1-2-3 Puzzle

This 1-2-3 Puzzle challenges you to arrange the four pieces to create each of the digits 1, 2, and 3. Pieces can be rotated, but they cannot be flipped or overlapped.

Source of Puzzle

This puzzle is an adaptation of the 1-2-3 Transforming Puzzle in Serhiy Grabarchuk’s The Simple Book of Not-So-Simple Puzzles.

Any puzzle book from the Grabarchuk family is a winner! I have used so many of their brilliantly designed puzzles with my students over the past six years.

In Serhiy’s original puzzle, the puzzler is provided with the diagrams of the digits 1, 2, and 3 and asked to divide each number into four shapes which can be rearranged to form the other two numbers.

This seemed a bit challenging for my students, so I decided to change the puzzle up and give my students the four pieces and challenge them to recreate the numbers 1, 2, and 3 using the given pieces.

Puzzle Instructions

Arrange the four pieces to create each of the digits 1, 2, and 3 as drawn on the puzzle board. The pieces can be rotated, but they cannot be flipped or overlapped.

I printed my puzzle pieces with a dark outline so the puzzler can tell which side of the puzzle piece should be facing up.

Using the Puzzle in the Classroom

Since I wanted to use this puzzle as my Puzzle of the Week, I added ceramic disc magnets to the back of each of the four pieces. These magnets are strong enough that they will stick to the whiteboard even when placed on top of the 1-2-3 Puzzle board when printed on 11 x 17 cardstock.

I hung the puzzle board on my dry erase board using magnetic clips.

This puzzle is SUBSTANTIALLY easier than many of the puzzles that I have used with students in the past. But I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.

It’s been fun this week to watch students tackle the puzzle a digit at a time. Often a student will solve the one puzzle and leave the solution on the board.

Along will come a different student who will solve the two puzzle. As the day progressed, I was able to watch the puzzle pieces dance across the puzzle board.

I did really like this aspect of the puzzle in that if a student left the puzzle partially solved, it did not discourage students later in the day from tackling the puzzle like sometimes happens.

If you are worried that this puzzle might be TOO easy for students, you could make it a competition to see how long it takes students to solve all three puzzles.