15-Scratch and 24-Scratch are great games for almost anywhere you have a few spare minutes. You don’t need anything at all to play them, but it helps if you have something to write on and something to write with. A more complicated version allows more operations and can entertain people for hours. If you write the numbers from 1 to 100 on a board with space beside each one, students can put up their solutions over several days.

This puzzle is essentially a Latin square with addition. All you really need to know is how to add single-digit numbers, although subtraction is also useful. Once you’ve spend a few minutes sorting out which numbers mean what, you’re ready to start puzzling! Can you figure out the rules from this solved puzzle? Getting started Classroom demonstration 4x4 puzzles (and solutions , just in case) 5x5 puzzles (and solutions ) 6x6 puzzles (and solutions ) Puzzles in three sizes Once you’ve mastered these, you might enjoy creating your own puzzles: just start with the tick and X-marks, work out the sums, then decide how many of the sums to give as clues.

These puzzles come in four levels. To make it easier to keep track within a level I photocopy the puzzles (double-sided) on different colours of paper, say puzzle 1 and 2 on blue, 3 and 4 on yellow, etc. Level 1 involves only 13 dominoes. These are very popular with the K-3 crowd. Some children may need a little encouragement to get started: Which pieces do we know for sure?

Can you figure out the rules from this solved puzzle? Check here to see if you’ve figured it out. This is one of most accessible of all the puzzles. All you need to be able to do is count! It’s fun for primary students to have coloured counters to put in the blanks. This also reduces any concern they might feel about having a number in the wrong place, as it is very easy to fix.

An Euler square, almost completed. I love these puzzles! They are visually appealing, with bright colours and distinct shapes rather than numbers or letters; they require puzzlers to be very clear about which rules they are using; there are thousands of solutions for each level; and solutions can be found via many approaches. Children are often quicker than adults at finding solutions,which makes them feel justifiably proud of their abilities.

Can you figure out the rules of the game from its solution? Rectangles connects arithmetic and geometry. For students who have already started multiplication and division this puzzle makes factoring tangible. For students who are just learning about multiplication, the puzzle provides a concrete introduction to multiplication as repeated addition. getting-started downloadable puzzles for everyone from about grade 4 and up classroom demonstration for about grade 4 and up downloadable puzzles for (approximately) grades 2-4 classroom demonstration for (about) grades 2-4 Find more puzzles for younger students at Math in English , where they are called Shikaku.