Printable 6x6 sudoku
24 smaller sudoku boards using digits 1 to 6. The grid has 36 cells and boxes three wide by two tall, a real first step before 9x9.
24 printable sheets ·
Checked and published by 
Nora Quill
24 clues
The fullest 6x6 board on the page: 24 of the 36 squares are printed, leaving only 12 to fill. With so much of the grid printed, a beginner collects early wins while learning to check a row, a column and a box in turn. All the boards in this group have the same clue count. Start here for a very first sudoku.
22 clues
Two clues fewer than the opening board, so 14 squares are empty. It's a small drop. The solver gets the same kind of grid with a bit less help, and you find out whether the first success was luck or understanding. A good second sheet on the same day.
20 clues
With 20 numbers printed and 16 squares empty, the board is now close to half blank. Most moves now need a row, a column and a box checked together. Reading one line at a time stops working. A sensible stop for a child who finished the first two sheets alone.
18 clues
Exactly half the board is given: 18 clues and 18 empty squares. A few blanks usually offer a foothold, and most of the work comes from combining what the rows, columns and three by two boxes already hold. Still marked easy.
17 clues
Seventeen clues leave 19 squares to find, and this board is tagged as the stretch end of easy. A solver may need to return to a row after filling something elsewhere on the grid. Use it to confirm the method holds up before trying the emptiest sheet.
16 clues
The emptiest 6x6 here: 16 clues and 20 squares to fill, more than half the grid. It is the final rung before an easy 9x9 board, and a solver who finishes it without the answer page has a fair case for moving to the larger grid.
Thirty six squares, six digits, boxes of three by two
Each board was made as a 6 by 6 from the start, so nobody cut rows off a 9x9. The board holds thirty six squares, uses the digits 1 to 6 and splits into six boxes that are three columns wide and two rows tall. The rule is the familiar one: each row, each column and each box holds every digit exactly once. Squares print 25mm across, larger than anything on the 9x9 sheets, so a young child's handwriting fits without cramping.
There are 24 boards here. We checked each one for a single solution before it went up. The answer grid sits on the last page of the same PDF, so whoever does the marking can print it or leave it off.
Who the 6x6 board suits
Usually it's a child of six or seven who has done a few 4x4 grids and is ready for proper boxes. Grandparents teaching the rules at the kitchen table like it too. So does anyone who took one look at 81 squares and gave up. Compared with the 4x4, only one thing is new. The box is a rectangle, three squares across and two down.
How is a 6x6 sudoku different from 4x4 and 9x9?
A 4x4 uses four digits in sixteen squares with 2x2 boxes, and a child can finish one in a few minutes. A 9x9 uses nine digits in 81 squares with 3x3 boxes. The 6x6 sits between them: six digits, thirty six squares and rectangular boxes, so a child meets the whole method without the full workload.
Working down from 24 clues to 16
The headings on this page are clue counts: 24, 22, 20, 18, 17 and 16. At 24 clues two thirds of the board is already filled, so only twelve squares remain to be found and the first answers come quickly. At 16 clues more than half the board is open, and the solver has to cross check rows, columns and boxes, slowly.
Move down a heading once the current one feels easy. The rules stay the same on every sheet. What changes is how much help is printed at the start. A child who stalls at 17 can drop back to 20 for a while and try again the next day.
Getting the 25mm squares onto paper
Each sheet is a single A4 page with one board. In the print dialog choose 100 percent or actual size, because fit to page shrinks the squares slightly. Black and white is fine. Hand over a pencil, because there's a lot of rubbing out in the first few weeks.
Once the six digits stop slowing things down, the next step is easy 9x9 sudoku, which starts at 50 clues. For a younger child, the 4x4 sudoku sheets include versions played with shapes, arrows or letters. You'll find all the levels on the printable sudoku hub.
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.