The “Paper Plate” Method Is the Best Way to Do a Puzzle

Puzzles are a lovely way to pass the time when you’re stuck inside during these cold months. You can do a puzzle alone or with a group, all at once or over the course of days or weeks, while enjoying your favorite show or in total focused silence. It’s something to do with your hands, it makes you use your brain, and it doesn’t involve a phone or computer. Sounds pretty ideal to me.

Doing a puzzle isn’t always a walk in the park, though, and keeping track of all the pieces can sometimes feel like a cluttered nightmare. But as it turns out, you can make your puzzle dreams come true instead with a little help from none other than the humble paper plate.

“If you don’t like puzzles, I guarantee you will if you use this first,” declares home and fashion influencer Regan Mauck in a video that shows how useful a few paper plates can be for organizing jigsaw puzzle pieces. While that seems like a dramatic statement, I do see her point. 

The video shows her picking up a puzzle (she recommends the Galison brand, and commenters seem to agree), opening the box, and setting aside any “edge pieces” that are immediately visible. Once you have a decent pile, place a “big scoop” of random pieces onto one paper plate. Flip them all upright and set any edge pieces aside. Keep doing that until you have a complete pile of edge pieces, and all the other puzzle pieces are laying flat and upright on paper plates. 

Now, you can see every piece at once instead of having to dump them all on your table or constantly sort through a big box of pieces. Plus, the plates are easy to pass around if you’re puzzling with a group!

Many of the people commenting on Mauck’s paper plate puzzle video agree that it looks like a very helpful addition to the puzzle process, but a surprising number of people already have methods for managing their own puzzle pieces. 

“Sort onto each plate by color. One color for each plate. Total game-changer,” one commenter wrote. Several people said they use cafeteria trays instead of paper plates to organize their puzzle pieces, while others sing the praises of cookie sheets. “They are sturdy and stack easily,” writes gail.ladd2018. A few puzzle connoisseurs even purchased dedicated puzzle piece sorters! But if you want something simpler, softer, and more disposable, you can’t go wrong with a few paper plates.