Why You Should Use Math Puzzles in Your Classroom
One of my favorite ways to start my math block each day is with a math puzzle. They are a great way to quickly grab students’ attention and engage them in doing math!
While math puzzles are great motivators and fun for students, they are also packed full of math learning opportunities.
Read on to learn some of the amazing benefits of using math puzzles in your classroom!
Benefits of Math Puzzles
- Builds concentration as students are determined to solve the puzzles!
- Strengthens critical thinking and problem solving skills.
- Helps students build fluency with numbers.
- Helps kids develop strategic thinking.
- Challenges kids to think creatively.
- Encourages kids to think outside the box and look for alternative strategies.
- Teaches algebraic thinking skills
- Strengthens communication skills as student share strategies and solutions to puzzles.
- Help students persevere with a challenging activity.
- Makes math fun and motivates students!
As you can see, there are many benefits to using math puzzles in the classroom.
You probably also noticed that all of the benefits I listed above are also skills we want to strengthen and build in our math students.
When Can I Use Math Puzzles?
Math puzzles have so many opportunities to be used during your math class. Here are some of the ways I have used them:
- Math warm ups- project a puzzle on the screen at the start of math class. This is a great way to get kids engaged in math right away!
- Math centers- print puzzles out and put them in a dry erase sleeve, or laminate them. Students use a dry erase marker to solve the puzzles, and clean them off when done. you can put an answer key in the math center for them to check their work.
- Early finishers- this is a great activity for students who finish their work early. They are still engaged in math and building beneficial math skills!
Have I convinced you of the benefits of using math puzzles in your classroom?
All of the puzzles you see in this post are available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
If you are interested in trying out a set of puzzles for FREE, you can grab a set of 10 puzzles for free by clicking HERE!
