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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Blending Phonemes - Word Puzzles
Practise blending sounds to encode and decode words with these hands-on word puzzles.
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Basketball Crossword
Use this basketball-themed crossword as a fast finisher activity.
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Long A Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘long a’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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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.
- Free Plan
Goods and Services Word Search
Stretch your students’ business vocabulary with this economics-focused word search that features examples of goods and services.
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Pirate's Treasure – Maze Quest
A fun pirate-themed maze for students to complete.
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Complex Dot-to-dot – Skip Counting by Threes (Castle) – Worksheet
A complex dot-to-dot where students demonstrate skip counting by threes.
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Complex Dot-to-dot – Skip Counting by Sevens (Wolf) – Worksheet
A complex dot-to-dot where students demonstrate skip counting by sevens.
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Mini-Mystery – Who Killed the Class Plant? – Interactive PowerPoint
An intriguing mystery where students use their problem-solving skills to determine the culprit.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Numbers by 2 - Anchor
Join the dots and numbers to make a picture.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Numbers by 5 - Robot
Join the dots and numbers to make a picture.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Numbers by 5 - Helicopter
Join the dots and numbers to make a picture.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Numbers by 3 - Cat
Join the dots and numbers to make a picture.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Numbers by 1 - Dove
Join the dots and numbers to make a picture.
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British Colonisation of Australia - Crossword
A crossword activity to use in the classroom when learning about the British Colonisation of Australia.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Numbers by 5 - Dinosaur
Join the dots and numbers to make a picture.
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Christmas Maze Vocabulary Activity
Enhance your students’ vocabulary with this Christmas maze printable, a festive vocabulary activity that makes learning meaningful while having fun.
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Differentiated Winter Word Find Pack
Add a frosty twist to your seasonal studies with a winter word find puzzle.
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Easy Halloween Word Search for Early Years
Build a wickedly-good vocabulary with our easy Halloween word search for early years.
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Halloween Connect the Dots Worksheets (1-50)
Practise counting up to 50 with a set of fun Halloween Connect the Dots worksheets.
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Halloween Sudoku Worksheets
Bring logical thinking and problem-solving fun into your classroom this October with Halloween Sudoku worksheets for kids.
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Spring Word Search Puzzle
Search, find, and celebrate spring in your classroom with a fun Spring Word Search Puzzle.
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Noun and Verb Sentence Puzzles
Use this nouns and verbs game puzzle to help students identify nouns and their matching verbs while building simple sentences in a fun, hands-on way.
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Scientific Method Crossword Puzzle
Use a Scientific Method crossword puzzle to review key vocabulary words surrounding science inquiry.
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Alphabet Puzzle Uppercase and Lowercase Activity
Use this hands-on matching activity to support students' recognition of lowercase and uppercase letters.
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States of Matter Word Find - Upper Years
Use a States of Matter word search to introduce your upper-years students to new academic vocabulary.
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Summer Paralympics Word Search - Early Years
Build vocabulary related to the Summer Paralympic Games with this engaging word search puzzle for early years students.
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Picture-Based Sudoku for Kids
Use this set of sudoku for kids to enhance your students’ problem-solving and creative thinking skills.
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Counting Picture Puzzle Numbers 1-5
Practise counting objects within 5 and matching groups to numbers through this 15-piece camping scene picture puzzle
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Time in Minutes - Maths Maze Worksheets
Tell time to the nearest minute while finding your way through this set of 3 Telling Time to the Minute maths 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.