Sudoku 4x4 for kids
35 printable 4x4 sudoku sheets: sixteen squares instead of eighty one, four numbers instead of nine, and squares up to 40mm across. Half of them are played with shapes, arrows or letters rather than digits, so a child who cannot read numbers yet can still solve one.
35 printable sheets ·
Checked and published by 
Nora Quill
How many numbers you start with
A 4x4 grid has sixteen squares, so the only thing that makes one harder than the next is how many of them are already filled in. These print one grid a page at 40mm a square and run from ten numbers given, where a five year old can finish it in a few minutes, down to five, which is one clue off the theoretical minimum for a 4x4 that still has a single answer. The level is the board, never a word on the page.
Shapes and pictures instead of numbers
Sudoku does not actually need numbers. The rule is that four different things appear once in every row, every column and every 2x2 box, and a circle works exactly as well as a 3. These sheets swap the digits for circles and triangles, for a sun, moon, cloud and star, for a flower, leaf, raindrop and heart, for four arrows, or for the letters A to D. Each one prints its four symbols in a strip at the top so a child can match them by sight, which is what makes this the version a four year old can do before learning to count.
Two, four or six grids on one page
A 4x4 takes minutes, not an evening, so one grid a page is a lot of paper for a short sitting. These fit two, four or six numbered grids on the same sheet, all the same level and none of them repeated. Even on the six up sheet a square is 17mm, which a pencil fits inside comfortably, so nothing is squeezed to make the count.
Sheets built for a classroom
The puzzle is the ordinary one; what changes is the rest of the paper. One sheet carries a name and date line so a set comes back identifiable. One prints the three rules across the top for a group meeting sudoku for the first time. One puts a finished grid beside the puzzles as a worked example, so the teacher does not have to draw one on the board. There is a shapes sheet for a kindergarten group and a four grid set for handing round a table.
Sheets that check themselves
On these the answer is printed on the same page, in a small grid at the foot, behind a dotted line you fold under before handing the sheet over. A child checks their own work without waiting for an adult and without a second piece of paper. They are the only sheets here with no separate answer PDF, because the answer is already on them.
What a 4x4 sudoku actually is
It is a sudoku with sixteen squares instead of eighty one. The grid is four by four, split into four boxes of two by two, and it uses the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. The rule has not changed: every row holds all four numbers once, every column holds all four once, and every 2x2 box holds all four once. Nothing else. There are no extra techniques to learn and no notation to keep in the margin.
What changes is the size of the job. A 9x9 asks a solver to hold nine constraints in their head at once and takes fifteen minutes on a good day. A 4x4 has four, and a child who has just learned to count to four can finish one in three or four minutes. That is the whole point of it: it is the grid on which somebody learns what a sudoku is, and it is small enough to finish, which is the part that makes them ask for another.
Is 4x4 sudoku too easy for an adult?
For an adult, yes, and that is not who it is for. A 4x4 is aimed at roughly four to seven year olds, or at anyone meeting the puzzle for the first time in any language. If you want a grid that takes real time, the 9x9 pages on this site run from forty two clues down to twenty six.
How many numbers you start with is the whole difficulty
On a board this small there is only one honest lever, and it is how many of the sixteen squares are already filled in. These sheets use four levels and each one is a real board rather than a word printed on the page:
- Starter, ten given. Six squares to fill, and most of them fall out on sight. This is a first sudoku.
- Easy, eight given. Half the grid. There is still always a square you can place without looking twice, but you have to find it.
- Medium, six given. Ten blanks. You need to work a row against a box rather than reading the answer straight off.
- Hard, five given. Eleven blanks. Four clues is the theoretical floor for a 4x4 that still has exactly one answer, so this is one step above the limit, and it will hold a nine year old.
Every card on this page tells you the clue count for that sheet, how many squares already accept only one number, and how wide a square prints in millimetres, all measured from that specific board.
The versions with no numbers on them
A sudoku does not need digits. The rule is that four different things appear once per row, column and box, and a circle satisfies it exactly as well as a 3 does. That matters because it moves the puzzle below the age at which a child reads numbers.
