Valentine Number Puzzles for 1-20
Help your child develop counting skills and build number sense this Valentine’s Day with these fun heart-shaped puzzles
Looking for some fun math activities for your child (or students) this Valentine’s Day?
These Valentine number puzzles should fit the bill. They’re fun, hands-on, and are designed for children in kindergarten and grade 1.
And, of course, being heart-shaped, they’re a perfect fit for Valentine’s Day.
So, let’s take a look.
Tell me about these Valentine’s Day number puzzles
These puzzles are fun and engaging and help children to develop their understanding of the numbers 1 to 20.
They also help to practise a whole host of math skills such as counting, adding and subtracting.
Throughout these two sets of puzzles, children will see numbers to 20 shown in lots of different ways (for example as numerals, ten frames, base ten blocks, and in words) which helps them build number sense.
And if that wasn’t enough, they’re heart-shaped, colourful, and perfect for a fun math activity in the run up to Valentine’s Day.
What’s included in this resource?
This resource consists of two sets of heart-shaped number puzzles.
Both sets of puzzles focus on numbers 1 to 20, but in different ways.
In each set, there are 20 hearts.
Heart Puzzle Set 1
This first set is great for children in kindergarten.
In every heart puzzle, the middle piece of the heart shows a number from 1 to 20.
The other three pieces around the central number show:
- the number in word form,
- the number shown by dots in a ten frame, and lastly
- the number shown as a group of small hearts
Here is the puzzle for the number 8 as an example:
Heart Puzzle Set 2
This second set is a little trickier and is great for grade 1 children.
Like the first set of puzzles, the middle of the heart shows a number from 1 to 20.
This time, however, the other three parts show:
- the number in word form,
- an addition or subtraction, and
- the numbers shown in base ten blocks.
Here is the puzzle for the number 20 as an example:
Prep
The good news is that these puzzles are included in both color and black and white versions.
If you’re printing the puzzles in black ink only, be sure to use two different colours of paper for each set so you can easily tell them apart.
Once you’ve printed the hearts, I would recommend laminating them (especially if you’re a teacher and intend to use them in your classroom every February).
Next cut out the hearts. Start by cutting the entire heart shape out. Then cut each heart into its four pieces along the black lines.
Using these Valentine number puzzles
First of all, choose the set of puzzles that best suits your child’s math level. If in doubt, start with the first set.
I would recommend working on no more than 10 numbers at a time.
Perhaps start with numbers 1 to 10, and then move on to 11 to 20 next time. For younger children, you could even break them down into groups of 5 puzzles.
There are a lots of ways you can use this resource, depending on how challenging you want the activity to be.
For a gentle introduction, start by removing just one piece from each heart puzzle. Challenge your child (or students) to add the missing pieces back to the hearts.
Want to up the challenge?
To make it more challenging, jumble up all the pieces for the heart puzzles you are working on.
Challenge your child (or students) to put the hearts back together so that all four pieces of each heart represent the same number.
This activity takes up quite a bit of space, so I would suggest doing the puzzles either on a big table, or perhaps even better, on the floor.
If you’re a teacher using this resource with a class of students, these puzzles work great for a math station. Two or three students can have fun working together to join the hearts back together.
Where can I purchase my own set of heart-shaped number puzzles?
I hope this post gave you a good overview of these two sets of puzzles and how to use them.
These number puzzles are available for purchase as a PDF digital download in the Math, Kids and Chaos store (Canada, US, Australia and New Zealand only).
They are also available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Thanks for stopping by to find out about these Valentine number puzzles. Until next time!
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