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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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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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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12- and 24-Hour Time Polygon Puzzle
A puzzle using 12- and 24-hour time.
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Secret Code Number Line - Worksheet
Crack the number line code with five number line codebreaker worksheets to practice number identification, addition, and subtraction.
- 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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Telling Time Maths Mazes - 5 Minutes
Tell time to the nearest five-minute mark and make maths fun with a printable pack of Telling Time maths mazes.
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Dot Day Division Tarsia Puzzle
Practise dividing two-digit by one-digit numbers with a Dot Day tarsia puzzle.
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Long E Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘long e’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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OW and OU Words - Word Search
Explore words containing ‘ow’ and ‘ou’ with this set of differentiated word searches.
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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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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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Back to School Word Search Worksheets
Warm up your students’ vocabulary skills with this set of Back to School word searches.
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Decimals on Number Lines – Codebreaker Worksheets
Crack the number line code with worksheets practising identification, addition, and subtraction of decimal numbers.
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2D Shape Match-up Puzzles
A set of puzzles that match up 2D shapes and their properties.
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Mystery Pattern Grids (Multiplication)
Students solve multiplication facts, interpret grid coordinates and draw shapes to reveal a mystery picture.
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Kindness Word Search
Download a printable word search about kindness to explore this important aspect of social awareness with your students.
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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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Prefix, Suffix and Root Words Word Search
Identify terminology related to prefixes, suffixes and root words in this word search.
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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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Polygon Puzzles - Multiplication Worksheets with Answers
Line the sum up with the corresponding answer.
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Healthy Foods Word Search
Healthy foods made fun with this Word Search.
- Free Plan
Heat Energy Word Search
Help students remember heat energy vocabulary with this word search.
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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.
- Free Plan
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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Polygon Puzzles - Division Worksheets
Line the sum up with the corresponding answer.
- Free Plan
Personal Qualities Word Search
Explore different personal qualities with your students with this printable personal qualities word search.
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Short OO Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘short oo’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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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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2 Digit Place Value Puzzles
Teach students the different representations of 2-digit numbers with this place value puzzle.
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Estimating Sums & Differences Maths Mazes
Sharpen your students’ rounding and estimation skills with a set of maths mazes.
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Spooky 3-Digit Subtraction - Maze Game
Practise three-digit subtraction with regrouping skills with printable Halloween Subtraction Maze worksheets.
- Free Plan
Natural Resources Word Search
Review the different natural resources with a word search.