Brain games and puzzles
Maze Maker
Design your own maze on squared paper with one true path and lots of dead ends, then swap with a friend.
Thinking sheet · Brain games and puzzles
Picture Word Puzzles
Bee + leaf = belief! Turn words into picture puzzles (rebuses) and test them on a partner.
- Grades
- 2–5
- Time
- about 25 minutes
- Kids practice
- sounds in words, wordplay, visual thinking
What kids do
“Draw a word using pictures and plus signs. Can your partner guess it?”
- Four picture puzzles (fold the answer under)
- The puzzle that stumped everyone:
How to run it
- Show a few on the board: sun + flower, foot + ball, star + fish.
- Compound words are the easiest to start with.
- Hold a puzzle swap.
Talk about it
- Which words were easy to draw?
- What makes a puzzle fair?
- Can you draw a whole sentence?
Take it further
Write your name as a picture puzzle.
Pairs well with
Free for home and classroom use. Print as many copies as you need.
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Free for teachers
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12 printable pages: six step-by-step lessons, a grid activity, draw-and-write sheets and teacher notes, sent with your welcome email. After that, new classroom printables by email.