January 29th is National Puzzle Day! Puzzles of all kinds help maintain the elasticity of the brain, not to mention our visual spatial skills and problem solving abilities.
Online resources:
- Puzzles for the Classroom
- Puzzlemaker tool generates word searches, math squares, cryptograms, and more.
- Brain Bashers
- Smart Kit online puzzle collection
- Cake Icing Puzzle demonstration
- Puzzle Cookies at the link were made from a special cookie cutter, but we think they’d make a fun class project with refrigerator cookie dough and picnic knives. Show students the picture and challenge them to figure out how to accomplish the cookies. Whether they succeed in creating buildable cookies or not, they’ll enjoy eating them.
- Othello with cookies
- Make a Frabjous, a wonderful puzzle made of 30 of the same simple shapes and designed by George Hart. Find good directions and an explanation of the geometry at the Evil Mad Scientist. The great thing about this project for the classroom is that each student can just cut a few of the shapes and then get together with classmates to do the construction. Hang them from the ceiling.
