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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Number Wordsearch with Solution - 2
A number search to help your students to learn place value.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 3 - Grasshopper
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting by 3's to 366.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 2 - Frog
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting by 2’s to 126.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 2 - Alien
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting by 2’s to 200.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 1 - Elephant
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting to 100.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 3 - Kite
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting by 3’s to 69.
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Antonyms Polygon Puzzle
Match antonym pairs with an engaging opposite words tarsia puzzle.
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Integers Polygon Puzzle
A puzzle using positive and negative numbers in number sentences.
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Tangram Activity
A poster showing examples of tangram shapes and a tangram template.
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Santa's Reindeer - Christmas Word Search
Help Santa find his reindeer in time for the holidays with our Christmas word search.
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Polygon Puzzles - Division
A set of 7 polygon puzzles to practice solving division number sentences.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Alphabet - Monkey
Join the dots in alphabetical order to make a picture.
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Percy's Place Value Puzzle
A worksheet to use to practice place value to the thousands place.
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Telling Time Math Mazes - 5 Minutes
Tell time to the nearest five-minute mark and have fun with a printable pack of Telling Time math mazes.
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Clock Reading Puzzles- Half-Hour
Practice reading analog 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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Rhetorical Devices Crossword
Familiarize your students with the most common rhetorical devices with an engaging crossword puzzle.
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Bowerbird Word Search
Explore the vocabulary surrounding the world of Bowerbirds with this printable word search.
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Cooperation Puzzles - Team-Building Activity
Explore the benefits of cooperation with a tangram-style team-building activity.
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Tarsia Puzzle - Telling Time for 1st Grade
Solve the tarsia puzzle and practice matching digital times with their corresponding word forms.
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Tacky Christmas Sweater Problem Solving Activity
Build visual discrimination skills and focus on attention to detail with an Ugly Christmas sweater 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 Math Puzzle - Counting to 10
Count groups up to 10 with a printable Christmas math puzzle.
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Christmas Activity Sheets Workbook
Have a blast completing the fun activities in this printable Christmas activity book for upper grades.
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Kindergarten Math Activity - Christmas Addition Facts Up to 10 Puzzle
Review addition facts up to 10 with a printable Christmas math activity for Kindergarten.
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Addition to 20 Activity - Winter Math Puzzle for 1st Grade
Practice addition facts up to 20 with a printable winter math puzzle for kindergarten and first-grade students.
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Candy Cane Activity - Double Digit Subtraction Tarsia Puzzle
Practice double-digit subtraction with regrouping with a Christmas candy cane activity.
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Place Value Worksheets for 2nd Grade - Thanksgiving Math Mazes
Save the turkey and match numbers, words, and expanded forms of numbers with a fun set of printable 2nd-grade Thanksgiving Math maze worksheets.
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Vowel Teams Picture Puzzle
Practice 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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Thanksgiving Dot to Dot Worksheets
Practice counting up to 40 and create beautiful Thanksgiving art using a set of printable Thanksgiving Connect the Dots Printables.
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Thanksgiving Puzzle Book - 3rd and 4th Grade
Have a blast completing the fun activities in this printable Thanksgiving puzzle book for 3rd grade and 4th graders.