Cover the Duck Puzzle
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This week’s puzzle on the puzzle table is a duck-themed shape fitting puzzle that I am calling “Cover the Duck.” I didn’t really plan it this way, but this is the second week in a row where the puzzle table featured a duck-themed puzzle.
Last week, my students tackled a puzzled called Ducks and Snakes.
The Cover the Duck Puzzle is by Tanya Grabarchuk and can be found in Puzzle Box, Volume 3.
I’m fully convinced that I could do a puzzle table for an entire year using only puzzles from this book and still not run out of great puzzles. These puzzle books (volumes 1-3) are just that great!
Students are given a puzzle board which features an outline of a shape that is reminiscent of a duck.
They are also given five pieces. These puzzle pieces can be flipped and rotated to form the duck shape, but they cannot be overlapped. The pieces are tetrominoes. You may recognize their shapes from the game of Tetris.
The cover the duck puzzle is much easier compared to some of the puzzles I’ve featured on the puzzle table in past weeks. At least one student has solved it in one setting. Other students are still puzzling on how to solve this puzzle.
Free Download of Cover the Duck Puzzle
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Cover the Duck (PDF)
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Cover the Duck (Editable Publisher File ZIP)
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Both the puzzle board and the puzzle pieces are designed to print on letter sized paper.
Once you have the puzzle pieces printed, you can use those same puzzle pieces for several other puzzles:
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!
