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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Back to School Word Search Worksheets
Warm up your students’ vocabulary skills with this set of Back to School word searches.
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Summer Words Word Search
Search and spell your way into summer with a fun Summer 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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Number Ordering Worksheet Set (Dot-to-Dot)
Share these dot-to-dot number ordering worksheet sets with your students to give them an engaging way to practise ordering two and three-digit numbers.
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Maths Mazes (Place Value)
Determine the correct paths through each maze using knowledge of place value.
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Winter Paralympics Word Search – Upper Years
Build vocabulary related to the Winter Paralympic Games with this engaging word search activity for upper primary students.
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Space Word Search
Review science vocabulary terms with an engaging space word search.
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Cooperation Puzzles - Teamwork Activity
Explore the benefits of cooperation with a tangram-style team-building activity.
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Maths Maze Worksheet Set (Ordering Numbers to 20)
Share this maths maze worksheet set with your students to give them practise ordering numbers from least to greatest.
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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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Kindness Word Search
Download a printable word search about kindness to explore this important aspect of social awareness with your students.
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Dot-to-Dot Worksheets – Counting by Ones
Use this set of 3 dot-to-dot worksheets to get your youngest students practising how to count by ones.
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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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Persuasive Devices Word Search
Familiarise your students with the most common persuasive devices with a fun word search.
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Numbers 1-20 Puzzle Pack
Identify and sequence the numbers from 1 to 20 with a set of Numbers 1-20 puzzles for kids.
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Animal Classes Word Search Pack - Upper Years
Review vocabulary related to animal classes and characteristics of animals with a pack of printable animal classification word searches.
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Spot the Difference Puzzles
A fun game for students to try and find the differences between two pictures.
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Book an Adventure! Book Week Word Search
Kick off this year’s ‘Book An Adventure’ Book Week festivities with a printable Book Week Word Search.
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Maze Puzzle Pack (Cat-Themed)
Challenge student thinking with this cat-themed maze puzzle pack.
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Classroom Icebreaker Game – Who Hacked Pixel Jump 5000?
A retro-style mystery game where students combine individual clues to reveal the solution.
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Complex Dot-to-dot – Skip Counting by Twos (Seahorses) – Worksheet
A complex dot-to-dot where students demonstrate skip counting by twos.
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Winter Paralympics Word Search – Early Years
Build vocabulary related to the Winter Paralympic Games with this engaging word search activity for younger students.
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Number Word Search Puzzles
Assign these number word search puzzles to your students to give them practise identifying the word form of the numbers 0 through 20.
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Number Ordering Puzzles
Help students order numbers up to 20 with a set of 8 cut-and-paste number ordering puzzles.
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Days of the Week - Months in a Year Word Search Worksheets
Practise reading and spelling the days of the week and months of the year with printable Day and Month Word Search worksheets.
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Personal Qualities Word Search
Explore different personal qualities with your students with this printable personal qualities word search.
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Picture Puzzles - Team Building Activity
Build classroom community with a set of team-building puzzles for primary students.
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Number Order Puzzles (Ordering Numbers to 1200)
Give your students these number order puzzles for a fun way to sharpen their skills in ordering numbers up to 1200.
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Skip Counting Puzzles
Practise skip counting and identifying multiples of numbers with printable skip counting puzzles for kids.
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Empathy Word Search
Introduce or review vocabulary terms related to empathy with this free word search worksheet.
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Secret Code Number Line - Worksheet
Crack the number line code with five number line codebreaker worksheets to practice number identification, addition, and subtraction.
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Rounding Numbers – Maths Mazes
Round numbers to various places while finding your way through this set of 5 maths mazes.