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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Animal Classification Word Search Pack - Lower Grades
Introduce your students to the six animal types/classes with a pack of printable animal word search worksheets.
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Days of the Week - Months of the Year Word Search
Practice spelling the days of the week and months of the year with printable Day and Month Word Search worksheets.
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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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Animal Adaptations Crossword Puzzle
Use an Animal Adaptations Crossword puzzle to review concepts related to physiological, structural, and behavioral adaptations.
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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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Dot Day Division Tarsia Puzzle
Practice dividing two-digit by one-digit numbers with a Dot Day tarsia puzzle.
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Dot Day Multiplication Tarsia Puzzle
Practice multiplying single-digit numbers and create a masterpiece with a Dot Day tarsia puzzle.
- Free Plan
Missing Part Path - Find the Missing Number Worksheet
Practice using various subtraction strategies with a fun dice-roll math maze.
- Free Plan
Integer Number Sentences - Tarsia Puzzle
Practice solving addition and subtraction number sentences involving integers with a printable Tarsia puzzle!
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April Fool’s Day Jokes - Codebreaker Worksheets
Have some fun decoding silly April Fools' Day Jokes with a pack of codebreaker worksheets!
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2-Digit Multiplication Tarsia Puzzle — Basketball-Themed
Practice multiplying two-digit by two-digit numbers with a basketball-themed tarsia puzzle for 4th or 5th grade.
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Long OO Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common “long oo” spelling patterns with this set of differentiated word searches.
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OW and OU Words - Word Search
Explore "ou" and "ow" words with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Mini-Mysteries – Interactive PowerPoint
A set of 10 interactive, logic-based activities where students read clues to solve each mystery.
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Syllable Puzzles - Apple-Themed Activity
Practice segmenting, blending, and identifying types of syllables in words with a set of apple themed puzzles.
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Back to School Emoji Code Breaker Worksheets
Use this emoji code breaker worksheet as a back to school activity with your students.
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Math Mazes (Equivalent Fractions, Decimals, and Percentages)
Determine equivalent fractions, decimals, and percentages with this puzzling math maze.
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Find It! - Sight Word Worksheets
Make your sight word instruction fun with this word search puzzle.
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Math Mazes - Two-digit Addition
Practice adding two-digit numbers with this set of differentiated math mazes.
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Math Mazes – Factors
A set of math mazes that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of factors.
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Adverb Crossword – Worksheet
A crossword for students to review different adverbs.
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Olympics Word Search – Lower Grades
A word search related to the Olympics.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 1 - Caterpillar
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting to 100 by 1's.
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Compound Words Tarsia Puzzle
Match the compound words with their matching word parts to solve this Compound Word Tarsia Puzzle.
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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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Elapsed Time - Math Maze Worksheets
Find start times, end times, and time elapsed to find your way through our printable Elapsed Time Math maze worksheets.
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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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Area Model Multiplication Small Group Activity
Review multiplication using the area model with this small group activity.
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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 Activity Sheets Workbook
Have a blast completing the fun activities in this printable Christmas activity book for upper grades.
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2 Digit Place Value Puzzles
Teach students the different representations of 2-digit numbers with this place value puzzle.
- Free Plan
The Day of the Dead Word Search
Introduce vocabulary surrounding the Mexican holiday known as “The Day of the Dead” with a printable word search.