St Patrick's Day Logic Puzzle Bundle

Brain-teasers to build critical thinking skills are great as transitions, bell-ringers, sub plans! This bundle of 6 St Patrick's Day challenges using some math skills, some reading skills, but mostly they are for building critical thinking skills. My middle school students love having the choice of all six of these - the "easier" puzzles with only one dimension are great for students just learning how to think critically, the cryptograms are great for students who prefer word puzzles and the two-dimension puzzles are a great challenge for all students - great for partner work too!

I sit one of each out as a transition activity and let my students choose. Often, the students that solved the less complex puzzle came back and wanted to tackle the "harder" one next.

The traditional logic puzzles utilize arithmetic skills such as measurement in feet and inches, less than, more than, addition & subtraction, and multiplication, so even the more complex puzzles are not out of reach for a 5th-grade student, and the easier puzzles can still be challenging for 8th-grade students. The math isn't the "gatekeeper" here: the emphasis is on using a problem-solving mindset to use the clues given in order to solve the puzzle.

The cryptograms are two Irish-themed phrases, an Irish proverb and an Irish blessing.

• Proverb: A good friend is like a four-leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have
• Blessing: May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light, may good luck pursue you each morning and night.

My students love these puzzles! They are great for transition time, great when students need enrichment or something to do while other students finish their work. I also include them in emergency sub plans because they can be done with very little guidance - they just require persistence on the part of students :)

I have a ton of great logic puzzles! You can find them all right here:

The Science Vault's Logic Puzzles