This star pentominoes puzzle takes the classic rectangular pentominoes puzzle up a notch with adding a requirement that each pentomino must cover exactly one star. I had my first experience with pentominoes puzzles in second grade. My teacher, Mrs. Green, loved pentominoes. One of the activities we worked on frequently in our free time was …
Puzzles with Movable Pieces
Last week, I used this Three Squared Puzzle with my students as one of our puzzles of the week. I thought I should share it with everyone here on the blog as well! How does the Three Squared Puzzle work? You are given nine squares. Your task is to arrange the nine squares to assemble …
In this which side of the line numbers puzzle, students must determine if the numbers 9 and 10 go above or below the line. I ran across this puzzle in The Big Book of Mind-Bending Puzzles by Terry Stickels and decided it would make a great puzzle to put up in my classroom. I typed …
I was an instant fan of this Sums Puzzle when I discovered it in Puzzle Box, Volume 2. Place the number cards 1-99 into the grid, once each. A cell can contain no numbers, one number, or two numbers. Two numbers in a cell form a 2-digit number in that cell. The numbers outside the …
As soon as I saw this twenty cubes puzzle, I knew it was the perfect puzzle to use in my classroom with linking cubes. The Twenty Cubes Puzzle asks students to arrange twenty cubes in four piles using five given clues: All piles contain an even number of cubes. There are twice as many cubes …
When I ran across this Jigmaze Puzzle in a vintage issue of Games & Puzzles Magazine, I knew it was destined to be one of my Puzzles of the Week. I found the Jigmaze Puzzle in the May 1976 issue of Games & Puzzle Magazine. One of my hobbies is looking through old puzzle books …
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. …
The Number Strips Puzzle asks: Can you rearrange the order of the seven strips so that each row contains a correct mathematical statement? Note that the strips containing operators can be inverted if necessary. I found this number strips puzzle in Ivan Moscovich’s The Big Book of Brain Games. This book weighs several pounds and …
I ran across this Pips Puzzle in The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Puzzles by The Diagram Group. The goal is to arrange the ace to nine of hearts so that the pips in each row – horizontal, vertical and diagonal – add up to 15. This puzzle is really just a magic square, but I …
In the Triangle Sums Puzzle, you are challenged to arrange the numbers 1 to 9 in the squares so that the sum of the numbers in each pair of squares is the same as the number in the triangle that touches both squares in the pair. You may only put one number in each square, …
The Impossible Domino Bridge Puzzle asks, “Can you arrange 15 dominoes to build this seemingly impossible domino bridge?” As soon as I saw this puzzle this summer, I knew I wanted to try it with my math students. I think this would make a great beginning of school year activity for practicing class norms or …
In this Congruent Shapes Puzzle, students are given two colors of puzzle pieces. The task is to arrange the two colors of pieces to form two congruent shapes. You can rotate pieces and flip them over but not overlap them. This Congruent Shapes Puzzle is the creation of the brilliant Erich Friedman and can be …
I’m hoping that this Color Rectangle Puzzle will delight many puzzle solvers for years to come. One of the very first puzzles I ever put out on my first ever puzzle table back in 2017 was Donald Knuth’s Color Square Puzzle. This puzzle is very similar, but instead of forming a square you are forming …
This summer I typed up this Fitting Shapes Puzzle. Can you fit the six shapes into the board without overlap? I found this puzzle in The Big Book of Brain Games by Ivan Moscovich. This book seriously weighs several pounds, and it has 1000 puzzles in it. Several blog readers have shared with me that …
This In a Row Puzzle challenges students to arrange the digits 1 through 9 in such a way that four statements regarding the sum of various subsets of the row are true. The numbers 1 and 2 and all the digits between them add up to 9. The numbers 2 and 3 and all the …
I’m excited to get back to featuring a new puzzle of the week every week in my classroom this year. A new puzzle I have prepped for this year is called Three of Five. Three of these five figures fit together to create a triangle. Which ones are they? I ran across this puzzle in …
I’m excited about trying out this five arrows puzzle with my students when we start back to school next week! Can you rearrange the four arrows to form five arrows? As soon as I saw this puzzle in The Big Book of Brain Games by Ivan Moscovich, I knew I had to make a version …
While researching the SOMA Cube a few years ago, I ran across this Gambler’s Die Puzzle that can be made from nine rectangular blocks of wood. These nine blocks can be arranged to make a regular gambler’s die (singular of dice). The dots must appear in the correct pattern on each face. To be a …
This Pyramid Puzzle challenges you to assemble the nine pieces to make a pyramid shape. No squares of the same color touch each other. Pieces may be rotated, but not overlapped or flipped. This puzzle uses the exact same game pieces as the Beehive Puzzle I shared last week. So, if you’ve already printed that …
In this Magic Square 15 Puzzle, your task is to arrange the numbers 1 through 9 in the grid so that the numbers in each row, column, and main diagonal sum to 15. I’ve typed up so many different puzzles for my classroom over the years, but somehow I’ve managed to overlook including a basic …
This 577 = 11111 Puzzle asks you to arrange the numbers 5, 7, and 7 to make a shape. Then, you are tasked to make an identical shape using the numbers 1, 1, 1, 1, and 1. This creative puzzle was created by Erich Friedman and shared in Puzzle Box, Volume 1. Have you noticed …
This Beehive Puzzle challenges you to assemble the nine pieces to make a beehive shape. No squares of the same color touch each other. Pieces may be rotated, but not overlapped or flipped. This puzzle is from The Big, Big, Big Book of Brainteasers. This book (one of my fave puzzle books!) is out of …
While reorganizing my filing cabinets just before the end of the school year, I ran across a double letters puzzle that I had printed and laminated but never used with students. This had to be remedied! I added magnets on the back of each piece so it could be easily posted on the dry erase …
The Parts of a Whole Puzzle gives students five shapes that must be arranged to form a triangle whose three sides are of equal length. In other words, form an equilateral triangle. I would have renamed this as the Equilateral Triangle Puzzle, but I have already shared a different equilateral triangle puzzle on my blog …
Similar to the Pyramid Solitaire Puzzle I blogged about a few weeks ago, I found this Cross Solitaire Puzzle in The Diagram Group’s Little Giant Encyclopedia of Puzzles. The goal is to pace the 32 markers in a cross pattern with the middle square unoccupied. Then, jump the markers horizontally and vertically so that a …