Hard 4×4 Picture Sudoku
Only six shapes to start from and ten to find: this hard 4×4 picture sudoku is for children aged 5-6 who already solve the medium version on their own.
2 A4 pages · for home and classroom use
Picture sudoku 4×4 — hard
How to use this worksheet
- In the top-left puzzle the whole top row is empty, so begin lower down, where columns and boxes give more clues.
- The bottom-left puzzle shows no star at all. Hunt for the stars first: four squares there can be filled with a star straight away.
- The top-right puzzle has no triangle printed, so the triangles must all be worked out.
What this worksheet teaches
Every puzzle is a 4×4 grid with four 2×2 boxes, and each row, column and box needs a circle, a square, a triangle and a star. With only 6 shapes given, children must combine a row, a column and a box, then use each new shape as a clue for the next. Each puzzle still has exactly one solution.
When little is given, follow one shape
Instead of looking at one square, pick one shape and ask where it can go. In the bottom-left puzzle, take the star: each row, column and box needs one, and there is no star yet, so find the square in each box that no other shape can take. This way of thinking, tracking one shape across the whole grid, is exactly how older children solve bigger sudoku.