Quadratic Area Puzzles
I am really liking these quadratic area puzzles from Chritsopher (Bow Tie Teacher on twitter) that are posted for free on TES. They are inspired by Naoki Inaba‘s Area Maze puzzles with a quadratic spin on things.
For next year, I think I would like to do some sort of activity at the beginning of the year with the original area maze puzzles. Then, I would like to introduce these puzzles during our quadratics unit. After solving these puzzles, I would like to challenge my students to create their own!
I’m blogging about this plan so I don’t forget!
The fourth puzzle is so large that I had trouble downsizing it enough to take a screenshot. It definitely shows up better in the Word document posted to TES!
Digital Version of Quadratic Area Puzzles
Kathy Henderson has shared a digital version of these quadratic area puzzles in Desmos Activity Builder.
Puzzle Solutions
I intentionally do not make answers to the printable puzzles and math activities I share on my blog available online because I strive to provide learning experiences for my students that are non-google-able. I would like other teachers to be able to use these puzzles in their classrooms as well without the solutions being easily found on the Internet.
However, I do recognize that us teachers are busy people and sometimes need to quickly reference an answer key to see if a student has solved a puzzle correctly or to see if they have interpreted the instructions properly.
If you are a teacher who is using these puzzles in your classroom, please send me an email at sarah@mathequalslove.net with information about what you teach and where you teach. I will be happy to forward an answer key to you.
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, as fun activities in their workplace, or as a birthday party escape room.
Most of my students enjoyed these puzzles. They are kind of fun to make also.