Color Puzzles: Fun Math and Logic for Kids

Puzzles are a fun way to get our brains moving in clever and creative ways. They allow us to stretch our critical thinking skills and see relationships between the pieces of the puzzle. Your child will benefit but, to them, these puzzles will be just plain fun! Fun Math and Logic!

I use puzzle skills every day and I’ll bet you do too without thinking about it. I was about eight when my aunt taught me how to cut out and sew Barbie clothes. Putting all those tiny pieces together correctly was a puzzle for sure. Following a recipe is a puzzle. Some mornings getting everyone out the door on time is a puzzle!

Having Fun With Math and Logic

Math is so much more than just number recognition and basic facts. Math is actually the study of numbers, equations, functions, and geometric shapes and their relationships. Those relationships are all around us. Puzzles help us bring to life those relationships.

These four color puzzles are from Erich Friedman, a retired Professor of Mathematics.

Look up Erich if you find yourself in search of a new puzzle. Erich created every single one of these puzzles. They are amazing and incredible. Absolutely brilliant.

How to Play Color Puzzles

Print out the puzzles in color (because, after all, these aren’t the black and white puzzles!) and have red, green, blue and yellow colored pencils and a good eraser for each person. The object of the puzzle is to color the blocks so that no adjacent blocks are the same color.

Remind your kiddos to color those blocks lightly to make it easier to change colors when they realize they have two of the same color touching!

I love laminating! (I may have mentioned that a time or twelve) You might want consider laminating these puzzles and handing out dry erase markers in the four colors. It will make changing the colors in the blocks so much easier.

You can find the answers to these puzzles on Erich’s site.

Throw your email in the box below, and the printable will arrive in your inbox as if by magic!

If you choose to share this printable, which we hope you do, please first link to Erich’s site, and then share this post. Thank you!

The Science Behind the Importance of Puzzles

For Children

A University of Chicago study found that children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial skills .

“The children who played with puzzles performed better than those who did not, on tasks that assessed their ability to rotate and translate shapes,” said psychologist Susan Levine, a leading expert on mathematics development in young children.

Read more here: http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2012/02/15/puzzle-play-helps-boost-learning-important-math-related-skills#sthash.4iDTDIbD.dpuf

For Older Adults

It’s no secret that puzzles are said to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.  The Fischer Center for Alzheimers recently wrote about a study from the University of California, Berkeley with these findings:

Reading, writing, doing crossword puzzles and solving challenging puzzles may be linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Now a new study shows how mental stimulation may protect the brain. . . . 

“We report a direct association between cognitive activity and Pittsburgh compound B uptake, suggesting that lifestyle factors found in individuals with high cognitive engagement may prevent or slow deposition of beta-amyloid, perhaps influencing the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” the researchers write.

Read more here: https://www.alzinfo.org/articles/crossword-puzzles-alzheimers/

All that to say puzzles are fun and good for brain development and health at all ages! So get those puzzles out, friends. No matter how old your little ones are, puzzles are for everyone.

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Want a little more math fun?

Check out:

• Equals 26: A Triangle Math Game
• 4 Sums in a Row: Quick & Easy Math Game
• Fractions With Food: Hands-on Math
• Driveway Shuffleboard Math
• Street Signs for Early Literacy and Math Skill Building
• Mind-Blowing Math Tricks

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