Little Ones and Big Ones Puzzle

This Little Ones and Big Ones Puzzle was a huge hit with my students last semester. I appreciate the simplicity of this puzzle. Even though there are only four different puzzle pieces, this is actually four different puzzles in one!

Select any of the four shapes (say, the rectangle). Try to fit your four pieces together to make this shape, but twice as large. The pieces may be flipped over but not overlapped. Do this for each of the four shapes.

I discovered this Little Ones and Big Ones Puzzle (called Little-Uns and Big-Uns) in a 1971 puzzle book called Nut-Crackers: Puzzles and Games to Boggle the Mind by John Jaworski.

I wanted to make a magnetic version of the puzzle for my students to manipulate, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to do it since the puzzle pieces were allowed to be flipped over.

I ended up printing the four pieces and their mirror images so I could place a disc magnet in between the two layers.

MATH = LOVE RECOMMENDS…

A laminator is a MUST-HAVE for me as a math teacher! I spent my first six years as a teacher at a school with a broken laminator, so I had to find a way to laminate things myself.

I’ve had several laminators over the years. I currently use a Scotch laminator at home and a Swingline laminator at school.

• Scotch Laminator
• Swingline Laminator
• Nuova Laminating Pouches

I highly recommend splurging a bit on the actual laminator and buying the cheapest laminating pouches you can find!

I decided to laminate the pages for extra durability.

It wasn’t exactly perfect, but I was able to attach the two laminated layers of paper using an adhesive roller.

Since the puzzle instructions suggested that students start out by building the rectangle, that’s where most of my students started. I had quite a few students solve the rectangle puzzle.

Some students went on to tackle the other three puzzles as well.

I wonder if students might benefit from seeing each of the four shapes that need to be created drawn out in some way.

If you want a smaller, individual sized puzzle that doesn’t use magnets, I’ve got you covered!

I printed the four shapes with their mirror images already attached.

All you will need to do is cut out the four shapes around the outside edge.

Then, fold on the bold line of symmetry.

Then, the four pieces can be glued together to form double-sided puzzle pieces.

You could then choose to laminate them at this stage or leave them as-is.