Brain Teasers

About this resource

Brain teasers for grades 3-8: 40 puzzle cards in five kinds, with a teacher answer key for every card. Students read, think, try and check; you read the answer from the key and see why it fits. Worksheets with room to work, a log and a weekly roll-up turn a few minutes of puzzle time into something you can use all year.

EVERYTHING INSIDE — 38 pages

• 40 brain teaser cards in 5 kinds of 8, cut apart 2 across and 4 down so each cut is one straight line: Riddles, Logic Puzzles, Think Sideways, Number Patterns and Word Puzzles
• A 3-page teacher answer key: the answer to every card and why it fits, with "also accept" where a riddle has another good answer
• Try One Together: a worked riddle, step by step (read it twice, find the clues, make a guess, check every clue), with an invented student
• My Puzzle Helper: 24 phrases in 3 groups of 8 (ways to get started, words for my idea, ways to help a friend), plus two sentence starters
• Number Detective: 4 number patterns, find the rule and write the next two numbers
• Logic Grid: one puzzle with 3 friends, 3 pets and 4 clues, to fill in
• Word Lab: 4 scrambled words to unscramble in letter boxes, plus a space for the student's own scramble
• My Thinking Space: two big work boxes for any card
• Make My Own Riddle: three clue lines, an answer, a drawing box and a three-circle riddle check
• Which Puzzles Do I Like?: a class graph with 5 rows of 12 squares to color
• Two answer sheets (20 numbers each, 40 in all)
• 8 blank cards for the class's own puzzles
• A how-to page, a Puzzle Time Plan (5 steps and a 5-day planner) and a Hints, Not Answers page for the 5 kinds
• A Puzzle Log (20 rows: date, card number, kind, tried it, on their own, with a hint, initials)
• A weekly roll-up (8 weeks) with a percent graph
• A filled example: an invented class, one week on the log, three weeks on the roll-up and the cards used by kind
• A family page with 6 small cards to cut apart, 3 riddles to try at home with answers, and a note home
• A hand-off page so another adult or room runs puzzle time the same way
• A phrase bank: 23 lines in 6 groups (spoken lines for puzzle time, written starters for the log, the roll-up and the note home)
• A storage and binder label sheet: 12 labels and a spine strip
• Start Here, a contents page that maps every page, and a "what's next" back page

The Cards

What has hands but cannot clap? A rooster lays an egg on a roof, which way does it roll? 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, what comes next? Every puzzle is a classic or a pattern, and every answer is in the key. Logic answers were worked out by listing every possible order or total, and number answers are figured from their rule. All puzzles are wholesome everyday ones, and every character is invented.

The Worksheets

Every student page has a "My name" line, one short instruction with a picture, big rounded words, and room to write, draw or color. Students check their own thinking against the clues, not against a score.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

It is a fillable PDF: type into the name lines, the answer sheets, the writing lines, the grid, the log, the roll-up, the family page, the hand-off page and the blank cards, or print and use a pen. It works offline with no account or subscription. It is NOT an editable online slideshow or word-processor document.

Who This Is For

Classroom teachers, special education teachers, counselors and paraprofessionals who want a fun, quiet way to get students thinking in grades 3-8, early finishers, sub plans and brain breaks, and the families who get the home page.

More In The Collection

This set is in the Visual Supports Collection, alongside Empathy Task Cards and Worksheets, Bucket Filler: Kind Acts Picture Story Cards and Bucket Tracker, and Perspective Taking Task Cards and Worksheets. Free to try first: Visual Supports Starter Set FREE.

Pictures: Noto Emoji by Google, Apache License 2.0.