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
- Free Plan
OW and OU Words - Word Search
Explore words containing ‘ow’ and ‘ou’ with this set of differentiated word searches.
- Free Plan
Counting by 5's Maze
Get to the party by skip counting to 100 with our counting by 5’s worksheet.
- Plus Plan
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.
- Plus Plan
Prefix, Suffix and Root Words Word Search
Identify terminology related to prefixes, suffixes and root words in this word search.
- Plus Plan
Maths Mazes (Equivalent Fractions, Decimals and Percentages)
Determine equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages in this puzzling maths maze.
- Plus Plan
Printable Maths Puzzles - Subtraction Tarsia
Print a set of 7 Tarsia puzzles to practise solving single-to-multi-digit subtraction problems.
- Plus Plan
Percy's Place Value Puzzle
A worksheet to use to consolidate student understanding of place value to the thousands.
- Plus Plan
Multiplication Array Puzzles
Guide your students to match arrays, multiplication facts and repeated addition sentences with this set of puzzles.
- Plus Plan
Polygon Puzzles - Multiplication Worksheets with Answers
Line the sum up with the corresponding answer.
- Plus Plan
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.
- Plus Plan
Mystery Pattern Grids (Addition)
Solve addition sums and interpret grid coordinates to reveal the picture.
- Plus Plan
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'
- Plus Plan
12- and 24-Hour Time Polygon Puzzle
A puzzle using 12- and 24-hour time.
- Plus Plan
Skip Counting Number Puzzles
A fun and engaging set of 10 number puzzles to help students skip count in the classroom.
- Plus Plan
Organic Shape Search Worksheet
A fun art activity to explore organic shape.
- Free Plan
Animal Adaptations Crossword Puzzle
Use an Animal Adaptations Crossword puzzle to review physiological, structural, and behavioural adaptation concepts.
- Plus Plan
2-Digit Multiplication Tarsia Puzzle - Basketball
Practise multiplying two-digit by two-digit numbers with a basketball-themed tarsia puzzle.
- Plus Plan
Spooky Sums Tarsia Puzzle – 3-Digit Addition
Practice three-digit addition skills with a Halloween pumpkin tarsia puzzle.
- Plus Plan
Cooperation Puzzles - Teamwork Activity
Explore the benefits of cooperation with a tangram-style team-building activity.
- Plus Plan
Perimeter and Area Digital Puzzles
Give students practice finding the area and perimeter of squares and rectangles with these digital area and perimeter puzzles.
- Plus Plan
Spooky 3-Digit Subtraction - Maze Game
Practise three-digit subtraction with regrouping skills with printable Halloween Subtraction Maze worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Kindness Word Search
Download a printable word search about kindness to explore this important aspect of social awareness with your students.
- Plus Plan
Long I Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘long i’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
- Plus Plan
Maths Mazes (Multiplication and Division)
Solve these mazes by manipulating numbers using multiplication and division skills.
- Plus Plan
3 x Simple Dot-To-Dot Worksheets - Counting By Ones
3 fun dot-to-dot worksheets to use when learning to count by 1s.
- Plus Plan
Complex Dot-to-dot – Skip Counting by Fives (Turtle) – Worksheet
A complex dot-to-dot where students demonstrate skip counting by fives.
- Free Plan
Complex Dot-to-dot – Skip Counting by Twos (Car) – Worksheet
A complex dot-to-dot where students demonstrate skip counting by twos.
- Plus Plan
Water Cycle Crossword Puzzle
Review water cycle vocabulary with a crossword puzzle.
- Plus Plan
Long E Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘long e’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
- Plus Plan
Long OO Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘long oo’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
- Plus Plan
Mini-Mystery – Who Drank the Teacher's Coffee?
A fun, logic-based activity where students read clues to solve the mystery.
- Plus Plan
Addition Maze – Dog and Bone Worksheet
A worksheet to use to practise finding missing addends.