The KenKen Craze at Lincoln School

The latest craze to hit most schools around the country are those little rubber bands that when not stretched form some sort of animal or object.  While I have seen many Silly Bands on the wrists of Lincoln students these days, I have also seen the kids go absolutely CRAZY over a new type of math puzzle that I introduced to them last week.  These puzzles, called KenKen, are Sudoku Puzzles with a twist- as one of my students recently said, they are Soduko Puzzles on vitamins!  Indeed they are, KenKen is the latest CRAZE at Lincoln, far more popular than Silly Bands will ever be!  Students at Lincoln are excited about math and trying to solve the increasing complex KenKen puzzles.

Read about KenKen creator Tetsuya Miyamoto!

After introducing KenKen to my students, I noticed something strange happening.  Students started showing up early for math class and asking for more and more KenKen puzzles to solve.  I showed all of my students the KenKen.com website and the 4x4 to 9x9 KenKen puzzles online.  They went CRAZY and ask to spend time every math class working on the puzzles.  A student last week asked if we could create our own KenKen puzzles for other students to solve- and of course, I said YES! I searched the internet and found Mr. L's math page in which he had his class create KenKen puzzles for other students to solve [KenKen Construction – Building Puzzles in the Classroom].  He has some nice resources on his page for solving 3x3 puzzles and 4x4 puzzles. Some other cool stuff on Mr. L's blog- Games and Puzzles that Reach the Kids and Teach the Standards.  Have fun and get your students involved in the KenKen craze!
Mr. K