Sudoku for Kids

Note from Tiggerr. I found this on the internet. I think my putting it here, fits the author's copyright conditions. I made it a web page but if you want to have a really nice PDF copy to print out, visit the author's site. If you want to print the first puzzle to work along with the instructions I've put it here

This document is a work in progress, and your comments on its improvement are most appreciated. I have tried to “voice” the document in such a way as to be easily readable by a bright 10-year-old like my son Alex.

Additional chapters will be added as time permits.
Permission is granted for this document to be distributed and reproduced for non-profit, educational use (ie: in a classroom) and for personal use by the users of the Sudoku Susser. It may not be otherwise distributed or reproduced without written permission. In other words, if you want to make money off this, you’ve got to cut me in for some of it! ©2005 Robert Woodhead - trebor@animeigo.com - All Rights Reserved.

An Introduction to Sudoku for Kids

by Robert Woodhead -
trebor@animeigo.com http://www.madoverlord.com/projects/sudoku.t

Sudoku (Japanese for “one number”) are fun logical puzzles. Your brain will get quite a workout figuring them out!

A Sudoku is a 9x9 grid of squares. Some squares have digits in them, from 1 to 9. Some of the squares are blank.

There are 9 rows of numbers in the puzzle. The top row is called row 1, and the bottom row is called row 9. There are 9 columns of numbers in the puzzle. The leftmost column is called column 1, and the rightmost column is called column 9.

Look closely and you’ll see that the puzzle is divided up into 9 3x3 square sections (sort of like a tic-tac-toe board made out of tic-tac-toe boards!). These are called blocks. The blocks are numbered from top-left to bottom-right, just as you would expect. Look for the 5 in the bottom row of the puzzle on the first page. What column is it in? What block is it in? If you answered “column 5 and block 8”, you’re right.

Now the fun begins!

To solve a Sudoku, all you have to do is fill in the blank squares with numbers. But you can’t just put any number in a square. There is a rule! Only one, but it’s a tricky one!

“The number in each square can only appear once in its row, column and block.”

So how does this work? Look at the square in the top-left corner of the puzzle. It is in row 1 and column 1, so we call it square “R1C1” for short. What block is it in? Block 1, of course!

What numbers might it be? Well, lets figure out what numbers it can’t be. It has to be a number that isn’t already in row 1, column 1, or block 1.

The other numbers in row 1 are 7,3,6,2 and 9. So it can’t be any of those.

The other numbers in column 1 are 3,9 and 2. Hey, that didn’t get us anywhere, because those numbers are already in row 1. Grrr!

The other numbers in block 1 are 7, 4 and 3. Well, we already knew that it couldn’t be 7 and 3 from row 1, but now we know it can’t be a 4 either.

So R1C1 can’t be a 2,3,4,6,7 or 9. It must be a 1, 5 or 8. But which one is it? So far, we can’t tell! Argh! But maybe later we’ll be able to narrow it down. So for now, you could just pencil in a small “1 5 8” in R1C1 to remind you of what it could be.

This is called “pencilling in the possibilities” and it is the first step to solving the puzzle.

Now lets look at R4C7. Can you find it? It’s the blank square right above a “2” that has been filled in. What block is it in? That’s right, block 6.

What numbers can it be? No being sneaky and looking ahead for the answer. You are on your honor to do the work!

Well, look at row 4. There are three numbers there already.
Write them down here: _________________________
Now look at column 7. Five numbers there.
Write them down here: _________________________
Finally, look at block 6. It also has 5 numbers.
Write them down here: _________________________
Now list all the numbers together.
Write them down here: _________________________
So now ask yourself, “what numbers are missing?” What are the possibilities for R4C7?

The answer is on the next page. (I didn’t trust you not to look ahead!)

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