Maths puzzles are one of the most exciting ways to encourage student engagement. Various logical puzzles and math riddles provide students some age-appropriate challenges to encourage problem-solving and analytical thinking. Maths Puzzles can be used in classroom gamification and to inspire students to tackle problems they might have previously seen as too difficult.
Few Benefits of Solving Math Puzzles:
- Games help to develop a child’s reasoning skills making them logical thinkers.
- Games help relate math to a practical situation.
- The child starts thinking analytically, which helps them to get different approaches to a particular problem.
- With games, students learn to understand the reasoning behind various math concepts.
- Math Puzzle cards improve a child’s engagement level to develop their interest in maths.
- By working on puzzle cards, a child’s brain develops to a much greater extent when compared to their grade level.
Here are the five best math puzzles to engage your students:
Math Riddles
Students like to play with word problems. Giving them some math riddles that combine critical thinking with necessary math skills helps them learn math. The level of difficulty of these puzzles should be age-appropriate to challenge their problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
Pre-algebraic Puzzles
Pre-algebraic puzzles are a useful means of getting students ready to perform essential functions and encourage them to build problem-solving skills. These puzzles are ideal for promoting abstract reasoning. It is the right way of challenging students to think critically about the problems in front of them. It also aids students suffering from math anxiety. The absence of complicated equations reassures them of no complexities while learning to make them more ready to try out solutions.
Math Crossword Puzzles
Take a crossword, and make it math: that’s the basic concept behind this highly adaptable math challenge. Instead of words, students use numbers to complete the vertical and horizontal stripes. Math crossword puzzles can be adapted to teach concepts like money, addition, or rounding off numbers.
Sudoku
Sudoku is a great after-class activity that promotes logical thinking and problem-solving in kids. You might have already played this classic puzzle, and it’s a great choice for your students. Sudoku puzzles often appear in newspapers and magazines around the world. There are hundreds of online resources that generate math puzzles based on the same difficulty level.
Geometry Puzzles
Geometry puzzles are the best way to learn the basics of geometry. Using geometry games like identifying the matching shapes, index cards to write and/or draw the outline, flashcards, etc., fasten a child’s interest in geometry. The content of these puzzles can be varying for every year as children grow in their understanding. It is also a great resource to be given as homework and for study sessions.
Solving math puzzles have many benefits for children. Puzzles stimulate a child’s brain to understand and apply logical thinking for problem-solving. This facilities young students to acquire skills they’ll need for the rest of their lives. Regardless of what higher studies they pursue, they will always find these skills useful. You can find some interesting and amazing math games on the Cuemath website.
Conclusion
Math puzzles allow students to develop foundational skills in many key skills and affect how students learn math practically and abstractly. You can also incorporate them in session for facilitating active learning and adaptive teaching. Instead of just teaching facts and formulas, math puzzles allow you to teach the fundamentals of math concepts. You can also use them to provide a valuable starting point for measuring how well students develop their critical thinking and abstract reasoning skills.
Also Read: How to Prevent Student Cheating During Remote Learning?
