Logic Puzzles for Teachers

Bring the fun of logic puzzles for kids into your classroom with printable and digital challenges created especially for the primary classroom by the Teach Starter team of teachers.

Including riddles, sudoku puzzles, codebreakers and mini mysteries that students can complete as individual tasks or a whole-class challenge, this collection of logic puzzles will help your students hone their problem-solving skills, develop critical thinking and build their logical reasoning abilities — all while having fun!

Each curriculum-aligned teaching resource has undergone a thorough review by an expert teacher on our teaching team, so you know it's ready for your classroom and your lesson plans!

Looking for fresh ways to use logic puzzles in the classroom? Read on for a primer from our teacher team.

What Is a Logic Puzzle? A Kid-Friendly Definition

If you're introducing this fun teaching tool to the classroom, how do you explain it to your students? Try this kid-friendly definition from our teacher team!

A logic puzzle is a fun challenge that makes you think. It's like a game that requires you to solve a problem by figuring out clues and using your logical thinking skills.

The puzzle will give you some information, like hints or rules. You get to use that information to solve the puzzle and find the answer!

Logic puzzles give us a chance to be detectives! We can put all the puzzle pieces together to solve a mystery while we practise our thinking skills.

Types of Logic Puzzles

Curious about the different types of logic puzzles that are perfect for engaging kids in the classroom? Let's dive in!

Sudoku

Sudoku is a challenging number-based grid puzzle that dates back to the 18th century! To complete this puzzle type, students are given clues and have to fill in missing numbers.

Each puzzle consists of a 9x9 grid divided into nine 3x3 boxes. Some of the squares are pre-filled with numbers, and the goal is to fill in the remaining empty squares with numbers from 1 to 9. Sudoku is based on a rule that no number can be repeated within a row, column or small square.

Riddles

Riddles are fun puzzles that require kids to decipher clues and make logical deductions to arrive at a solution.

Often based on wordplay, riddles help kids build their lateral thinking abilities and require kids to make connections between different pieces of information. With ambiguous or deceptive language, these puzzles help build students reading comprehension skills as they have to make logical inferences and read between the lines to uncover the underlying meaning and solve the puzzle.

Codebreaker Puzzles

Codebreaker puzzles allow kids to play spy as they use logic to decode secret messages or break a hidden code using logical reasoning and deduction.

Students are presented with a coded message — often using symbols, numbers, or a substitution cipher (where each symbol represents a different letter or word). The task is to then decipher the code by analysing patterns, making logical connections and using deductive reasoning to match symbols with their corresponding letters or words.

Pattern Puzzles

Puzzles that involve recognising and continuing a pattern or sequence of shapes, numbers or objects are a great example of a logic puzzle that helps kids develop a host of skills from pattern recognition to logical inferencing to abstract thinking.

Because these puzzles challenge kids to identify the underlying pattern or rule governing a set of elements and then use that knowledge to predict or complete the next element in the series, they're a great tool for challenging students to make connections.

Are Logic Puzzles Good for Your Brain?

Your students may have heard their parents or grandparents talking about doing logic puzzles to keep their brains sharp and ask you if these puzzles are really good for the brain.

The answer is, well, complicated. There aren't conclusive studies specific to logic puzzles that say they're going to help our students' brains (or adult brains for that matter). Still, there are benefits to doing puzzles overall that are worth considering:

• Research has found that completing puzzles causes the body to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps regulate our moods and is also linked to our memory and concentration.
• Researchers have also found that the cognitive stimulation of working on a puzzle reinforces connections between our brain cells.
• Puzzles work both sides of our brain — the left side, which controls logical thinking, and the right side, which controls creativity.
• Some researchers say that doing daily puzzles can actually increase your IQ score.