Twenty Cubes Puzzle
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As soon as I saw this twenty cubes puzzle, I knew it was the perfect puzzle to use in my classroom with linking cubes. The Twenty Cubes Puzzle asks students to arrange twenty cubes in four piles using five given clues:
- All piles contain an even number of cubes.
- There are twice as many cubes in the first pile as in the second pile.
- The largest number of cubes is in the first pile.
- All piles have a different number of cubes.
- Each pile has at least one cube.
Linking cubes are one of my favorite math manipulatives; there are so many different ways to use them in the classroom. If you don’t have a class set of linking cubes (or snap cubes), you are missing out on awesome activities like Speedy Squares or Fawn Nguyen’s Hotel Snap! I also recommend checking out Build It, a great team building activity for the first week of school that uses linking cubes.
I discovered this Twenty Cubes puzzle while looking through Brain Bafflers by Robert Steinwachs (Sterling Publishing).
Want more puzzles? Check out my puzzles page!
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!
Love your puzzles and am starting to incorporate them into my math class! This one seemed like a quick solution and I am wondering if I am missing something?
This one is a much quicker puzzle to solve than many of the ones I have posted. So glad to hear that you are using puzzles with your students!