Looking for a way to challenge your students? Need something fun to do for the beginning of the school year? Engage your students by giving them this creative thinking activity with a BACK-TO-SCHOOL theme! These emoji number puzzles will increase algebraic thinking in a festive way. My advanced students are always up for a challenge, and my struggling middle school students are more eager to solve these problems with pictures rather than variables. Use for a class warm-up, homework, or for early finishers. Four unique puzzles are provided. You can choose to have all 4 on a single page, or have each puzzle on a separate page.

The puzzles increase in difficulty level which will give your students a new challenge each step along the way (or an excellent way to differentiate instruction). Two of the puzzles use negative numbers to solve. Answer Key is provided.