Kids brain games: free puzzles and printable worksheets for ages 5 to 8

Choose a tool

• Balance Scales: Picture scales with fruit on the pans. Work out how many pears balance an apple, which fruit is heaviest, or which scale is drawn wrong. Six levels, a daily set and printable worksheets.
• Bar Model Problems: Short word problems with a bar picture that marks the unknown with a striped ? piece (some problems show several equal ? pieces). Part and whole, how many more, equal groups and two-step puzzles. Five levels, a daily set and printable sheets.
• Count the Shapes: How many triangles, squares or rectangles hide in the picture? Start with a few loose shapes and work up to crossing lines and grids. Six levels, a daily set and printable worksheets.
• How Many Ways?: Outfits, ice cream cones, paths, handshakes and hidden shapes. Five levels of how-many-ways questions with pictures, plus a printable worksheet.
• Cube Counting: Count stacks of cubes, find the hidden ones, fill a block, pick the top or front view, and solve painted cube puzzles. Six levels and printable worksheets.
• Daily Brain Workout: One short session a day for ages 5 to 8: five puzzles from five different skills, at your child's own level, with a 7-day sticker row. Free, no account.
• Door Rules: Lead the mouse to the cheese through a grid of doors, stepping only to a next-door door that is different in exactly the right number of ways. Or pick the one route that follows the rule. Six levels, a daily set and printable worksheets.
• Fold and Punch: A paper is folded and a hole is punched. Which paper do you get when you open it? Five levels from one fold to two folds and two holes, a daily set of five, and printable worksheets.
• Function Machines: A machine turns numbers into other numbers. Your child works out the rule from a few examples, predicts what comes out, works backwards, and meets two machines in a row. Six levels, a daily set and printable worksheets.
• Parent Corner: See this week against last week, each skill's level and trend, what is going well and what needs practice, with a printable sheet for weak spots.
• Latin Squares for Kids: Fill a grid so every animal, shape or number appears once in each row and column. Five levels from 4 by 4 zoo grids to 6 by 6 with thick boxes.
• Who Sits Where: Seat animal friends in a row using picture clues such as next to, not at an end and between. Five levels from three seats to animals with snacks, a daily set and printable sheets.
• Magic Shapes: Place numbers on a triangle, a square or a 3 by 3 grid so every side adds to the same total. Five levels, one answer each, with a printable worksheet.
• Material Science: Pick the best material for a job, spot waterproof, bendy and magnetic things, find what things are made of, and learn fair tests. Six levels, printable.
• Math Practice Paper: A multiple-choice practice paper for ages 6 to 8: 12 questions in 3 sections worth 3, 4 and 5 points, scored at the end, with a printable copy and answer key. Free, no account.
• Math Riddles: A snail on a wall, posts in a fence, socks in the dark. Short word puzzles that look easy and are not. Five levels, a Riddle of the Day, and printable worksheets.
• Memory and Focus: Spot what changed in a picture, copy a sequence of pictures in order, and sort cards by a rule that keeps switching. Six levels, on screen.
• Mirror and Turn: Finish a picture across a mirror line, then tell a mirror image from a quarter turn, then flip and turn. Circle, square and diamond pictures, six levels, a daily set and printable worksheets.
• Money and Time: Count and pay with US coins, make change from a dollar, read analog clocks, work out how long something lasts and what day comes next. Six levels, a daily set and printable worksheets.
• Number Paths: Walk a frog across a grid of numbers to the flag. Make an exact total, count up by 2s or 5s, stay on even numbers or find the cheapest road. Six levels, a daily set and printable worksheets.
• Number Pyramids: Brick pyramids where each brick is the two below added together. Five levels from 3 rows to a four-floor detective puzzle, with a printable worksheet.
• Odd One Out: Tap the card that does not belong, then crack the Secret Gate: three cards get in, three are turned away, and your child picks the next card that passes. Six levels, a daily set and printable worksheets.
• Pattern Puzzles for Kids: Six levels of picture and number patterns for ages 5 to 8, from circle-square-circle up to 1, 2, 4, 7, 11. Adapts to your child, with a daily set of 5 and printable worksheets.
• Brain Board Game: Print a family race game for 2 to 4 players: a 40 square board, 36 or 48 puzzle cards, an answer key and pawns to cut out. Pick the level. Black and white.
• Weekly Puzzle Pack: Make one PDF of logic, math, English, science and spatial puzzles for ages 5 to 8, at your child's levels or one you pick, with an answer key. New puzzles every time.
• Reading Riddles: Short stories and clue riddles read aloud, then a picture or word answer. Who is it, what must be true, who is tallest. Five levels, daily five, printable worksheets.
• Robot Path: A robot, a house and a few cards. Your child taps arrow cards into a program, then watches the robot run it. Six levels, a daily set of five, and printable worksheets.
• Science Sort: Sort living and non-living things, animal groups, floaters and sinkers, solids, liquids and gases. Nine topics, five levels from easy to why, and printable worksheets.
• Sentence Builder: Tap word tiles to build sentences and questions, fix capitals and end marks, pick is or are, past tense words, and join sentences with because, but and so. Six levels.
• Spelling Bee Practice: Hear a word, then tap the letters to spell it. About 600 words from cat and sun to squirrel and February, six levels, and missed words that come back.
• Truth and Fib: Pets guard the boxes and say where the treasure is. Some always tell the truth, some always fib. Your child works out which box holds it. Six levels, a daily set and printable worksheets.
• Word Analogies: Kitten is to cat as puppy is to what? Picture and word analogies on babies, homes, parts, jobs, opposites, groups and stronger words, with two-step links at the top. Six levels.
• Word Builder: Build words from sound chunks, then word families, rhymes, blends, prefixes and suffixes, and spelling changes such as run + ing = running. Six levels.

