Sudoku for Kids

Sudoku is a number puzzle on a big square split into 81 little squares. Some squares already have numbers in them when you start — those are called the "givens". Your job is to fill in every empty square so that each row, each column and each little 3×3 box uses the numbers 1 to 9 exactly once.

Sudoku looks like a maths puzzle, but it isn’t. There’s no adding, no subtracting and no multiplying. The numbers could just as easily be nine different colours, or nine different animals — sudoku is really a puzzle about patterns and logic. That’s why it works so well for kids who like puzzles but aren’t fans of arithmetic.

Every puzzle on this site has exactly one solution, and you can always find it without guessing. If something stops working, that means there’s a wrong number somewhere earlier — you can use the Check button to spot it.

New to puzzles entirely? Younger kids often start with our 4×4 sudoku (a tiny grid using just 1–4) before stepping up to 6×6 sudoku and then the full 9×9 game on this page.

A really useful way to think about it: every empty square is the meeting point of one row, one column and one box. To work out what number belongs there, ask "what numbers are already used in any of those three?" Whatever’s left over is your candidate list. Often there’s only one possible answer — that’s called a "lone candidate", and it’s the most satisfying move in sudoku.

Tap any empty square. It gets a yellow highlight, and the squares that share a row, column or box with it light up softly too — so you can see at a glance which numbers can’t go in your selected square.

Then tap a number from the pad below the board. The number drops into the square. If you change your mind, tap the square again and tap a different number, or tap the Erase button to clear it. There’s no penalty for changing your mind.

If you place a number that breaks a rule (a duplicate in the row, column or box), it shows up in red and the mistakes counter ticks up by one. Don’t worry — the counter is just there for fun. You can keep playing, and a wrong number doesn’t end the game.

A small thing parents often appreciate: the timer counts up, not down. There’s no pressure and no time penalty. The site is built to be calm and screen-friendly — no flashing, no noisy audio, no popups, and no ads in the middle of a puzzle.

There are four difficulty levels on this page. The easiest one is called Easy and is the one you’re looking at right now — it’s perfect for kids who are new to sudoku. The puzzles get harder by giving you fewer starting numbers and forcing you to use more clever logic.

Once Easy puzzles feel quick, try Medium sudoku. From there you can graduate to Hard sudoku, and finally take on Expert sudoku — our toughest classic level.

Sudoku is one of the very few games where a 7-year-old and a grown-up can play exactly the same puzzle. It’s a workout for short-term memory, focus and patience — and it feels like a game, not homework.

Teachers often use sudoku as a calm-down activity at the start of a maths lesson. Researchers who study children’s thinking have found that puzzles like sudoku help build the same skills used in early reading and problem-solving: spotting patterns, holding several things in mind at once, and checking your own work.

Best of all, sudoku is one of those rare screen activities that doesn’t leave kids feeling buzzy or overstimulated. There’s no soundtrack, no flashing rewards and no infinite scroll. Just a quiet little puzzle to think about.

Once classic sudoku feels familiar, try a variant. Killer Sudoku uses the same 9×9 grid but adds little "cages" with target sums — it’s sudoku with a tiny bit of adding-up mixed in. Younger kids can also enjoy our 4×4 sudoku (16 squares, numbers 1–4) and 6×6 sudoku (36 squares, numbers 1–6) starter puzzles.

All of the variants share the same friendly board, the same toolbar and the same no-signup, no-ads promise. Once you’re comfortable with the rules of one, the others are easy to pick up.