Mine Finder Puzzles for Kids: How to Start (Printable Sample)

Would a child find Mine Finder too difficult? With a well-chosen grid, no. For young players it is mainly a counting game: read a number, count the squares that touch it, and work out where mines can hide. Below you will find the skills involved, an honest list of what LogikLand provides, and a four-step lesson built on a small grid that you can print.

Is Mine Finder a puzzle for kids?

Only two abilities are needed. One is counting the squares around a number, diagonals included, so the count never goes above 8. The other is easy subtraction: a 2 with one known mine nearby still wants one more. Nothing harder appears, and the grid holds digits and a mine symbol, not text. Children who enjoy Sudoku or mazes and want a change of scenery often take to it quickly.

What LogikLand offers

To be precise: there is no children's edition of Mine Finder in LogikLand. In the dashboard, the Kids tab lists Sudoku, Word Search, Mazes, Crossword and a mixed activity book, whereas Mine Finder belongs to the main list. The useful part for beginners is the Easy level: 8 x 8 squares and 10 mines, with every grid built so that a solver can read one number at a time and never has to compare two numbers. Books can be produced in English, French, Spanish, German or Italian; the language affects the title and the how-to page, not the grid.

Teaching it in four steps

Begin smaller than the real thing. The practice grid below is 5 x 5 with 4 mines. It was produced for this article by a short program that obeys the Easy rule (one number at a time), and we verified that nobody has to guess. Its solution sits beside it, so cover that half until the lesson ends.

Step 1: reading a number

Put a finger on the 0 in row 2, column 2. How many mines touch it? None. Therefore each empty square around that 0 is free of mines, and the child can mark a dot in all seven of them. Rows go from the top, columns from the left.

Step 2: one place left

Now the 1 in the bottom right corner. A corner square has three neighbours and two already show numbers. The single empty neighbour is row 4, column 5. Since the 1 asks for one mine, a mine goes exactly there.

Step 3: a number that has its mine

The 1 beside it (row 5, column 4) touches the mine just drawn, so it wants no further one. Its other empty neighbours, row 4 column 3 and row 5 column 3, are free. After that, the 2 in row 4, column 4 owns one mine and sees one empty square, row 3 column 4, which must hold the second mine.

Step 4: the last two mines

Two mines are still missing, in row 1 column 4 and in row 4 column 2. The child can find them alone by asking the same pair of questions: what does this number want, and how many empty squares does it have? Once 4 mines stand on the grid, the figure printed under it is matched and the puzzle is finished.

A first real grid

After the practice grid goes smoothly, try a genuine Easy puzzle. The one below, 8 x 8 with 10 mines, comes straight from the LogikLand generator. Page 1 of the printable PDF carries the same puzzle, and its solution is on page 2.

Nothing changes in the method, it just takes longer. Both ideas behind every Easy grid are laid out in how to solve a Mine Finder puzzle, and for extra grids to print, open the printable easy Mine Finder set.

How to help without solving it for them

• Rather than showing the answer, wonder aloud: "which number gives us news?" Zeros and corner squares make good openings.
• Give a pencil and an eraser, and agree on a dot for safe and a mine drawing for a mine, so errors are cheap to fix.
• Have the child touch every neighbour while counting. Skipped diagonals are the usual cause of a wrong total.
• Prior to peeking at the solution, test each number against the mines drawn around it.

Making a book for young solvers

A full book of Easy grids needs a free account and the Mine Finder assistant. In it you pick the Easy level, the page size (8.5 x 11 or 6 x 9 inches) and the number of puzzles per page: up to 4 Easy grids on 8.5 x 11, and at most 2 on 6 x 9. Our suggestion, not a rule: put fewer grids on a page for children, so the squares stay big.

Questions