Mixed Emotions Puzzle
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Today I’m sharing an emoji puzzle with you called the Mixed Emotions Puzzle.

I’m not sure what it is about this week’s puzzle table selection, but it’s been much more popular than the last few puzzles combined! Maybe it’s the bright yellow paper or emojis that catch the eyes of students… Whatever it is, I’m excited to see students gathered around the puzzle table!
The goal of the mixed emotions puzzle is to place four pieces onto the 5 x 5 grid so that no two facial expressions are repeated in any horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line. You can rotate pieces, but you may not overlap them or flip them over.
One thing I LOVE about this emoji puzzle is that at first there doesn’t seem to be that many different ways to arrange the four pieces on the grid until you start thinking about how many ways each piece can be rotated! This makes lots of combinations to check!
Several groups of students ended up solving this mixed emotions puzzle yesterday on the first day it was out!
This emoji puzzle is from one of my newer puzzle book purchases. Yes, I may have a slight addiction to purchasing puzzle books for my classroom. I may or may not have bought four more puzzle books a few weekends ago at a thrift store!
The Big, Big, Big Book of Brainteasers is an awesome puzzle collection that features 567 different puzzles from The Grabarchuk Family. I ordered a used copy from Amazon for $5.83 with free shipping, so that works out to just over 1 cent per puzzle. Super bargain!
Not sure if the puzzles in this book are for you? You can look at quite a few of the puzzles in The Big, Big, Big Book of Brainteasers by clicking the “Surprise Me” button inside Amazon’s Look Inside Feature!
Free Download of Mixed Emotions Puzzle
Click here to Download
Mixed Emotions Puzzle (PDF)
2058 downloads – 216.87 KB
Click here to Download
Mixed Emotions Puzzle (Editable Publisher File ZIP)
1281 downloads – 504.84 KB
Want even more puzzles? Check out my puzzles page.
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!
When I select here to get the puzzle, I am unable to download it. Is there something I need to do?