Foamies USA Map Puzzle

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

• Scissors
• Pattern templates
• Large sheet of Foamies®, minimum 20"x 30"
• Multiple color Foamies® sheets
• Pencil
• Glue sticks
• X-Acto® knife and extra blades
• 1 Metal straight-edge ruler
• Black Sharpie® paint marker
• 1 Sheet of black foamcore 30"x 40"
• Tombow glue with the green cap
• 1 Roll of white Foamies®
• 1 Roll of black Foamies®
• 1 Roll of clear tape
• Cricut® machine
• 1 Roll of white premium adhesive vinyl
• 1 Roll of transfer tack
• Quick Grip™ glue for embellishments
• Embellishments

DIRECTIONS:

1. To print the patterns, click on the "Download Project PDF" button (above).
2. Tape together the pattern templates to create a large map of the United States.
3. Trace the map onto a large sheet of Foamies®.
4. Use an X-Acto® knife to cut out each state individually.
5. Use a glue stick to glue a colorful piece of Foamies® onto each state, making sure that the same color is not used directly next one another.
6. Trim away the extra portions of the colorful pieces.
7. Piece together the puzzle.
8. While piecing together the puzzle, tape them on the backside to make one complete map. Set aside.
9. From the rolls of black and white Foamies® cut 1"x 30" strips with your X-Acto® knife, using a cutting surface and metal ruler. You will need 20 of each color.
10. Lay down a piece of the large white roll of Foamies® that is 30"x 40" on a flat working surface. On top of the white sheet, using the Tombow glue, glue the 1" strips, starting at the bottom with a black strip. Alternate gluing each strip down to the large white Foamies® sheet to create a pattern of black and white. Completely fill the large sheet to be 40" tall with stripes.
11. Lay the taped map on top of the 2 layered striped Foamies® sheet.
12. Center the map and trace the entire map with a pencil onto the striped sheet.
13. Using an X-Acto® knife and your scissors, cut out the outline of the map.
14. Take the black Sharpie® marker and color the inside edge of the map outline to eliminate the striped effect.
15. Lay the cutout outline onto the foam core board and trace the outline with a pencil. This will be your “glue-to, but not pass line" to the inside of the outline drawing.
16. Glue the outline map to the foam-core board starting at the bottom of the board and up to the outline of the map. Press firmly but do not push the top Foamies® outline because you don't want to stretch the outline. As you are gluing down the outline, place the map in the outline to help keep the outline from stretching.
17. To make abbreviations for the states, create them on your Cricut® machine. Find a fun kid-friendly font.
18. Use the transfer tack when adding the letters onto the states. Once you pull off the backer paper exposing the sticky part of the letters, put a small dotted line of Tombow glue on the sticky part of the letters to ensure that the letters won't peel off the states later.
19. If you choose to add embellishments use the Quick Grip™ glue for the bigger items, but if it is a sticker or paper item, use the Tombow glue.

JOANN Hacks:

• Glue sticks work well to glue the Foamies® sheets together, but other glues may be used as well. Tombow glue works great to attach stickers and the letters to the states.
• Write the name of each state on the back of the piece to quickly identify the state.
• Change the point size of the font on the letters to match the size of the states. RI- would be very small while TX would be pretty large.
• When gluing the outline to the foam-core board, you can lay heavier books on the part that you have finished gluing to help keep it flat while drying and help prevent the Foamies® form sliding.