How to Teach a Child Sudoku: 4×4, Then 6×6, Then 9×9

A step-by-step way to teach Sudoku to a child: a 4×4 picture puzzle first, then numbers, then 6×6 and 9×9, with what to say and when to move up.

Updated 2026-11-05

Is my child ready?

There is no set age. Sudoku has no adding up: the numbers are only symbols, so what a child needs is to tell four pictures or four numbers apart and to understand the idea of not the same one twice in a row. If that is there, a 4×4 puzzle is a good first try. If it is too much, put it away and try again in a few months.

Step 1: a 4×4 picture puzzle, together

Print a picture Sudoku, where four shapes take the place of the numbers 1 to 4. Explain the one rule with the puzzle in front of you: each row, each column and each box of four has every shape once. Then solve it together and say each thought out loud: this row already has three of the shapes, so the empty space gets the one that is missing.

Picture Sudoku for Kids: Printable Sheets →

Step 2: 4×4 with numbers

Once the pictures are easy, switch to the numbers 1 to 4. Teach one question and keep asking it: what is missing here? Start from a row, column or box with only one empty square, where the answer is certain, and let the child find those first. Our starter sheets have half the numbers already filled in; the challenge sheets have fewer.

4×4 Sudoku for Kids: Printable Sheets →

Step 3: 6×6

Move up when the child finishes a 4×4 puzzle alone, without asking for help. A 6×6 Sudoku uses the numbers 1 to 6 and boxes of two rows by three columns. The rules are the same, there is just more to keep track of, and this is where a child learns to follow one number at a time: where can the 5 go in this box?

6×6 Sudoku for Kids: Printable Sheets →

Step 4: the full 9×9

When 6×6 puzzles go smoothly, try an Easy 9×9 puzzle, the size in newspapers. Choose Easy on purpose: on our Easy puzzles every step is a row, column or box that is almost full, or a square where only one number fits, the same thinking the child already knows.

Easy Sudoku →

What to say when they are stuck

Ask instead of telling: which row has the fewest empty squares?
Point to one square and ask which numbers are already in its row, its column and its box.
If a number appears twice, say so calmly and find it together. Finding a mistake is part of the game.
Stop while it is still fun. A few minutes is plenty at first.

What children practise

Sudoku asks a child to look carefully, rule things out and check their own work, and it gives them the feeling of finishing something hard on their own. Every puzzle on our children's pages has exactly one answer and can be solved without guessing.

Sudoku for Kids: Free Printable Mini Puzzles →Christmas Sudoku for Kids: Printable Picture Puzzles →

Practice

Every Find the Mistake puzzle on this site has exactly one wrong digit, and you can play each board right on its page.

Play the puzzles →