Puzzles for Teachers
Browse an extensive collection of printable puzzles, brain teasers, mazes, crosswords, digital activities and a whole lot more to challenge your primary students in fresh and fun ways!
This teaching resource collection is teacher-created, with curriculum-aligned and editable resources available for both lesson planning and adding to your fast finisher activity box!
Curious about using puzzles in your classroom or looking for fresh ideas? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
Types of Puzzles
There's a whole host of puzzles out there you can use to get your students more engaged in learning, develop problem-solving skills and reinforce the concepts you're teaching! Here are a few favourites from our teacher team (and you'll find printable versions of many of these in this collection)!
- Picture puzzles — Picture puzzles are a great teaching tool that require kids to use visual perception and problem-solving skills to identify patterns or differences in a set of pictures.
- Crossword puzzles — Often used by adults, these puzzles are kid-friendly too! They offer written clues and require students to fill in a grid with words that intersect.
- Tangram puzzles — These challenging puzzles for kids involve using a set of geometric shapes to create a larger picture or design.
- Logic puzzles — This learning tool requires kids to use reasoning and deduction to solve a problem. They usually involve a set of clues that need to be used to figure out the solution.
- Word searches — In this type of puzzle, a grid of letters is given with a list of words to find hidden within it. Students are challenged to go on the hunt for the word, often reading up, down, diagonally and sometimes even backward!
- Spot the difference — A popular feature in kids' magazines, these require our students to find the differences between two nearly identical pictures.
- Sequence puzzles — Sequence puzzles involve arranging a series of objects or symbols in a particular order, based on a set of rules or patterns. For example, students may practise skip counting as they place puzzle pieces in order based on the numbers displayed on each piece.
- Maze puzzles — Yes, mazes count as puzzles! They challenge kids to find their way through a maze to reach a goal or endpoint.
- Matching games — This is another type of puzzle you may not think of as a puzzle per se, but it is! Matching games involve finding pairs of matching items, such as shapes, colours, or numbers, in a set of cards or objects.
- Tarsia puzzles — Similar to jigsaw puzzles, tarsia puzzles are made up of irregularly shaped pieces that fit together in a specific way to form a larger picture or pattern. This type of puzzle has a twist, however! In a Tarsia puzzle, each piece contains a problem or question related to a particular topic or subject area. The students must match the pieces together by finding the correct answer or solution to each problem or question. Once all the pieces have been matched, they form a larger picture or pattern that provides a visual representation of the topic or concept being studied.
How Do You Use Puzzles in the Classroom?
Whether you're using tarsia puzzles to teach maths or crossword puzzles in your reading rotations, this is a versatile learning tool! Here are a few of the times they can come in handy:
- Introducing new concepts
- Reviewing concepts students have learned
- Reinforcing problem-solving skills
- Collaborative learning
- Learning through play
- Differentiated instruction
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Maths Mazes (Addition and Subtraction)
A set of puzzling mazes that require addition and subtraction skills to solve.
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12- and 24-Hour Time Polygon Puzzle
A puzzle using 12- and 24-hour time.
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Persuasive Devices Crossword
Familiarise your students with the most common persuasive devices with an engaging crossword puzzle.
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Printable Maths Puzzles - Subtraction Tarsia
Print a set of 7 Tarsia puzzles to practise solving single-to-multi-digit subtraction problems.
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Fact Family Mazes Differentiated Worksheet Set
Use this differentiated worksheet set to provide independent practise of fact family knowledge to solve multiplication expressions.
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Rounding Whole Numbers – Riddle Worksheets
Integrate riddles and maths with this set of rounding worksheets.
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Mystery Pattern Grids (Addition)
Solve addition sums and interpret grid coordinates to reveal the picture.
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Fractions, Decimals and Percentages Polygon Puzzle
A puzzle using fractions, decimals and percentages.
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Polygon Puzzles - Multiplication Worksheets with Answers
Line the sum up with the corresponding answer.
- Free Plan
2D Shapes and 3D Objects Crossword with Solution
A crossword with clues for both 2D shapes and 3D objects.
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Perimeter and Area Digital Puzzles
Give students practice finding the area and perimeter of squares and rectangles with these digital area and perimeter puzzles.
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Maths Mazes (Multiplication and Division)
Solve these mazes by manipulating numbers using multiplication and division skills.
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Skip Counting Number Puzzles
A fun and engaging set of 10 number puzzles to help students skip count in the classroom.
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Telling Time Puzzles - Reading Clocks
Practise reading analogue clocks, digital clocks, and time in word form with a set of printable Telling Time to the Hour and Half Hour Clock Puzzles.
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Multiplication Array Puzzles
Guide your students to match arrays, multiplication facts and repeated addition sentences with this set of puzzles.
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Long I Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘long i’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Maths Mazes (Equivalent Fractions, Decimals and Percentages)
Determine equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages in this puzzling maths maze.
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Spooky 3-Digit Subtraction - Maze Game
Practise three-digit subtraction with regrouping skills with printable Halloween Subtraction Maze worksheets.
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Adding and Subtracting Integers - Tarsia Puzzle
Practise adding and subtracting integers with a printable Tarsia puzzle!
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Natural Resources Word Search
Review the different natural resources with a word search.
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Long OO Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘long oo’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Decimal Patterns Maths Mazes
Find your way through this set of maths mazes by determining the addition or subtraction pattern in a sequence of decimal numbers.
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Telling Time Puzzle - Quarter Hour
A fun puzzle to use when learning how to tell the time to the quarter-hour, using the language of 'past' and 'to'
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Percy's Place Value Puzzle
A worksheet to use to consolidate student understanding of place value to the thousands.
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Long A Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘long a’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
- Free Plan
Counting by 5's Maze
Get to the party by skip counting to 100 with our counting by 5’s worksheet.
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3 x Simple Dot-To-Dot Worksheets - Counting By Ones
3 fun dot-to-dot worksheets to use when learning to count by 1s.
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Complex Dot-to-dot – Skip Counting by Twos (Car) – Worksheet
A complex dot-to-dot where students demonstrate skip counting by twos.
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Tangram Activity
A poster showing examples of tangram shapes and a tangram template.
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Prefix Puzzles - Match Up Cards
Practise building, reading, and understanding the meaning of words with prefixes with a fun set of prefix puzzles.
- Free Plan
Mini-Mystery – Which Key Opens the Door?
Use knowledge of 2-D shapes and right angles to solve the mystery in this fun, logic-based activity.
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Complex Dot-to-dot – Skip Counting by Fives (Turtle) – Worksheet
A complex dot-to-dot where students demonstrate skip counting by fives.