Simple lesson plan to introduce Sudoku, a puzzle game to your class. Sudoku can be introduced to students ranging from 5 years of age to adults.
Sudoku puzzles became a hit in 2005. Just type Sudoku in your favorite browser and there will be over 60 million results for this popular puzzle. Many believe the Japanese invented the game but in actuality it was invented by Howard Garns, an American in 1979. It was first published by Dell Magazines under the name Number Place but in 1986, Nikoli published the puzzle and changed its name to Sudoku. Sudoku is a Japanese abbreviation meaning the digits must occur only once.
At first glance, Sudoku looks like a confusing math puzzle but as you breakdown the components you can begin teaching this game to kindergarten students with a few modifications to the traditional 9x9 grid. The common Sudoku game is played over a 9x9 grid and is divided into 3x3 grids. Each 3x3 grid is called a region, block or box. The objective of the game is to place a numeral from 1-9 into each row and column to fill the 9x9 grid. The only rule is the numerals from 1-9 can only occur once in each row, column, or box. As well, there is only one solution per game.
Sudoku Lesson Plan
Begin by teaching your class how to solve the simplest Sudoku puzzle by using a 4x4 grid. This grid will have four columns, four rows, which results in 4 boxes.
The numerals used for the puzzle depend on the number of columns and rows. For this puzzle you would use the numbers 1,2,3,4 to solve the puzzle.
Create the puzzle before giving to the class; be sure to have the numbers 1-4 in each column, row, and block.
eg.
4 2 3 1
1 3 4 2
3 1 2 4
2 4 1 3
The above example has 4 rows, 4 columns and 4 boxes. The first box has the digits; 4,2,1,3, the second box has the digits; 3,1,4,2, the third box has the digits; 3,1,2,4, and fourth box has the digits; 2,4,1,3.
After you have created the puzzle you can eliminate some numbers from each row, column and block.
eg.
4 * 3 *
* 3 * *
* 1 * 4
2 * 1 *
The stars represent a black space. Students will try and solve the puzzle by using logic. Their only rule is the number can only appear once in a row, column, or box.
After you have taught the basic you can increase the grid size and in time the students can try their hands at the traditional 9x9 Sudoku puzzle.
As well, after the students understand the premise they can begin to create their own Sudoku puzzle for other students to solve. In the beginning there are hundreds of free Sudoku printables on the internet to download.
Sudoku is a great activity for students to work on when they have free time or are becoming restless, you can not talk and work on a Sudoku at the same time as you need to be analyzing the board for a variety of solutions for each digit in the puzzle.
