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Bring some spooky fun to your classroom or party with this fun Halloween triples word puzzle. Can you reassemble the trios of letters to form words related to Halloween?
Puzzle Instructions
Combine the letter trios to spell out some words associated with Halloween. Each trio of letters will be used exactly once.
For example, COB and WEB can be combined to form COBWEB. ZOM and BIE can be combined to form ZOMBIE. What other Halloween themed words will you be able to find?
Puzzle Inspiration
This puzzle was inspired by a “Holiday Triples” puzzle published by Erich Friedman in 2013 as part of a holiday puzzles collection. Instead of featuring Christmas-themed words, I decided to take the puzzle structure and modify it to feature Halloween-related words.
This isn’t my first time to modify this puzzle for a different theme. This past April, I shared a math-word version of this triples puzzle. I also created a Thanksgiving Triples Puzzle.
Prepping the Puzzle
I printed the letter trio pages on orange Astrobrights paper and it through my laminator before cutting the pieces apart.
In the past, I have put ceramic disc magnets on the back of the pieces so students can move the pieces around on the dry erase board. This time, I decided to try something different. I printed three sets of the letter trio cards and attached them to the dry erase board with magnetic clips and ziplock snack bags.
With this method, multiple groups of students could work on the puzzle at the same time by taking it back to their table group.
Ways to Use in Class
Puzzle of the Week
I used this puzzle as my “Puzzle of the Week.” This means that I just hung it on the dry erase board near where students walk in my classroom.
I hang a puzzle there each week and just wait to see which students notice it and attempt it. It’s a just a little bit of something for fun that I do.
Some students love solving the puzzles. Others completely ignore them. But I have fun creating them, so I keep doing it for me and the students who love a good challenge.
Last week, my students tackled the 4 Aces puzzle, and it was a super tricky challenge. This Halloween Triples Word Puzzle challenge is a bit more on the manageable side.
Class Opener or Brain Break
This activity would make a great class opener or brain break close to Halloween. It should only take groups around 3-4 minutes to solve the puzzle while working together.
Other Halloween Activities
You could combine this with some of the other Halloween activities I’ve blogged about to create a day of Halloween fun! Here are a few activities that would accompany this word puzzle well:
Free Download of Halloween Triples Puzzle
This puzzle is available to download for free as a convenient to download PDF file and an editable Publisher file. To edit the Publisher file, you must have Microsoft Publisher installed on your computer.
Halloween Triples Puzzle (PDF) (1011 downloads )
Halloween Triples Puzzle (Editable Publisher File ZIP) (378 downloads )
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.
