Did you know that January 29 is National Puzzle Day? Come to think of it, this cold, dreary time of year is an amazing time to curl up with with an exhilarating brain teaser. If it’s too snowy, rainy, or generally yucky outside to run around and play, why not exercise your brains?
For generations, puzzles have been one of the most beloved features of children’s magazines. After all, you can write right on the pages, unlike library books, and each issue brings new activities to try. We’re excited to share three of our favorite magazines for kids of all ages featuring engaging puzzles that will challenge their minds and spark creative thinking!
For a taste, here are three puzzles to try with your family:
Match the Pets “I Spy” Game from LADYBUG Magazine
Practical Jokers Word Search from SPIDER Magazine
“What’s that Saying” Crossword Puzzle from CRICKET Magazine
Read on to find out why puzzles like these are so great for growing (and grown-up!) brains!
The Perks of Puzzles
What is a puzzle in the first place? The Encyclopedia Britannica calls a puzzle “a problem that may take many forms, including games and toys, and is solved through knowledge, ingenuity, or other skills.” So even by its very definition, a puzzle tests our knowledge and ingenuity– and, the more time we spend doing them, the more we develop those skills. For kids, whose brains are still forming, it goes beyond that.
Puzzles are valuable for kids because they can help build cognitive resilience and flexibility that is useful in all areas of life. According to Case Western Reserve University, puzzles “make you more comfortable with experiences and behaviors that go along with solving problems and thinking critically in everyday life.” They also often combine multiple cognitive skills at once– think spatial skills and memory, or vocabulary and logic. Puzzles are great for memory and concentration, two of the most important abilities for students, as well as creativity, but they can also reduce stress as a fun “brain break.” That’s why kids love puzzles, their brains love puzzles, and we love puzzles for them!
As we get older, puzzles can also strengthen neural pathways and connections. Using these cognitive skills is like exercising a muscle: they get weaker if we don’t use them. Some researchers even think that daily puzzles and brainteasers can help prevent or delay the effects of dementia. A love of puzzles is a great habit that grows with us throughout our lifetimes!
Now, onto some magazines with great puzzles for preschoolers through preteens!
LADYBUG Magazine (Ages 3-6)
LADYBUG is a wonderful way to inspire young children to develop a lifelong love of reading. Perfect for reading aloud, it’s filled with charming short stories, poetry, songs, comics, explorations of science and nature, and, of course, puzzles!
Each issue of LADYBUG includes an “I Spy” puzzle. In fact, that’s one of the magazine’s most popular features! “I Spy” puzzles give kids an opportunity to find, compare, and match items in busy pictures. In recent issues, the “I Spy” section has asked kids to find matching pairs of animals, count bags in a train station, and look for 15 tails in a game of “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.”
Why are “I Spy” puzzles so great for 3-6-year-old kids? Sorting and matching develop pattern recognition skills, which are among the first building blocks of math awareness. Counting is part of that, too. That’s right, doing matching puzzles helps prepare kids for elementary math! “Search and find” games like “I Spy” also build attention to detail and concentration!
That’s not the only kind of puzzle you’ll find in LADYBUG. Some recent issues have included a maze (help the squirrel find her acorns!), a “match the suitcase to the objects inside” puzzle, a “match the feeling to the face” activity, and a “spot the difference” puzzle featuring two ALMOST-identical images. Each of these activities feeds a child’s brain while keeping them entertained with bright, colorful artwork!
SPIDER Magazine (Ages 6-9)
Designed to entertain, educate, and fascinate, SPIDER Magazine is just right for newly independent readers. Each issue is jam-packed with crafts and science experiments, folk tales and fairy tales from around the world, science fiction and adventure stories, incredible STEM articles, fun comic strips, beautiful artwork, and so much more. Of course, that includes some seriously cool puzzles!
SPIDER is just right for kids who love to exercise their curiosity and creativity. It’s no surprise that puzzles help kids do just that! The new January/February 2026 issue of SPIDER includes an elaborate nautical maze that lets kids steer through a sea full of obstacles. In another recent maze, kids must avoid escape a bear on a bicycle in hot pursuit! Some of the puzzles in SPIDER cater to a more developed intellect than you’ll see in LADYBUG. For example, one activity asks readers to match idioms from around the world with their meanings.
One of our favorite SPIDER puzzles? The humble word search. In a recent issue of SPIDER, the popular “Ophelia’s Last Word” department included a fun prank-themed word search puzzle. Not only do word searches build those same skills we discussed earlier– concentration, pattern recognition, critical thinking, and, in case you forgot it, memory– they also strengthen literacy skills. Children who resist more traditional study tools to brush up on reading, spelling, or vocabulary still love word searches. Glancing between the words in the word bank and on the puzzle itself helps reinforce spelling in kids’ minds.
Cricket Magazine (Ages 9-14)
For over 50 years– since 1973, to be specific, CRICKET Magazine has published the highest-quality children’s literature and art. Generations of kids have CRICKET to thank for their love of reading today. CRICKET also publishes cutting-edge STEM articles, beautiful poetry, explorations of history and world cultures, submissions from readers, entertaining comic strips, crafts, and recipes, and puzzles!
CRICKET’s biggest claim to fame in the puzzle game is the Crossbird Puzzle that appears in every issue. Yes, we said “Crossbird.” It’s hosted by long-term CRICKET Magazine character “Ugly Bird,” who may be ugly but sure knows a thing or two about crossword puzzles. Each issue’s puzzle comes with its own unique theme. In the January/February 2026 issue, the Crossbird Puzzle is designed around the motif of idioms, aphorisms, and common sayings.
Crossword puzzles are some of the best ways for kids to boost their cognitive flexibility and creative thinking skills. Of course, like word searches, they are also a great assist for spelling and vocabulary. Working backward from clues, kids develop the kind of general knowledge that will always be helpful in life.
What other puzzles can you find in CRICKET Magazine? One of our recent favorites was an archaeological “scrambled skeleton” puzzle in which readers must match the names of the bones to the location in the body. You’ll also find trivia games, math and logic puzzles, riddles, and more!
What’s your favorite kind of puzzle to solve with your family? Happy puzzling!
