H Puzzle from Harry Lindgren
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This week, my students have been taking turns tackling this tricky H Puzzle. The goal of the puzzle is to arrange the six given pieces to form a symmetric letter H. The pieces may not overlap one another in the final configuration.
If you like puzzles like this, I have previously shared the T Puzzle and the M Puzzle.
This H Puzzle is the creation of Harry Lindgren and was originally featured in his Geometric Dissections book. I flipped through this book, and I was blown away by the mathematical process used to create puzzles like this.
Wow. Just wow. If you’re interested in the mathematics of geometric puzzle creation, put this book on your list to check out.
I learned of the puzzle via ThinkFun’s now defunct puzzles website. Thankfully an archived version still exists thanks to the Internet Archive. I used this file to create my own jumbo pieces.
I placed disc magnets on the back of each piece and hung the puzzle on my dry erase board. I encouraged students to use hand sanitizer after playing with the puzzles.
Many of my students thought that this puzzle was more challenging than the M Puzzle and T Puzzle since it has six pieces and the other puzzles only have four pieces.
In the past, I have also used a slightly different H puzzle from DIY Puzzles.
Free Download of H Puzzle
H Puzzle (PDF) (3723 downloads )
H Puzzle (Editable Publisher File ZIP) (1310 downloads )
Want more puzzles? Check out my puzzles page!
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.
These are awesome!