So a third of these sheets are played with pictures: circle, square, triangle and diamond; sun, moon, cloud and star; flower, leaf, raindrop and heart; four arrows pointing four ways; or the letters A to D for a child working on letter recognition instead. Each of those sheets prints its four symbols in a strip across the top, so a child can hold a finger on the strip and match by shape. The drawings are solid black line art, which is deliberate: an outlined symbol at eight millimetres turns to mush in draft mode, and a filled one does not.
Grids per page, and the rest of the paper
A 4x4 takes minutes, so one grid on a whole sheet of A4 is mostly wasted paper. These sheets print one, two, four or six grids, all numbered, all the same level, and never the same puzzle twice on one page. Even at six up a square is seventeen millimetres, which a normal pencil fits inside without cramping, so the count is never bought by shrinking the board.
Around the grid, the classroom sheets carry what a teacher actually needs. One has a name and date line so a set comes back identifiable. One prints the three rules across the top for a group meeting sudoku for the first time. One puts a finished 4x4 beside the puzzles as a worked example, so nobody has to draw one on the board first. There is a shapes version with a name line for a kindergarten group, and a four grid set for handing round a table.
Four sheets check themselves. The answer prints in a small grid at the foot of the page behind a dotted fold line: fold the strip under before you hand the sheet over, and a child can turn it back and mark their own work without waiting for an adult. Those four are the only sheets here with no separate answer PDF, because the answer is already on them.
One solution, and how that is known
Every puzzle on this page has exactly one answer. That is not a claim about care, it is how the sheets are made: a square is only left blank if the board still solves uniquely without it, and the solver counts the solutions again before the sheet is allowed to exist. A grid this small is where a second answer is most likely and where a child spots it fastest, so it is worth being strict about.
Each sheet also carries a catalogue number, printed in its description, which is the number the generator used to build it. Two sheets can never be the same puzzle: the board of every published grid is fingerprinted and a repeat kills the build.
Printing
Choose actual size or 100% rather than fit to page. Every file is laid out as a real A4 page with 15mm margins, which is also what stops a US Letter printer clipping the edges. Black and white at normal quality is enough, the grid lines are drawn heavy on purpose, and no sheet here needs colour ink.
When these stop being a challenge, the easy 9x9 sudoku are the next step up, and the full printable sudoku collection carries all three adult levels.
How to use these sheets
- Pick a sheet and press Print. The file is a PDF sized for A4 and Letter paper.
- Print it in black and white at normal quality. None of these sheets need colour ink except the colour by number pages.
- Keep the answer page for yourself, or print it too if you want to check the work later.
Common questions
What age is a 4x4 sudoku for?
Roughly four to seven, depending on the sheet. A starter grid with ten of its sixteen squares already filled is finishable by a child who can count to four, and the shape versions work before that, because matching a circle to a circle needs no numbers at all. The five clue sheets will keep a nine year old busy.
Can a 4x4 sudoku really have only one answer?
Yes, and every one here does. Four clues is the proven minimum for a 4x4 with a single solution, so these sheets sit at five, six, eight or ten. A square is only left blank if the board still solves uniquely without it, and the solutions are counted again before the sheet is published. Nothing here needs a guess.
What are the sheets with shapes on them?
The same puzzle without numbers. Sudoku only asks that four different things appear once in each row, column and 2x2 box, so circles, suns, flowers, arrows or the letters A to D all work. Those sheets print their four symbols in a strip at the top, which is how a child who cannot read digits yet solves one by matching.
Which sheets can a child mark themselves?
The four self-check sheets. On those the answer prints in a small grid at the foot of the same page, behind a dotted line you fold under before handing it over. They are the only sheets on this page without a separate answer PDF, because the answer is already on them. Every other sheet here has one.
My child has outgrown these. What comes next?
The easy 9x9 sudoku, which start with around forty two of the eighty one squares filled in and still never need a guess. After that the printable sudoku collection carries all three adult levels, down to twenty six clues.
Can I print these for a nursery or a whole class?
Yes, as many copies as you need, handed out for free. Classroom use and home use are both covered expressly. Several sheets are built for it: a name and date line, the rules printed across the top, a worked example beside the puzzles, and four and six grid sets for a table. The licensing page has the exact wording.