Pentominoes Jack-o’-lantern Halloween Puzzle
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Looking for a fun halloween puzzle? Check out this pentominoes jack-o’-lantern puzzle that uses a standard set of 12 pentominoes.
This puzzle is just one of many printable pentominoes puzzles that I have created for my own classroom and am sharing with you!
Be sure to check out my entire collection of hands-on puzzles for the classroom.
Printing and Prepping the Puzzle
I printed the jackolantern template on 11 x 17 cardstock so that my plastic pentominoes fit exactly over the square grid. The class set of pentominoes that I have in my classroom are made up of 1 inch squares.
MATH = LOVE RECOMMENDS…
Amazon offers several brands of plastic pentominoes which I recommend. Each brand is sold in a tub containing six sets of twelve pentominoes each for a total of 72 pentomino pieces.
- Learning Resources Rainbow Pentominoes
- Learning Advantage (edxeducation) Pentominoes
- Didax Colorful Pentominoes
Want each student to have their own set of pentominoes? I also offer a set of free printable one-inch pentominoes pieces which can be laminated or printed on cardstock for durability.
If you don’t have the ability to print on 11 x 17 cardstock or paper, I have a letter-sized version of the template available to download at the bottom of this post. You will have to trim the pages and glue or tape them together to form the full-size template.
Using the Puzzle in the Classroom
I posted this halloween pentominoes puzzle on my dry erase board with an orange set of plastic pentominoes in a magnetic pocket.
I love these magnetic pockets from Charles Leonard (available from Amazon) because students can easily grab the entire pocket of pentominoes and the puzzle and take it back to their desk to solve the puzzle.
This keeps me from having to pass out pentominoes or from students dropping pieces on their way to their desks.
If you don’t have a class set of plastic pentominoes, I do have a printable version of 1-inch pentominoes available to download and print. Please be aware that you MUST allow students to turn over the printed pentominoes pieces in order to solve the puzzle! This is less obvious than with the plastic pentominoes pieces.
This puzzle would pair well with the Halloween Triples Word Puzzle.
Puzzle Source
This jack-o-lantern puzzle is the creation of Eric Harshbarger. It is featured on the cover of his Pentomino Puzzles book. I look forward to adding this book to my collection of puzzle books once I am able to run across a reasonably priced copy!
Hint Cards
Pentominoes puzzles which use a full-set of twelve pentominoes can be quite tricky for students to solve without any hints. To help make these puzzles more accessible to students, I have created a set of printable hint cards that can be given to students to give them a bit of a jump-start in their puzzle solving.
These hint cards are uploaded below!
Free Download of Pentominoes Jack-o’-lantern Halloween Puzzle
11 x 17 Print Files
Click here to Download
Pentominoes Jack-o’-lantern Halloween Puzzle (PDF)
4061 downloads – 228.42 KB
8.5 x 11 Print File
You will have to trim the pages and glue or tape them together with this option.
Hint Cards
Click here to Download
Pentominoes Jack-o’-lantern Hint Cards (PDF)
1629 downloads – 76.78 KB
If you like this puzzle, I suggest checking out my other Halloween math activities!
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!
