Penguin Hidoku Puzzles

These free printable penguin-shaped hidoku puzzles are the perfect winter logic puzzles for your classroom!

For years, I have used hidoku puzzles in my classroom, and they have always been a HUGE hit with students. I recently learned how to generate shaped hidoku puzzles. So far, I have made Christmas Tree Hidoku Puzzles and these Penguin Hidoku Puzzles.

Have a different shape of puzzle your students might be interested? Send me an email, and I might be able to make it happen!

Want more penguin puzzling fun? Check out my matching Penguin Pentominoes Puzzle! Or you might just be interested in my winter logic puzzles.

What are Hidoku Puzzles?

Hidoku Puzzles (originally published as Hidato Puzzles) are the creation of Dr. Gyora M. Benedek, an Israeli mathematician. The Hebrew word “hida” means riddle. In a hidoku puzzle, you are given a grid with a selection of the numbers already filled in.

Your task is to fill in the missing numbers so that each number connects to the next number either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. 1 must connect to 2, 2 must connect to 3, and so on.

When I use Hidoku Puzzles with students, I often have them draw in the lines between the numbers in order to help them check their solutions.

Penguin Hidoku Puzzle Instructions

Fill in the missing numbers in the penguin-shaped grid so that each number connects to the next number either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

For these specific puzzles, students are arranging the numbers from 1 to 60 in the penguin-shaped grid so that consecutive numbers touch either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

You could definitely think of this puzzle as making a “chain of numbers.”

Four Levels of Puzzles and Printing Options

These penguin hidoku puzzles are available to download in four different levels: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Challenging.

As the levels progress, you are given fewer and fewer numbers on the grid to begin with. This means that much more logic is required to solve the puzzle.

For most students, I would recommend starting with an easy level puzzle unless your students have solved numerous hidoku puzzles in the past.

These hidoku puzzles are available to download as one single puzzle per page and four puzzles to a page. In the version with four puzzles to a page, all four puzzles on a single page are of the same level of difficulty.