Squaring Off Puzzle

Master the art of the squaring off puzzle! Rotate and arrange given rectangular pieces to create a perfect square, testing your problem-solving skills.

Thanksgiving Break is here, and I am oh so grateful for these few days off. This year has felt like one long learning curve as I figure out what life looks like as a teacher, wife, and mother of an almost seven month old who definitely keeps me on my toes these days.

When I first started blogging, people would often leave comments wondering where I had the time. I now completely understand this sentiment. So, instead of making more excuses about why I don’t have time to blog these days, let’s write a quick blog post!

One of my goals last year was to post a different magnetic puzzle on my dry erase board each week. I did post some magnetic puzzles, but I only ended up changing them out every few months or so.

This summer, when my kiddo was still a newborn who liked to sleep so mom could get some work done, I typed up a bunch of new magnetic puzzles. This year, I haven’t been perfect at changing out my magnetic puzzle every week, but the most time a single puzzle has stayed up on the dry erase board has been probably two weeks. I consider this a SUCCESS!

This past week, my students tackled the Squaring Off Puzzle from The Ultimate Clever Puzzle Book. This is the same puzzle book where I found the Big Magic Puzzle I shared earlier.

The book is out of print, but you can find used copies available on Amazon. It’s also free to borrow from Archive.org’s Virtual Library, but you may have to wait awhile if it’s checked out since there’s only one copy and each person can keep it for a maximum of two weeks.

The squaring off puzzle involves students arranging four given rectangular pieces to create a perfect square. The pieces can be rotated, but they may not be overlapped.

My students’ one complaint about this squaring off puzzle was that it was too easy. Since they often have to revisit a puzzle multiple times across the course of a puzzle to solve it, I think they were shocked when they figured it out on their first attempt!

Digital Version of Squaring Off Puzzle

Crystal Finch created a version of this puzzle in Google Slides.