This jack-o’-lantern made from pentominoes is the perfect halloween puzzle for math class. In this math activity, students must work to arrange a standard set of twelve pentominoes to form a jack-o’-lantern. This pentominoes puzzle is the perfect antidote for the fact that carving pumpkins is just too messy of an activity for math class. …
Holiday Themed Puzzles
This 9 Pumpkins Puzzle is sure to provide your students a fun Halloween themed math challenge. Without lifting your pencil, draw 4 straight lines that pass through all nine of the pumpkins. History of the Puzzle This is a Halloween-specific version of a classic brainteaser known as the 9 Dots Puzzle. The original puzzle is …
This Halloween Mystery Tangram Puzzle combines two favorite math activities into one. This printable Halloween puzzle will have students both practicing plotting ordered pairs on the coordinate plane and solving a fun tangram puzzle using the resulting outline from the plotted ordered pairs. Last year, I shared a bat tangram puzzle which many of you …
I was super excited today to share a new penguin pentominoes puzzle with my students as this week’s puzzle of the week. Can you arrange a set of twelve pentominoes to form the shape of a penguin? Several students attempted to solve this penguin puzzle over the course of the day, but so far none …
This printable heart tangram puzzle is perfect for engaging students on Valentine’s Day or any day of the year! The goal of this puzzle is to arrange the ten pieces to form a heart. When I saw a tweet from David Butler with a Valentine’s Day puzzle he created for his wife, I knew that …
This reindeer logic puzzle is perfect for bringing a bit of Christmas cheer into your classroom. Students are given seven statements about Santa’s reindeer who have run a race. They must use logical reasoning to determine the order in which the reindeer finished the race. This logic puzzle is a testament to how much I …
It’s November which means it’s finally time to pull out this Triangular Turkey puzzle for Thanksgiving. How many different triangles can you find in this picture of a Thanksgiving turkey? I ran across this triangular turkey puzzle in a Martin Gardner book (Perplexing Puzzles and Tantalizing Teasers) this summer, and I knew I had to …
October is the perfect time to challenge students with this bat tangram puzzle! Tangrams are one of my favorite puzzles to use in the math classroom. I have previously shared free printable collection of tangram puzzles to create a tangram binder for your own classroom. I highly recommend investing in a class set of tangrams. …
I have a new original puzzle to share with you today. I don’t know what it is about the holiday season that gets me in the Christmas puzzle creating mood (remember my Decorate the Tree Puzzle from a few years ago?), but I’m back at it today with what I’m calling the Checkered Ornament Puzzle. …
The 3 Hares Puzzle is a classic brain teaser that will put your visual problem-solving skills to the test. Can you arrange the six pieces so that every hare has exactly two ears?