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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Missing Addend Avenue - Find the Missing Number Worksheet
Practise using various subtraction strategies with a fun dice-roll math maze.
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Compound Words Crossword Puzzle Pack
Boost vocabulary skills with a pack of printable Compound Word Crossword Puzzles!
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Resilience Word Search
Use this resilience word search to immerse your students in the key vocabulary related to this important social-emotional skill.
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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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Spooky 3-Digit Subtraction - Maze Game
Practise three-digit subtraction with regrouping skills with printable Halloween Subtraction Maze worksheets.
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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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Missing Addend Addition Picture Puzzle – Level 2
Consolidate students’ addition skills with this missing addends worksheet.
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Healthy Foods Word Search
Healthy foods made fun with this Word Search.
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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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Compound Word Puzzles
Have fun combining words to make compound words with a fun set of compound word puzzles.
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Multiplying Decimals Maths Mazes
Complete decimal multiplication problems while finding your way through this set of three math mazes.
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Dividing Decimals Maths Mazes
Review how to divide a decimal by a decimal and a whole number with this set of maths mazes.
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Telling the Time Year 2 Tarsia Puzzle
Solve the tarsia puzzle and practise matching digital times with their corresponding word forms.
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Decimal Notation Puzzles
Practice expanded notation, word form and standard form using decimals with this set of 13 three-piece puzzles.
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Animal Adaptations Crossword Puzzle
Use an Animal Adaptations Crossword puzzle to review physiological, structural, and behavioural adaptation concepts.
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Tacky Jumper Problem Solving & Observation Activity
Build visual discrimination skills and focus on attention to detail with an Ugly Christmas jumper Problem-Solving Activity.
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Christmas Maze Printables - Holiday Vocabulary
Boost vocabulary skills and bring some Christmas spirit to your classroom with a pair of printable Christmas vocabulary worksheets!
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Christmas Activity Printables - Holiday Puzzles
Have some word-friendly Christmas fun with a pack of printable Christmas word games for kids.
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Christmas Maths Puzzle - Counting to 10
Count groups up to 10 with a printable Christmas maths puzzle.
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Christmas Activity Sheets Workbook
Have a blast completing the fun activities in this printable Christmas activity sheet workbook.
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Jingle Jumble - Free Christmas Find-a-Word
Use a Christmas Find-a-Word printable to build vocabulary and spelling skills in your classroom this Christmas season.
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Holiday Maths Puzzle - Addition Up to 10
Review addition facts to 10 with a printable Christmas maths puzzle.
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Christmas Maths Puzzle - Addition Facts to 20
Practise addition facts up to 20 with a printable Winter maths puzzle for Year 1 students
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Candy Cane Activity - 2 Digit Subtraction Tarsia
Practise two digit subtraction with regrouping with a Tarsia Puzzle candy cane activity.
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Vowel Digraphs Picture Puzzle
Practise decoding words with long vowel team conventions with this 15 piece picture puzzle.
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Perimeter of Composite Shapes Maze
Use this perimeter maze when teaching your students how to calculate the perimeter of composite shapes.
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Heat Energy Word Search
Help students remember heat energy vocabulary with this word search.
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Remembrance Day Connect the Dot Worksheets
Practice counting up to 50 and create beautiful Remembrance art using a set of printable Remembrance Day Connect the Dots Printables.
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Expanded Form Match Up Puzzles
Practise matching standard numbers to their expanded form with your students using this fun, hands-on number puzzle.
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Electricity Crossword
Review vocabulary for electricity concepts with a science crossword puzzle.
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Energy and Electricity Crossword Puzzle
Reinforce science vocabulary with a free energy and electricity crossword puzzle.
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Estimating Sums & Differences Maths Mazes
Sharpen your students’ rounding and estimation skills with a set of maths mazes.