About these tools

These games are made for a child of about 5 to 8 who likes puzzles, and they are read by a parent first, so here is what to expect. Every game is free, needs no account and has no ads inside the play area. Your child's stars, levels and history are kept in this browser on this device only. Nothing is sent to a server, and clearing site data removes it.

Each game trains one skill with short rounds of one puzzle at a time. A speaker button reads every question aloud, the buttons are large for small fingers, and a wrong answer gets a gentle shake and a second try, never a harsh sound. There is no timer. The level moves by itself: three right answers in a row go up one level, and two wrong in a row go down one, so the puzzles stay hard enough to be interesting and easy enough to finish. A child or parent can also pick a level by hand. The top levels are meant to be hard for a 6 or 7 year old, in the style of puzzles used in children's maths and logic contests.

Every game has a Today's 5 set, five puzzles that are the same for every child on that day, and a Print mode. Print makes a worksheet of 4, 6 or 8 new puzzles on Letter or A4 paper with a name line and an answer key on the last page, drawn to work in black and white, so a child can play away from the screen. The puzzles are generated by code from a seed, and each has exactly one right answer that the game tests check.

Frequently asked questions

Is it free, and does my child need an account?

It is free and there is no account, sign-up or email. Open the page and the first puzzle is ready after 1 tap. There are no ads inside the play area, and no links in it that lead a child away.

Where is my child's progress saved?

In this browser on this device, in local storage. Stars, the level for each skill and a short daily history stay after a reload. They are not sent anywhere, so a 2nd phone or browser starts fresh, and clearing site data removes them.

How does the difficulty change?

Three right answers in a row move the level up by 1, and two wrong answers in a row move it down by 1. Each game has 5 or 6 levels. You or your child can pick a level from the level button at any time, for example to repeat an easier one.

Can my child play without reading?

Mostly. Every question has a speaker button that reads it aloud with your device's own voice, and the answers are pictures, shapes or big numbers. Whether a voice is available depends on the browser: on 1 that has none, the button is greyed out.

How do the printable worksheets work?

Choose Print, pick a level, 4, 6 or 8 puzzles and Letter or A4 paper, then make the worksheet. The PDF is made in your browser with new puzzles each time, a Name and Date line on top and an answer key on the last page. Shapes differ by outline and pattern, so it reads well on a black and white printer.