Tarsia Puzzles for Teachers

Explore tarsia puzzles created by teachers for your primary classroom! This collection of Australian curriculum-aligned teaching resources is full of options designed to engage students more deeply in the learning process and help you lesson plan!

Not familiar with this fun puzzle type? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!

What Is a Tarsia Puzzle?

You've heard of crosswords, jigsaws and other types of puzzles, but maybe you're not familiar with tarsia puzzles? That's OK!

Sometimes called formulate tarsia, these are actually a type of jigsaw puzzle that involves arranging geometric shapes or cards to form a coherent pattern or solution.

Each piece of a tarsia puzzle has a question or answer in it, and matching the pieces together correctly is part of solving the problem.

How to Use a Tarsia Puzzle in the Classroom

Tarsia puzzles often show up in maths classrooms for teaching algebra concepts, but they can be adapted for other subjects as well.

In science, for example, you could have your students match animal names with their corresponding habitats or characteristics. You could also adapt the puzzle type to English class, having students pair words with their synonyms or antonyms.

Explore our whole collection of these fun puzzles for more ideas from our teacher team!