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There’s at least one thing middle school teachers and students can agree on: Learning should be fun! Whether you’re reviewing a geometric proof or guiding students through a class novel, engaging work is more likely to make learning stick than regular lectures or textbook work.
Use these brain teasers for middle school students to push critical thinking skills beyond their daily studies. High quality resources featuring crossword puzzles, riddles, Rebus puzzles, and other types of brain teasers are sure to shoot those letters – and those hands in the air!
Rousing Riddles for Middle Schools
Riddles for children may be too easy for teenagers, while riddles for high school students may be too easy. Try these riddles as brain teasers for middle school students to practice their listening and reasoning skills.
- What uses keys but doesn’t lock?
- Tom hasn’t slept in 10 days, but he’s not tired. Why not?
- A truck driver is driving the wrong way on a one-way street, but there are no policemen to stop him. Why not?
Use daily puzzles to open up your class time
Let the kids know they’re in for a great time when class starts! Riddles make great ringers or warm-ups that engage students quickly, helping them transition to your next activity easily.
Brain Teasers for Second Graders | Puzzles | Riddles | Metal Instruments
By navigating through the center
Grades: 5th-11th
Topics: English language arts
Perfect as daily warm-ups or Friday features, these brain teasers are sure to entertain your middle schoolers before or after your ELA lesson. The resource comes with 51 slides, including a cover slide, 25 brain teasers with answers.
Warm Up Games, Brain Exercises, and Brain Breaks – Perfect for Zooming
By Brain Waves Instruction
Grades: 4th-7th
Topics: ELA Test Prep, Vocabulary
Need a no-nonsense way to get middle schoolers thinking critically? This resource has everything you need, including 100 puzzle activities called “Brain Blasters” that work well as warm-ups, lesson extenders, enrichment activities, listening comprehension centers, and more.
Wacky Word Puzzles for Junior High
Even the most reluctant students in your class can’t resist a good crossword puzzle. These middle school brain teasers are great fun for ELA classes, but they work anywhere on the schedule where students can use a challenge!
- Why do these words follow each other? FIT, LIPID, BIKINI, IVY, CAVE, EBI
- They include increasing numbers of Roman numerals (FIT, LIPID, BIKINIALIVE, CAVE, EVIL)
- What are the five things that always come up on the tennis court?
- Five vowels (A, E, IO, U)
- What starts with P, ends with E, and has thousands of letters?
Make sense from middle school word puzzles
If you have a list of word puzzles to choose from, your class will always be the students’ favorite of the day! Use these middle school word puzzles as teasers in the classroom when you’d like to get students really thinking. You can also use brain teasers for children of students working on learning English as a second language.
Word Puzzles Brain Exercises – Fun Logic Rebus Puzzle Word Sense Brain Break Game
By Presto Plans
Grades: 5th-10th
Topics: English language arts
Test the brain skills of middle school students with 100 engaging puzzles to get them thinking. A complete set of brain teasers challenges students to solve word-based puzzles, making them a great enrichment activity or a fun activity to finish first in class.
Middle School Math Puzzles
Maths can be confusing for teenagers – but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun! Provide middle school math puzzles if you’re looking for a fun way to reinforce CCSS math concepts, or to encourage students to think critically about the problem in front of them.
- If you multiply the number of toes that everyone in the world has, how many toes do you get?
- 0 (because at least one person has no toes)
- When does 7 + 10 = 5?
- When 7 hours + 10:00 = 5:00
- How can you get to 1,000 using eight 8s?
- 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1,000
Develop high performance skills with brain teasers
Students with strong performance skills do well in math, language arts, and all other subjects in their program. Use brainstorming resources designed to sharpen thinking, planning, memory, and emotional learning skills to give middle school students a new perspective on their learning.
Practical Skills Mind Games Workbook, Activities, and Brainteasers
With Method 2 Success
Grades: 5th-9th
Topic: School Counseling
For brain teasers that boost student confidence and performance, use a set of printable worksheets to target these important skills. Consider creating packets for students to complete on their own time, or handing out individual sheets at convenient times throughout the year.
Awesome Rebus puzzles for middle schoolers
A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when that picture is a Rebus puzzle! Often called pictograms or word picture puzzles, these brain teasers in middle school challenge students in any subject to look between the lines and figure out which sentence to puzzle.
- fLallOinVgE
- HIJKLMNO
- applePie
- A slice (Ps) of apple pie
Use your imagination (and logic) with the Rebus puzzle
Rebus puzzles are a fun challenge for students who like to ponder the single clue to the answer hidden in a word or picture. Use these Rebus puzzle activities as warm-ups, class activities, or a final test question for fun and extra credit.
Rebus Puzzles 1 Printable Brain Teasers and Easel Work
by HappyEducator
Grades: 5th-8th
Topics: Reading, Vocabulary
Print a set of fun Rebus puzzles for students to complete for homework, extra credit, or just for fun! The tool comes with a set of answer keys for quick solutions, and a blank template for middle school students to create their own Rebus puzzles.
Rebus Puzzles Brain Teasers Logic Words Brain Breaks PowerPoint & Slides
On Creativity and Assessment in ELA
Grades: 5th-12th
Topic: English language arts
If your middle schoolers can’t get enough Rebus puzzles (And who can?), use this perfect brain teaser resource to complete them. These slides challenge students to interpret 90 different puzzles such as brain breaks or those times when everyone needs a little challenge to focus in the classroom ahead.
Add a brain teaser to the act of speaking
Brain teasers are an excellent way to practice and strengthen pronunciation in speech therapy. Whether you’re an SLP or a regular teacher, these brain teaser activities are a fun way to combine valuable skill practice with meaningful challenges.
Brain Teasers Activity for Older Students BOOM CARDS + PRINTABLE BOOK
Written by Stacy Crouse
Grades: 6th-12th
Designed for speech therapy students but suitable for general middle school students, this pronunciation activity encourages students to solve puzzles and practice speaking aloud. It includes 5 boom card decks and 5 printable PDFs, making it an easy, customizable way to engage middle school students while practicing important speaking skills.
Ironic Notice Boards
If your curriculum is too full of brain teasers, let your bulletin boards do the rest! Display these middle school brain teasers in your classrooms to encourage a question-based learning approach, or to challenge students to solve puzzles in their free time.
Display these puzzles on the board for students to solve:
- Place the printouts of the numbers 0-9 on the board along with the math operations (+, -, x, ÷, =), write the desired solution, and ask students to rearrange the numbers to find the solution.
- Post clues to the logic grid puzzle and grid handouts for students to solve.
- Print a series of words that are connected in some way (like BERLIN, OTTAWA, PARIS) and a word that is not its own (like BARCELONA). See if the students can decide which word is not yours and can explain why.
Use brain teasers as classroom decoration
Looking for a way to dress up that empty corner of the room? Use resources including bulletin board ideas and printables to display on the “Brain Teaser” board setup.
Think o grams Rebus Puzzles Brain Teasers Plexers Bulletin Board
For Teaching High School Mathematics
Grades: 7th-10th
Subjects: Mathematics
Want to get students thinking logically throughout the year? Use this brain teaser resource to print and post a new puzzle for students to ponder throughout the week. Encourage groups to solve as many as possible, or give extra credit to the students who come up with the answer!
Engage students’ minds with brainstorming and TPT
When you introduce middle school brain teasers to your classroom, you’ll experience better student engagement than ever before – all while honing the same mindset and thinking skills that middle schoolers will use in their core subjects. Find many middle school brainstorming resources to develop these important skills.
