Stimulate Your Cat With the KittyLand Puzzle Center

Intro: Stimulate Your Cat With the KittyLand Puzzle Center

Haven't you always wondered what your cat does at home all day when you go to work? Most likely your cat is like mine, sits around and does ABSOLUTELY nothing of value. Wouldn't it be great if you could stimulate them to hone their hunting and puzzle-solving skills?  Now you can!! 

This instructable illustrates how to make your own interactive puzzle for your cat. 

I call it the KittyLand Puzzle Center

STEP 1: Materials

Materials you will need:

Fabric: old T-shirts work well, you'll need enough for approx. 1700sq inches. Cut out into approx 4in x 4in squares.  You will need 108.
Corrugated plastic board (24in x 18in)
108 Magnets (the stronger and thinner the better)
108 Washers

Ruler, marker, scissors, exacto-knife, sewing machine, hot glue gun, something small and round

STEP 2: Getting Square

Mark off on the plastic board 2.5in x 2.5in squares with a ruler and marker.  I did this by measuring points and connecting them with a line segment.  Once you've marked off the entire board, cut out the squares using a ruler and exacto-knife.  Do this on a hard surface that you don't mind getting scratched up.  

Draw circles of various sizes onto the squares and carefully cutout using scissors or an exacto-knife. You can leave some without circles to act as a bottom to your cube.

Insert magnets into opposite corners of the plastic square by wedging them into the corrugated portion of the plastic squares. Make sure the magnets have opposite poles out; i.e., one positive, one negative. Hot glue the washers onto the open corners.

STEP 3: Assembling the Sides

You should have two pieces of fabric per plastic square.  Lay a piece of plastic between two pieces of fabric and pin the two sides together. Make sure the washers are facing to the outside of the cube. Sew the two pieces of fabric together along the edges of the plastic board. Try to sew the fabric as close as possible to the plastic insert. A zipper foot works well for this.

Once you have completely sewn the perimeter of the insert, carefully sew around the hole.

STEP 4: Assembling the Sides 2

Next, move on to an adjacent wall of the cube. 
Take two pieces of fabric and lay them on top of the previously constructed wall (Picture 2).
Sew along one side as close to the edge of the plastic of the previously constructed wall (Picture 3). Fold back these two fabric pieces at the seam; away from the previously constructed wall (Picture 4). Now insert another plastic square between the two pieces of fabric (Picture 4). Sew this wall as before trying to stay as close to the edge of the plastic insert as possible.
Then sew around the edge of the hole.

You'll need to do this 4 more times to make a cross (see picture).

You'll need to make this cross 8 more times for a total of 9 cubes. You can now cut out the excess fabric  covering the holes.

STEP 5: Assembling the Cubes

Now the tricky bit.
Fold the cube together one wall at a time, hand stitching the walls together.
You can also use hot glue to adhere the sides together.
Do this for all 9 cubes.

STEP 6: Assemble, Add Toys & Treats

Decorate the cubes as you like and assemble your puzzle center as you see fit.
Use excess fabric to make some catnip-laced toys.
Place these toys into the cubes and let your cat fish them out.

Change up the puzzle every so often to keep it fun, interesting, and challenging!

STEP 7: PLAYTIME!

Guaranteed to increase your cat's playfulness by a factor of 9.
You can also make a larger version to hold your dog's pull toys (coming soon!)

Comments

[jjjllybean]

I love this!!! It's very pretty too. I don't really feel like cutting all that cardboard for squares so I'm just going to use a few small boxes I have that are all the same size and cut holes in them.

[shema1999]

This is fantastic! love it!

[MomLovesElectro]

you should get this patented....for realsies!

[pjackson23]

seconded.

[TristaGee]

Thirded. I would buy this and I don't even have a cat!
But I feel like my hedgehog would LOVE climbing around all the holes and hiding out. Great job!

[the dashing hero]

(not talking about sonic... NOT TALKING ABOUT SONIC OK!!!) hedgehogs are cool!!

[Beanie10]

thanks for the compliments and hopefully, votes. patenting is expensive, no?

[The nerdling]

or at least copyright it :)

[carriedavid1995]

Ferrets would love it

[EcoJym]

Can you explain why the washers are necessary? Thanks.

[Uptonb]

Good luck on the Pets Challenge.

[holywoddy]

nice! hope you win!

[Beanie10]

Thanks! Me too!

[beeingdana]

I want to make this large enough and sturdy enough that my cats can actually crawl through and play in it. You could make it match your house decor and be able to arrange it in different and unique ways. This would also help keep things new and interesting for your cats! Thanks for the posting. Great idea!

[Beanie10]

the corrugated plastic board is definitely sturdy though i would double up so the cats could sit on top if they wanted. also, i think wrapping the plastic board with shopping bags or some sort of plastic "stuffing" would add a nice crinkly factor that cats seem to love.
thanks for your compliment and let me know if you make one!

[DISTRKSHUN]

nice simple idea and well executed, i'd say.
your video is ridiculous as well.
stuff like this instructable is why i like instructables. nice effort. i really hope you win!

[winterwindarts]

You could just have all the seam allowances on the outside of the cubes and then trim them to about 1/4" or so...possibly fringing them (not too long or it might interfere with the magnets). It would make construction easier, especially when you get to the point of making them 3D. That way you have the option to do all the stitching by machine and the seam allowances add a decorative detail that some cats would love to play with.

Great 'ible and one that I will definitely be making in the near future. I have one cat that is an idiot and one that is a genius so it would be really amusing to watch them with this.

[CaseyCase]

That's really an awesome idea--nice!

[cduggan1]

OOH, you lost me at sewing machine. I think I'll try something different. Maybe I can Modge Podge it.

[Beanie10]

You can easily make it by gluing everything together, even the fabric on top. A hot glue gun works great because it dries so quickly.