Square Sums Puzzle

The square sums puzzle is a fun twist on a magic square type puzzle. Instead of trying to get each row and column to have the same sum, the goal is to have each 2×2 square within the larger square to have the same sum. So fun!

this RESOURCE

Instructions

Place the numbers 1 to 9 in the spaces of the square so that the sum of the numbers in each of the four 2×2 squares is the same. Two numbers (1 and 2) have already been placed for you.

If your students have trouble understanding what is meant by “each of the four 2×2 squares,” there is a diagram which highlights each of the 2×2 squares to give helpful visual.

Puzzle Source

This puzzle is from a collection of 199 different mathematical puzzles offered as a free download from IREM de Lyon. This is a top-notch puzzle resource if you speak French.

I sadly do not speak French, but I was able to use the Google Translate app to translate quite a few of the puzzle instructions in order to use them in my classroom. Other puzzles I typed up from this same resource is the U Sums Puzzle, Magic H Puzzle, Lines of 3 Puzzle, 4 x 4 Checkered Square Puzzle, Equal Sums Puzzle, and the very popular Loops Puzzle.

This specific puzzle is #25 – Sommes sur carrés.

Printing and Prepping the Puzzle

This puzzle is designed to print on letter-sized 8.5 x 11 inch paper, but you could easily scale it to print on A4 paper as well.

The number tile cards are designed to be printed on colored paper or cardstock. I like printing on Astrobrights paper to give my activities a pop of bright color.

You could also forego the number tile cards and slide the puzzle in a dry erase pocket and simply have the students write in the digits 3-9 by hand. The benefit of the tiles is that students can easily see what numbers they have and have not used yet.

MATH = LOVE RECOMMENDS…

I cannot imagine teaching math without my dry erase pockets! They instantly make any activity more engaging and save me countless hours at the copy machine since I can use the same class sets of copies year after year.

Here are my current go-to recommendations:

• 8.5 x 11 Inch Dry Erase Pockets from Puroma
• 11 x 17 Inch Dry Erase Pockets from C-Line Products
• Expo Dry Erase Markers