Puzzles for Teachers
Browse an extensive collection of printable puzzles, brain teasers, mazes, crosswords, digital activities and a whole lot more to challenge your elementary 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 or sub binder!
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 favorites 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 up written clues and require students to fill in a grid with words that intersect with each other.
- 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 practice 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, colors, 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 mazes to teach math or crossword puzzles in your reading centers, 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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Subtraction Tarsia Worksheets- Math Puzzles
Print a set of 7 Tarsia puzzles to practice solving single-to-multi-digit subtraction problems.
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Re- Prefix Crossword Puzzle
Review vocabulary skills and boost your students’ knowledge of the “Re-” prefix with a crossword puzzle worksheet.
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Weathering, Erosion, and Deposition – Word Search
Strengthen your students' understanding of weathering, erosion, and deposition terms with a vocabulary word search.
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Synonyms - Vocabulary Crossword Puzzle
Boost vocabulary skills with a fun synonym crossword puzzle.
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Free St. Patrick's Day Word Search Activity
Print a free St. Patrick's Day word search for some holiday word-find fun!
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Long O Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common “long o” graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Football Tarsia Puzzle - 2 Digit Addition
Print and assemble a football-themed tarsia puzzle to use when practicing two-digit addition skills.
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Football Word Search - Printable
Get ready for the big game with a fun Football-themed word search puzzle printable.
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Energy and Electricity Crossword Puzzle
Reinforce science vocabulary with an energy and electricity crossword puzzle.
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Equivalent Ratios – Math Mazes
Practice how to find equivalent ratios with this set of math mazes.
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Roaring Twenties Word Search
Build academic vocabulary skills with a Roaring Twenties word search for middle school students.
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Converting Units of Length - Math Mazes
Strengthen measurement conversion skills while converting units of length with this set of math mazes.
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Order of Operations Math Maze
Evaluate numerical expressions using the order of operations with this math maze!
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Word Search - Memorial Day Words for Upper Grades
Build vocabulary skills with this Memorial Day word search for upper grades.
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Rounding Numbers – Math Mazes
Round numbers to various places while finding your way through this set of 5 math mazes.
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Colonial America Word Search
Review vocabulary and terminology related to Colonial America with a word search activity.
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Fire Safety Word Search - Upper Elementary
Celebrate Fire Prevention Week this October with an engaging word search activity.
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Math Mazes (Place Value)
Determine the correct paths through each maze using knowledge of place value.
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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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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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Counting by 10's Maze
Find the fun and learn to skip count by 10s up to 100 with this engaging maze activity!
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Search and Find – Family Outing
A fun, search and find activity with a family outing scene.
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Find It! - Sight Word Worksheets
Make your sight word instruction fun with this word search puzzle.
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Mini-Mystery – Who Killed the Class Plant?
A fun, logic-based activity where students read clues to solve the mystery.
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Mini-Mystery – Who Broke the Window?
A fun, logic-based activity where students read clues to solve the mystery.
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2-D Shape Match-up Puzzles
A set of puzzles that match up 2-D shapes and their properties.
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Mini-Mystery – Who Owns the Dog?
A fun, logic-based activity where students read clues to solve the mystery.
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Mini-Mystery – Who Drank the Teacher's Coffee?
A fun, logic-based activity where students read clues to solve the mystery.
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Mini-Mystery – Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?
A fun, logic-based activity where students read clues to solve the mystery.
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Goods and Services Word Search
Stretch your students’ vocabulary and reading skills with this economics-focused word search that features examples of goods and services.
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Parts of Speech Word Search – Nouns, Proper Nouns, and Verbs – Worksheet
A word search where students find and categorize nouns, proper nouns, and verbs.
- Free Plan
Adverb Crossword – Worksheet
A crossword for students to review different adverbs.