Algebraic Thinking Puzzles

I am often asked about ways to challenge our students during math workshop.  I believe it is important that we have a variety of problems that we use.  I also don't think we should spend much of our time accelerating content to teach our students things beyond our grade level.  There are many ways we can build their thinking and logic skills by having them look at numbers more flexibly. Building deeper thinking skills will enable them to persevere as they move into more challenging problems in the future. 

I recently came upon this site.  I think it could have many uses in classrooms as low at 1st grade.  Teachers could use some of the puzzles for a whole class think aloud.  They might also choose to have students work in partners to solve the puzzles.  They might print out a few of the puzzles and have students work on them on paper.  They might introduce some individual students to them.

These puzzles offer students opportunities to think algebraically about numbers and to better explore the meaning of equality and balance.  

Solveme puzzles has three levels of problems:  Explorer, Puzzler, and Master.  Problems become progressively more difficult as students move through the levels.  There are some that involve fractions and negative numbers.   I solved all of my problems as a guest, but you might find it beneficial to create accounts for students.

Let me know what you think of this site.  Feel free to share it with a colleague.  Try some of the puzzles yourself--you might find that you enjoy them, too!