Every time I see my kids’ big container of 11,000 Perler beads sitting on the shelf, I keep thinking that there must be something useful I could make with them. But it also has to look cool and not like I’m looking for an excuse to use these beads (ha!) — so that rules out coasters, bowls, and Christmas ornaments. When I saw these Tetris magnets the other day, I had an “aha!” moment.
So I combined my love of puzzles with my love of crafting and made a functional pentominoes puzzle out of these colorful little melty beads.
Pentominoes look a lot like Tetris shapes, but each piece is made from five squares, rather than four. The pieces of the puzzle are the twelve shapes that can be made by joining five squares together. If you’re making your own, these are the twelve puzzle pieces you will need to make.
The finished size of the puzzle is 2.5×4″, and requires 240 melty beads. I made each square out of four beads, but if you or your child finds that the small pieces are too difficult to work with, you could make larger pieces with nine beads per square. This would use 540 beads and would take much longer to make. You would also need a larger bead tray in order to create the long straight piece. (The standard square tray is 14 pegs long.)
According to this site, the 6×10-square pentominoes puzzle has 2,339 solutions, but coming up with just one of those solutions might be more challenging than you’d expect!
To keep my puzzle to the 6×10 shape, I made a little foam core box for it. I used 3/16″ foam core, which just so happens to be the same depth as the puzzle pieces.
I attached the sides of the tray with craft glue, and then attached the lid to the tray with a couple layers of clear packing tape.
When I was a kid, we had a version of this game called Hexed, and my mom was wise enough to draw off the solution before we took it out of the box the first time. If we couldn’t solve the puzzle, we could always just pull out the solution so we could fit the puzzle back in the box.
I printed off a picture of the completed puzzle and slipped it into a paper sleeve that I glued to the lid of the box. Of course, this is just one of many possible solutions, but it guarantees that my kids will be able to put the puzzle away properly!
Here’s one solution to the puzzle, but there are 2,338 more!
If you make your own pentominoes game, I’d love to see it! Either leave a comment with a link, or send me an email.
And if you want to play but don’t want to create your own game, you can either buy a set (just google “pentominoes”) or play online. Have fun!
Hi! I'm Rachel, and I'm so glad you're here. I make creative projects and intentional choices to create a life I love -- and I hope to inspire you to do the same! 
thanks rachel!!! we have these beads . . . xmas gifts . . . and this this is something i could justify using them for!! will let you know how our creation turns out!
Well, I made my own! Very fun. Although a bunch of my pieces have been falling apart on me. Maybe I need to melt them a bit more? Also, I glued magnets onto the backs of them, but now I fear I’ve limited the possible outcomes, as they are now no longer reversible. Thoughts?
Sarah
I love that you made a set with magnets! So smart! I’m sure there are still tons of possible solutions, even without being able to flip over the pieces. You could try melting your pieces a bit more, but you don’t want to smoosh them so much that they won’t fit into the U-shaped piece (or is it C-shaped?). That’s the one that becomes a problem when you’re using melty beads!
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I would like to make a set but need the pattern . Do you have them
Hi Anna — there are a couple pictures in this post that show all of the pieces for the puzzle. That’s the only “pattern” I’m able to provide.
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Really great idea to use these beads for this!
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how do you melt the beads so they stick together but still hold the bead form and not go flat and not break when using them?
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Awesome idea! Can’t wait to make it! What are the measurements for the foam core pieces?
Maliya
Would it be possible to use a bead out side instead of a foam core?
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