Magic Squares Worksheet
A Magic Squares worksheet, like most worksheet activities, is always very popular with both teachers and kids.
As the author of a widely-acclaimed book about Magic Squares, I fully appreciate that magic squares for kids can be a great way to learn about basic number relationships, and plan one day to write a follow-up book on this very subject.
I am also aware that there are several Magic Squares worksheets available on the Internet already, so, not wishing to duplicate what others have already created, I put together a free Magic Square worksheet that approaches the subject from a different perspective.
While this does involve magic squares, there is a minimum of maths involved, although basic addition will be required to successfully complete this fun worksheet.
What makes this worksheet different to the others is that it is also a three-dimensional construction puzzle, which adds a new and unexpected aspect to the whole thing.
Here is what the children will need to do:
- Cut out six Magic Squares from a piece of paper (which is provided in the download file).
- Create a three-dimensional cube using these six Magic Squares so that the entire cube becomes a "solid" entity. (Don’t worry, full instructions, including photographs, are included!)
- Make sure that each face of the resulting cube is a perfect Magic Square in its own right, with a "magic total" of 34.
- Find out how many combinations of four squares on any one face of the finished cube add up to 34. (For example, each row, each column and each corner diagonal will add up to 34, so that’s ten combinations to get them started.)
The kids will need access to some child-safe scissors, but everything else they will require (i.e. full construction instructions and Magic Squares template) is in the Magic Squares Worksheet, which is an Adobe PDF file.
Although not strictly necessary, you may want to provide the kids with some old playing cards so that they can practise constructing the three-dimensional puzzle without damaging the supplied Magic Squares that they will need to cut out.
So, what will kids learn from this particular worksheet?
Well, they will learn co-ordination and manual dexterity, as the construction of this three-dimensional puzzle does require a steady pair of hands.
Once they master the knack of building the puzzle, they will then learn to reinforce their basic numeracy and addition skills as they make sure that each of the six faces on the Magic Squares cube (or is that a Magic Cube?) forms a complete 4×4 Magic Square, all of which must add up to the same total (i.e. 34), of course.
There are many ways in which the puzzle can be put together, but not all of them will lead to the correct solution.
Finally, they will learn to spot patterns in the numbers and further hone their mental arithmetic when they try to find how many combinations of four squares add up to the "magic total" of 34.
As a teacher (or maybe a parent looking for something unusual to keep their children busy for a while), this is what you need to do:
- Request your free copy of the Magic Squares Worksheet.
- Print it out.
- Make one copy of the entire document for each child (preferaby with the Magic Squares template page on thin card, as that will make the 3D puzzle easier to build).
- Provide each child with their own copy of the printed materials (except for the crib sheet at the end of the document, as you’ll only want to give them this page after they’ve completed the exercise), as well as a pair of child-safe scissors. (You could, of course, pre-cut the Magic Squares template page yourself in advance, but it’s a fairly boring job if you have a large number of children to deal with, so why not let them do this task?)
- Supervise the children - you may need to help out with the construction part, so you’d better practise this yourself beforehand.
- Once they’ve finished all parts of the worksheet, you need to check their answers to see who has the answer that is closest to the number of combinations of four squares that add up to 34. (You can have a stab at this yourself too, or you can take the easy way out and refer to the crib sheet that is included at the end of the download file.)
To request your copy of my free Magic Squares Worksheet, please enter your first name and email address in the boxes at the top right of this page, and click the Send Me My Worksheet button, and it will be emailed to you immediately.
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