden peg puzzles.

If you don't mind separating the jigsaw puzzle board from the pieces, here is the cheap way of storing and organizing wooden jigsaw puzzles with or without knobs:

First, tackle the jigsaw puzzle pieces first. Get a big sturdy bag and put all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle into the bag. Label the bag, for instance: dog puzzle, with a permanent marker. Alternatively, you can label the bag using a numbering system, for instance: puzzle no.1.

Second, label the jigsaw puzzle board. Label the board exacly the same as you would label the component bag. Therefore, if you label the bag using a numbering system (e.g. puzzle no.1) then label the puzzle board the same way.

Once you finish these, you have two choices on how you want to proceed on storing those items:

First, drawer system . Get a chest of drawers and put all the board of the jigsaw puzzles in a drawer . Get smaller containers or bins and place the ziploc bags containing jigsaw pieces in there. Then put the containers into the drawer. Label the drawer with picture and in writing.

Second, shelf system Get a shelf and a small container. Put all the jigsaw puzzle board on the shelf side by side like you would have done for storing books. Place the jigsaw puzzle board with the long side facing the bottom of the shelf. Alternatively, you can make a stack of jigsaw puzzle board on the shelf or put the jigsaw puzzle board in a big container and then place the big container on a shelf. Next, put the bags containing small jigsaw puzzle pieces in a small container and put this container on the shelf. Label each container with picture and in writing.

We think that this jigsaw puzzle storage system is cheap, space-efficient , and it minimizes the accidental spillage of jigsaw puzzle pieces. However, since this system is rather complicated for young children you may have to help young toddler to get the matching pieces and board out for playing and help him with putting the puzzles away.

Tips for cardboard jigsaw puzzle storage.

For cardboard jigsaw puzzle storage, we recommend you to store the jigsaw puzzle pieces without the original box because storing them with the boxes poses several problems:

• Box can get damaged over time even after reinforcing each corner with a tape.
• Storing in a box takes a lot of space since each box takes up more storage space than the component inside it.
• Possibility of spillage when the box is accidently dropped

Therefore, we recommend you to store jigsaw puzzle pieces without the original boxes as follows:

• Put the small pieces into a ziploc bag. Don't forget to cut part of the puzzle box which contains the puzzle picture and put that in the bag for a reminder on how the puzzle should look like.
• Put the bag in a container or a drawer.

However, if you still want to store jigsaw puzzle with the original box, you can do these followings to minimize the problems described above:

• Put all the small pieces of the cardboard jigsaw puzzle in a bag before putting them into the jigsaw puzzle box to eliminate an accidental spillage nightmare.
• Store the puzzle box side by side on the shelf with the longest side touching the bottom of the shelf. This way, you increase the durability of the box and make the jigsaw puzzle box more easily accessible. Do not to stack them since the one located at the bottom of the pile will be damaged from bearing the weight of other boxes. Furthermore it is more difficult to pull out the jigsaw puzzle stored in this way.

Tips for storing unfinished or finished cardboard jigsaw puzzles.

After putting in hours on finishing a cardboard jigsaw puzzle, you might want to store the finished product for showing off. In this case, you can get a puzzle storage box which can hold up to 10 finished cardboard jigsaw puzzle with these following sizes: 500 pieces jigsaw puzzle, and jigsaw puzzle of 1,000 pieces.

Sometimes we do not finish the cardboard jigsaw puzzle in one session. To store the unfinished jigsaw puzzle, we recommend you to get jigsaw puzzle storage mats or carrier.

With jigsaw puzzle storage mat, you can assemble the puzzle pieces on the mat until you decide to finish with them. You can then roll up the jigsaw puzzle storage mat which has the incomplete cardboard jigsaw puzzle in it, put it in a tube and it is ready for storage. Next time you or your child want to continue with the jigsaw puzzle, just un-roll the jigsaw puzzle storage mats.

Although these mats are cheap, there are disadvantages. First, some of the jigsaw puzzle mats are reported to have creases on the mat which can make arranging puzzles difficult, especially at the beginning stage. Second, the jigsaw pieces may not stay there properly during the roll or unrolling process.

Having said that, we find that jigsaw mat is absolutely the cheapest way to store and transport unfinished puzzle. You can have a look at the best one (creases-free and has a velvety coating which helps to keep the jisaw pieces in its place) we can find for this category here.

Another system which you can use as a unfinished jigsaw puzzle storage is by using a jigsaw carrier. This jigsaw puzzle storage system does not require you to roll the jigsaw pieces. We recommend you to get 'Puzzle Packer'. It consists of a very thin box with velvety cloth on it where you can assemble your jigsaw pieces on. To avoid scattering of jigsaw pieces on the table, you can extend the box so that you can put the unassembled jigsaw pieces on it. When you want to finish your jigsaw assembling session, just put everything on it, transport it somewhere (you can transport it sideways, upside down, etc) and you'll find your pieces stay wherever they were. It is undoubtedly a very good system to have and can be found here . (To see the product demo, Click here and scroll down to the bottom ).

If you're a puzzle-addict, we recommend you to invest on a jigsaw puzzle storage system like we recommend above. With this system, it is easy to transport the unfinished cardboard puzzle from one area to another. This way, you will always have the dinner table available for .... dinner !

Tips for avoiding the scattering of jigsaw puzzle pieces.

Jigsaw puzzle pieces can be one of the main source of mess in the house. To avoid the mess, apply this rule in your household:

• One set of jigsaw puzzle at one time. This means that one set of jigsaw puzzle has to be cleared up before the kid pulls out the next one. This will avoid the mixing of various set and will prevent the pieces from scattering all around the house.
• Do not allow your children to carry around pieces of jigsaw puzzle in the house. Try to contain the mess in one designated place.
• Put a piece of fabric underneath the 'jigsaw puzzle play area' when your family is working with a lot of very small puzzle from cardboard puzzle, or better, use the jigsaw puzzle storage mat. This way, it is easy to clean up when the activity finishes.

Happy playing, and hopefully, no more lost puzzle pieces ... (and no more mess) !

Links to other toy storage tips:

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• child toy chests
• toy shelf
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• Toy storage bins buying tips

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• Creative kid's toy storage for big toys organization: ball, big cars, and more
• Suggestion for lego storage and storing building blocks
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Go to toy storage tips main page

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