Nonogram Puzzles
My own passion for logic puzzles has led me to create these fun and free printable nonogram puzzles that you can use with your students or for your own puzzling enjoyment!
I heart logic puzzles. Give me a long road trip where I’m not the one driving, and I’ll probably be doing one of two things when I’m awake: reading or working logic puzzles.
I first was introduced to nonogram puzzles as a high school student. My calculus teacher would leave us packets of logic puzzles to solve on days when we would have a substitute.
In one of these puzzle packets, there was a new-to-me puzzle type called a nonogram. This puzzle took me hours to solve and I had to erase the entire puzzle and start over multiple times. But, I couldn’t give up.
Once I finally figured out a strategy, I was so proud of myself. And, I was also hungry for more puzzles like that to solve. I found several free sources of these on the internet, and I’ve been solving them on and off ever since. I love introducing students to this image-based logic puzzle.
What are Nonogram Puzzles?
Nonogram puzzles are logic-based grid puzzles where players use numeric clues along rows and columns to fill in or leave blank squares, revealing a hidden pixel art image. The numbers indicate consecutive groups of filled squares, separated by at least one blank square.
It is highly likely that you have come across these puzzles under a different name such as Nonograms, Paint by Numbers, Griddlers, Pic-a-Pix, Picross, PrismaPixels, Pixel Puzzles, Crucipixel, Edel, FigurePic, Hanjie, HeroGlyphix, Illust-Logic, Japanese Crosswords, Japanese Puzzles, Kare Karala!, Logic Art, Logic Square, Logicolor, Logik-Puzzles, Logimage, Oekaki Logic, Oekaki-Mate, Paint Logic, Picture Logic, Tsunamii, Paint by Sudoku and Binary Coloring Books. (And, yes, I did just copy and paste that from Wikipedia.)
If you aren’t familiar with the process of solving a nonogram puzzle, this free PDF demo book from Griddlers.net has a great visual of the rules for solving that I often use with students.
If you have never solved a nonogram puzzle before, I recommend this step-by-step guide to solving a nonogram puzzle.
My favorite part of assigning my students these logic puzzle type tasks is eavesdropping on their conversations. Hearing students explain their reasoning to one another makes my day. It’s something I need to make happen more often in my classroom.
One thing I’ve noticed about my students is that they really struggle with thinking logically. Their main tendency is to narrow a situation down to two or so ways and then randomly choose one to go with. The idea that it is possible to know something for certain is foreign to them. But, we’re working on that!
Did all of my students love these puzzles? No. Did it push all of them out of their comfort zones? Yes. Several of my students enjoyed these puzzles so much that they downloaded apps to their phone to solve extra puzzles over the weekend.
Animal Nonogram Puzzles
Here are some free printable animal nonogram puzzles I have created for my own classroom. I hope you will enjoy them as well!
Holiday and Seasonal Nonogram Puzzles
I think that the holidays are a perfect excuse to introduce students to nonogram puzzles that might not naturally gravitate to this type of logic puzzle.
Here are some free printable nonogram puzzles that I have created for various seasons and holidays.
Valentine’s Day Nonogram Puzzles
I love those puzzles. Been doing them for at least 25 years. I've given them to my students, too!
Do you have any other logic puzzles you love?
I am also a fan of conceptis: link-a-pix and fill-a-pic are my faves.
Thanks for sharing! I've played several of the conceptis puzzles before and loved them.
I'm a big fan of the Slitherlink/Fences/Takegaki puzzles. (Search for "Conceptis Slitherlink" in the App Store.) I haven't used them in my classes much, but I certainly enjoy them!
Definitely going to look into these! I heard someone rave about slitherlink puzzles before, but I've never tried one.
I have these on my Kindle and LOVE them (as does my 11-year-old daughter). I also love the traditional logic puzzles – a grid with 4 or 5 clues as to who was wearing what color, eating what food and playing with what pet (or things similar). LOVE them!
I love those logic puzzles, too. I tried those with my kids this year, and they really struggled. I'm hoping we can build up to them with these other logic puzzles.
I need to try one of these of my own.
Hope you enjoy it!
Anyone who enjoys puzzles should try the annual pi day challenge which is published online every March 14 at pidaychallenge.com. It's awesome!
Hi Sarah, I love trying all the puzzles you share with my 7th grade classes. I would like to try these, but am having trouble locating the sample one you did as a class. I was wondering it you had a picture of it without the markings? Thanks for all you share!