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
- Plus Plan
Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 3 - Eel
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting by 3’s to 130.
- Plus Plan
Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 3 - Cat
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting by 3’s to 183.
- Plus Plan
Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 2 - Frog
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting by 2’s to 126.
- Plus Plan
Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 2 - Dinosaur
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting by 2’s to 124.
- Plus Plan
Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 2 - Alien
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting by 2’s to 200.
- Plus Plan
Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 1 - Elephant
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting to 100.
- Plus Plan
Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 1 - Dove
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting to 100.
- Plus Plan
Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 1 - Arrow
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting to 30.
- Plus Plan
Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 3 - Kite
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting by 3’s to 69.
- Plus Plan
Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 2 - Anchor
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting by 2’s to 120.
- Plus Plan
Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 1 - Caterpillar
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting to 100 by 1's.
- Plus Plan
Underwater Escape! - Maze
A fun marine themed maze for students to complete when learning about oceans.
- Plus Plan
Visual Brainteaser Task Cards
A set of 20 visual brainteaser task cards for kids.
- Plus Plan
Polygon Puzzle - Fractions, Decimals, and Percentages
A polygon puzzle using equivalent fractions, decimals, and percentages.
- Free Plan
Antonyms Polygon Puzzle
Match antonym pairs with an engaging opposite words tarsia puzzle.
- Plus Plan
Blank Puzzle Pieces - Portrait and Landscape
A portrait and landscape blank puzzle template.
- Plus Plan
Number Matching Puzzle - Division
A hands-on game to play when learning about dividing numbers.
- Plus Plan
Number Matching Puzzle - Multiplication
A hands-on game to play when learning about multiplying numbers.
- Plus Plan
Number Matching Puzzle – Addition
A hands-on game to play when learning about adding larger numbers.
- Plus Plan
Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 10 - Horse
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting by 10’s to 620.
- Plus Plan
Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Counting by 5 - Dinosaur
A dot-to-dot worksheet to practice counting by 5’s to 170.
- Plus Plan
Tangram Treats - Tangram Puzzles
Have fun learning about shapes with a set of 36 tangram task cards separated into three levels, along with two tangram cut-out templates.
- Plus Plan
Money Puzzles - US Currency
A set of 11 money puzzles.
- Plus Plan
Tangram Activity
A poster showing examples of tangram shapes and a tangram template.
- Plus Plan
Computer Word Search with Solution
A fun word search to help your students learn and work with computer related vocabulary.
- Plus Plan
Grammar Word Search with Solution
A word search to help your students learn a variety of grammatical terms.
- Plus Plan
Identifying Odd Numbers - Worksheet
A worksheet for students to practice identifying odd numbers.
- Plus Plan
Identifying Even Numbers - Worksheet
Practice identifying even numbers with this fun maze activity.
- Plus Plan
Italian Words Word Search
A Word Search using Italian words.
- Plus Plan
Penny's Place Value Puzzle
A worksheet to practice place value to the hundreds.
- Plus Plan
Rio - Word Search
A Rio themed word search to use in the classroom.
- Plus Plan
3D Shapes and Their Attributes - Puzzles
Explore the names and properties of some of the most common 3D shapes with this set of 8 puzzles.