Yesterday, I posted some “Creative Ways to Survive the Week Before Winter Break.” Interestingly, I used a couple of the ideas in centers with my 2nd graders yesterday, and none of them chose them! Instead, they flocked toward the logical activities around the room. So, just in case you, too, have a group of students (or even a handful) who have a decided preference for logical thinking challenges, here are some resources:
- Winter Sudoku – This site has different levels of difficulty. I ended up putting it on the interactive white board for the kids, and they loved it! It was one of the most popular stations.
- Funny Sudoku’s Winter Sudoku – This is another set of online sudoku puzzles with varying levels. However, you may need to adjust your zoom on your browser if you are going to try it on the IWB.
- Printable Winter Sudoku – You can find three printables here – easy, medium, and hard – using winter words.
- Some tried and true favorites from my blog archives – The 12 Days of Christmas (using Pascal’s triangle), Christmas Tree Light-Up, Christmas Ornaments Swap, Factory Balls Christmas Edition (a huge crowd-pleaser with my students!)
One resource I always forget to check (even though I have products listed on there!) is Teachers Pay Teachers. Here are some free logic packets you might want to download:
- Holiday Picture Logic Puzzle (for 5th grade and up)
- Winter Activity Book (K, 1, and 2)
- Holiday Word Challenge (2nd-6th)
- Holiday Puzzles (3rd-6th)
- Holiday Theme Logic Puzzles (4th-6th)
This one is NOT free (currently $10), but it’s 213 pages, and chock full of critical thinking activities for 1st-3rd. Personally, I think it’s well worth the money for this set of “Christmas Critical Thinking Puzzles,” that includes: Primarily Christmas Logic, Christmas Logic with a String of Lights, Christmas Analogies, Christmas Which One Doesn’t Belong?* I do not know Susan Morrow, the author of this set – and I am certainly not getting any money for advertising her product. But, I think it’s a great deal. Quite frankly, I am very jealous of her talent 😉
*You can also purchase a few of the included puzzle packs separately, if you prefer.
Another idea, which I plan to try with my older kids, is to have them design some Winter Kodable mazes (similar to the app), along with the coding solutions. This will let them use a bit of creativity along with their logical thinking skills!
More in this series:
