Kriss-Kross Puzzles

Solve these word puzzles as a way to develop logical thinking and pattern matching skills needed to enjoy both computing and maths, while practicing reading, writing and spelling. (see also our maths kriss-kross).

kriss-kross1-minbeastsV2

Kriss-kross puzzles combine a love of words with a love of logic. Given a list of words of different lengths, you must fit them all in to the grid.

Learn about:

  • logical thinking
  • pattern matching
  • computational thinking

Also for younger children practice and explore:

  • numeracy
  • counting
  • writing letters
  • phonics
  • spelling

Teach as part of:

  • computing
  • maths
  • english, or
  • linked to a theme

Starting Strategies

  • If there is only one word of any length left then find the blank word in the grid of that length and the word goes there.
  • If you know some letters of a word in the grid then count how many letters long it is and compare the unused words of that length with the pattern of known letters. If only one matches you have found where it goes. Otherwise you need more information so try another word in the grid.

Resources

How to solve themHowToSolveKrissKross Title Page

Here are slides giving a first introduction to logical thinking (and so problem solving) using Kriss-Kross.

Here are Kriss-Kross puzzle sheets and solutions that you can download.

Teaching Phonicskriss-kross5-ay

Kriss-kross are a fun way to practice phonics at the same time as counting and starting logical thinking with children just learning to read. For the younger age group, talk them through the steps of what to look for – which word to start with (one where there is nothing more of that length, then point them to a word you know a letter of and so on). Have them read the word before and after filling it in.

Go to our Phonics Kriss-Kross Page for examples of Kriss-Kross to help with phonics.

Kriss-kross with a variety of other topic links are below.

Year 4 Spellings Kriss-Kross

Go to our Year 4 spellings page for Kriss-Kross that combine logical thinking fun with practicing (UK) Year 4 spelling words.

History Themes

Computing Words

Christmas

Spring

Minibeasts

Halloween

Kriss-kross puzzles combine a love of words with a love of logic. Given a list of words of different lengths, you must fit them all in to the grid. See our Kriss-Kross page for more kiss-kross puzzles.kriss-kross15-halloweenV2