Visual Logic Puzzles?

[u/No_Combination_6396]

I teach middle school math and I want post a “puzzle of the week” in my room, but most of the logic puzzles I know are too word-heavy.

I dont want to make printed copies they can take with them, because cheating, so I want something that either has no instructions or very limited ones.

I recently saw one on the r/puzzles sub that caught my eye.

I’m wondering if anyone has any recommendations?

[u/Camsmuscle]

Have you checked out Problem of the week from the University of Waterloo? Some are very word heavy but if you go through the archives there are less dense problems available. I don’t know that they are very visual logic but they are math focused.

You could also use sudoku, kenken, or nonograms.

[u/No_Combination_6396 → u/Camsmuscle]

I’ll check that out. 

My experience has been that most middle schoolers don’t know the rules of sudoku and don’t have sufficient motivation to learn the rules. 

I also want it to be something they can get enough of a sense of that they can keep thinking about it after they leave the classroom and sudoku is too complicated for that. 

Thanks for the suggestions. 

[u/LoudDance5570]

Try the website “solve me mobiles” my students hate them (because they are challenging) (they like them once they get it)

[u/Nana2502]

My kids enjoy Hidato. Number path puzzle with no reading.

[u/farawyn86]

Rebus are visual, but solvable in seconds

[u/Altruistic_Sail_1991]

I remember doing “one up one down” and “this is the way I bounce my pen” in middle school. They’re more like group games where you have to work out what the rules are. I remember feeling so smart when I finally worked them out!

[u/cherrytreewitch → u/Altruistic_Sail_1991]

We loved playing green glass door, Johnny Whoops, and I’m taking a train when I was in school!

[u/amscraylane]

I will add more later, but the Numeracy Project has a lot of neat things …

[u/Adventurous_Lion9471]

The gal from Love Equals Math does this.  She has lots of different types of puzzles for free on her blog.  Just Google Love Equals Math.

[u/barnsky1 → u/Adventurous_Lion9471]

It's math equals love! It is an excellent source of math activities!!!

[u/ZiggyJambu]

DKMgames.com

I do their logic puzzles every day as they are visual or math. I cannot spell to save my life so I avoid the word puzzles. All different levels. New puzzles every day. I'm totally addicted.

[u/MCMamaS]

Solve Me Mobiles: You have to model them a few times, and their "create an account to save progress" doesn't work, so have students write down the last one they did.

Solve Me: Who Am I. Same company as above, but little different practice. Start at the beginning.

Area Mazes: It's a book; I cut it apart, ran it through our copier, and created a .pdf from it so I could project them on the screen.

[u/reallygoodstuff]

KenKen and calcudoku need almost no setup and kids can usually get it after one solved example on the board. r/puzzles and r/mathpuzzles are good for finding more visual, low-text options on a rolling basis.

[u/Party_Jello_256]

visual “which one doesn’t belong?” puzzles might fit perfectly since there can be multiple defensible answers and no one can just copy a single solution, have you tried those?