Printable Puzzles
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Browse Printable Puzzles by Puzzle Type
My collection of free printable puzzles for the classroom is sorted by puzzle type.
Browse Printable Puzzles by Season
These seasonal puzzles do not mention any specific holiday, so they can be used all season long!
Here you will find a list of my most recently published puzzles as well as a list of puzzles by category to help you find the perfect puzzle to challenge your students.
Where Do These Printable Logic Puzzles Come From?
Even though I’ve always loved puzzles, it wasn’t until around year 5 of my teaching career that I started making a concerted effort to incorporate them into my classroom on a regular basis. Since then, my love for puzzles has grown exponentially.
As I have scoured books and the internet for new and interesting puzzles to use with my students, I have shared the puzzles I have used here on my blog. Over the years, thousands of other teachers have joined me in including puzzles in their own classrooms.
I have curated a collection of over 244 free puzzles that can be used with all different levels of students. These puzzles are a mixture of classic puzzles, recreations of puzzles I have found published in various sources, and original puzzles that I have designed myself.
How to Incorporate Puzzles in the Classroom
Here are a few different ways I have used puzzles in my high school math classroom over the years.
Puzzle Table
When I first started incorporating puzzles in my classroom, I designated a “puzzle table” in my classroom. Each week, I would put a different math puzzle on the table.
I never announced to students that this was the puzzle table. I just put out the puzzle and watched what students would do with it. Soon, students were reminding me on Monday if I forgot to change the puzzle. That’s how much my students looked forward to these brain teasers.
Of course, some students wanted nothing to do with my puzzles. And that’s entirely okay. I use puzzles as a way to augment student learning. I never want to force my love of puzzles upon students.
Puzzle of the Week
Most recently, I have been using a puzzle of the week format to engage my math learners with logic puzzles. I post several different puzzles on the dry erase board at the front of the classroom. Students can grab these puzzles to work on whenever they finish an assignment early. Other students make a habit of grabbing a puzzle to work on before class starts.
On a weekly basis, I switch out these puzzles. I try to craft a mix of simple puzzles and more complex puzzles so that students have some sort of puzzle to work on all week long. My students get annoyed at me if the puzzles are too easy and they finish all of the puzzles on Monday!
I have experimented with both having a puzzle table in my classroom where various puzzles with students and with using a corner of a dry erase board in my classroom to post a “Puzzle of the Week.”
Math Puzzle Worksheets
Another easy way to incorporate puzzles into your classroom is to give puzzle-based math worksheets for students to work on. These printable worksheets make great last-minute sub plans.
I also like this approach for celebrating various holidays in the classroom. I will give students puzzles related to a specific holiday to solve in class. These are one of the only times of the year where I make all of my students work on mathematical puzzles at the same time.
The only other time of year where I usually do full-class puzzles is at the beginning of the school year. I try to fit as many math puzzle games into my first week of school as possible. I also recommend checking out my collection of math games.
Puzzle Answer Key
I intentionally do not post puzzle answer keys on my website. While students hate this approach, I find that many math teachers actually appreciate being able to assign a puzzle for students that is not easily google-able.
I do share puzzle solutions with teachers via email. Please send me an email at sarah@mathequalslove.net with the name of the school you teach at and the subjects you teach. And, I will be happy to forward the puzzle solutions to you!
3D Puzzles
These three dimensional puzzles use materials frequently found in the math classroom such as wooden cubes, dominos, and linking cubes. I find that my math students love puzzles that involve manipulating physical materials.
Addition Puzzles
Algebra Puzzles
Brainteasers
These brain teasers might just drive you and your students crazy!
Calcudoku Puzzles (KenKen)
Chess Puzzles
Enjoy this selection of puzzles that are either played on a chessboard or involve a checkerboard design.
Divisibility Puzzles
Domino Puzzles
Each of these puzzles either requires a set of dominos to solve or is based on dominos.
Edge Matching Puzzles
Match up the pieces so they match along each edge in these edge-matching puzzles.
Equation Puzzles
Your students’ math skills will be put to the test with these equation puzzles.
Factor Tree Puzzles
You’ll need to put your knowledge of factors and prime/composite numbers to the test to solve these factor tree puzzles.
Fill-In Puzzles
Fraction Puzzles
Futoshiki Puzzles
Futoshiki puzzles are a latin-square square puzzle featuring inequality symbols.
Geometry Puzzles
These geometric puzzles feature all kinds of different shapes! Often these geometry puzzles can be a great way to have students practice geometric vocabulary words.
Hands-On Puzzles
These hands-on puzzles all include either pieces that must be moved around in order to solve the puzzle or physically drawing or building a solution to the puzzle.
Hidden Number Puzzles
Hidden Word Puzzles
Hidoku Puzzles
Holiday Themed Puzzles
Bring some holiday fun to your classroom with these holiday-themed and seasonal math puzzles.
Jumping Puzzles
These puzzles involve jumping one piece over another in order to solve the puzzle.
Missing Vowels Puzzles
Multiplication Puzzles
Nonogram Puzzles
Number Challenges
Linking Cube Puzzles
If you have a set of linking cubes in your classroom, that’s all you need to try out these fun puzzles!
Magic Square Puzzles
Magic Squares are a great opportunity to fit in some sneaky mental math practice! Your students will be doing a million different addition problems while solving a magic square puzzle without even realizing it!
Math Puzzles
While many of the puzzles on my site don’t have to be used in just math classrooms, these puzzles are specifically designed for the math classroom.
Mazes
Number Puzzles
These hands-on number puzzles have been a huge hit in my classroom for many years!
Object Placement Puzzles
Place the given objects in the correct place in these fun, hands-on object placement puzzles.
Order of Operations Puzzles
Need to practice the order of operations? This collection of puzzles require students to use the order of operations to find solutions for each number.
Paper Folding Puzzles
If your students love origami, they will love these paper folding puzzles!
Pencil and Paper Logic Puzzles
These pencil and paper logic puzzles make great math puzzle worksheets.
Pentominoes Puzzles
Each of these pentominoes puzzles uses a standard set of twelve pentominoes. If you don’t have a class set of plastic pentominoes, I offer a free printable set of pentominoes pieces to cut out.
Perfect Square Puzzles
Playing Card Puzzles
These puzzles either require a deck of playing cards or are based on playing cards.
Shape Building Puzzles
These hands-on puzzles involve building various shapes according to each puzzle’s rule.
Shape Fitting Puzzles
Instead of building a specific shape, these shape fitting puzzles require fitting pieces inside certain parameters.
Shikaku Puzzles
Shikaku puzzles involve sub-dividing a provided grid into rectangles with the areas given in the puzzle.
Star Battle Puzzles
Strimko Puzzles
Sudoku Puzzles
Tangram Puzzles
Tangram puzzles involve using a set of seven pieces to build a wide variety of shapes and designs. Tangram puzzles are a classic for a reason!
Triangle Puzzles
Each of these puzzles involves a triangle in some form or fashion.
Trigonometry Puzzles
Wooden Block Puzzles
You will need to purchase a set of wooden cubes to build these puzzles. Wooden cubes can be purchased at a craft store or online from Amazon.
Word Puzzles
Yes, word puzzles belong in math class, too!
