A Plus Puzzle
Engage students with the A Plus Puzzle! Free printable math activity where they assemble 5 pieces to form a plus sign. Fun and interactive for all!
Mondays are quickly becoming a day that my students look forward to. Yesterday, I overheard one student excitedly tell another that they were excited to see what this week’s joke was. Then, they raced to read it and check out the answer.
Ready for it? According to another one of my students, this week’s joke is a good one!
Want more math jokes? Check out my math joke of the week collection.
Monday is also the day of the week when I switch out our weekly magnetic puzzle.
Last week, we tackled the Nine Squares Puzzle that I posted this summer.
This week we’re testing out a brand-new puzzle called the A Plus Puzzle from The World’s Biggest Book of Brainteasers & Logic Puzzles. This book is massive at around 700 pages, but I was a bit disappointed in the fact that it had very few puzzles of the sort that I like to use in my classroom with moving pieces.
The A plus puzzle gives you five shapes which must be arranged into a plus sign. Yes, it is possible.
No, this does not count as a plus sign.
Yes, this will drive both students and teachers crazy. I included this in a presentation I did this summer, and I had some teachers rather frustrated with this puzzle for quite some time. The look on their faces when they finally figured it out was priceless.
Free Download of A Plus Puzzle
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A Plus Puzzle (PDF)
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A Plus Puzzle (Editable Publisher File ZIP)
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Want even more puzzles? Check out my dedicated puzzle page.
Puzzle Solutions
Puzzle solutions are available on a password-protected solution page. I do not openly post the puzzle answer keys because one of my goals as a resource creator is to craft learning experiences for students that are non-google-able. I want teachers to be able to use these puzzles in their classrooms without the solutions being found easily on the Internet.
Please email me at sarah@mathequalslove.net for the password to the answer key database featuring all of my printable puzzles and math worksheets. I frequently have students emailing me for the answer key, so please specify in your email what school you teach at and what subjects you teach. If you do not provide these details, I will not be able to send you the password.
Not a teacher? Go ahead and send me an email as well. Just let me know what you are using the puzzles for. I am continually in awe of how many people are using these puzzles with scouting groups, with senior adults battling dementia, or as fun activities in their workplace. Just give me enough details so I know you are not a student looking for answers to the puzzle that was assigned as their homework!
My students want to know if the pieces can be stacked?
Can you please post a solution??!! Four adults 120 kids couldn't figure it out today! LOL . My kiddos are really wanting to know the answer to this.
Thanks!
Changing the puzzle weekly is a great engagement tool and way to keep the students looking forward to doing math which can be a difficult subject for some. Do you just browse amazon to find your resources or are there any blogs/sites you follow that recommend materials?
Can you post the solution?
Thanks
I used to do fun things like puzzles of the week. Thanks for the ideas and the reminders! It seems like I never have time to do anything extra. But I would like to implement some things for students to look forward to.
solution includes the biggest piece being diaganal