Decorate the Tree Christmas Puzzle
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This Decorate the Tree Puzzle challenges you to cover a Christmas tree grid with the provided pieces so that no ornaments are touching one another, not even at a corner.
Puzzle Instructions
This puzzle has two parts: a puzzle board with a Christmas tree design and a set of printable pieces that are meant to be printed on green and red cardstock.
Use the green pieces to cover the tree. You may flip or rotate any pieces. Don’t forget to leave space for the ornaments! Every part of the tree must be covered without overlapping any pieces.
No ornament may touch any other ornament, not even at a corner.
Puzzle Source
This puzzle is my own original creation. Another Christmas puzzle I designed and created myself was the Checkered Ornament Puzzle.
This was my very first original puzzle to author.
Printing and Prepping the Puzzle
The tree template is designed to be printed on 11 x 17 cardstock. I have also shared a letter-sized version of the puzzle below in case you cannot print on 11 x 17 paper. This is the size I printed to test the puzzle at home.
In addition to the tree template, you will also need to print two sheets of puzzle pieces for the decorate the tree puzzle.
The first sheet has nine trominos. These should be printed on green paper to form the bulk of the Christmas tree.
The second sheet has nine squares. These can be printed on any color. Each square represents an “ornament.” I chose to print mine on red paper to make it extra festive.
How Many Solutions are There?
I have found one solution to the decorate the tree puzzle myself, and my husband found a totally different solution today when he tested it out. I’m not sure how many solutions exist yet.
Digital Version of Decorate the Tree Puzzle
A lovely blog reader (Thanks Laura Ann!) turned this into a digital puzzle using Google Slides. The pieces are stacked on top of one another.
Free Download of Decorate the Tree Puzzle
Decorate the Tree Puzzle Board 11 x 17 (PDF) (3485 downloads )
Decorate the Tree Puzzle Pieces 8.5 x 11 (PDF) (3988 downloads )
Decorate the Tree (Editable Publisher Files ZIP) (1981 downloads )
Decorate the Tree – Letter Sized Puzzle (PDF ZIP) (3041 downloads )
If you have any ideas on how to improve this puzzle or future puzzles, I’d love to hear them!
Want even more holiday themed ideas for your classroom? Check out this post with over 70 ideas for celebrating the Christmas/Holiday season in math class. .
Puzzle Solutions
I intentionally do not make answers to the printable math puzzles I share on my blog available online because I strive to provide learning experiences for my students that are non-google-able. I would like other teachers to be able to use these puzzles in their classrooms as well without the solutions being easily found on the Internet.
However, I do recognize that us teachers are busy people and sometimes need to quickly reference an answer key to see if a student has solved a puzzle correctly or to see if they have interpreted the instructions properly.
If you are a teacher who is using these puzzles in your classroom, please send me an email at sarah@mathequalslove.net with information about what you teach and where you teach. I will be happy to forward an answer key to you.
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, as fun activities in their workplace, or as a birthday party escape room.
Pin for Later
Thanks 🙂
We found four different solutions.
https://bajdocja.blogspot.com/2017/12/udekoruj-choinke-puzzlami.html
Is there an attachment for this?
I cannot get it to print the correct size—