Nonogram generator
Print picture logic puzzles — nonograms, also called griddlers or paint-by-numbers — where the numbers beside each row and above each column say how long the runs of shaded squares are, and shading them correctly reveals a picture. Choose 5×5, 8×8 or 10×10 grids, up to four per sheet, and download an A4 or US Letter PDF with the answer key.
Choose a grid size and how many puzzles, then download the PDF — no account needed.
Picture logic puzzles: shade the squares the row and column clues describe and a picture appears. Every puzzle is solvable line by line without guessing — guaranteed, because a line-logic solver has to finish it before it is printed.
How it works
- Choose 5×5, 8×8 or 10×10 and how many puzzles to print — up to four.
- Pick easy or tricky, add your own sheet title, and decide whether to print the answer key.
- Download the PDF, print it, or copy a share link that restores these settings.
Using these worksheets in teaching
A nonogram is a deduction exercise that happens to produce a picture, and the picture is what keeps a child at it long enough for the deduction to get practised. The reasoning is genuinely mathematical: a row of five with a clue of three has only three placements, all of which cover the middle square, so that square can be shaded before anything else is known — an argument from the intersection of possibilities, which is the same move that underpins sudoku and a great deal of early proof. Teach children to mark the squares they have ruled out as firmly as the ones they have shaded, with a light cross or a dot; solvers who only record positives lose their own working and end up re-deriving the same line repeatedly. The guarantee that no guessing is required is worth stating out loud to a stuck child, because it converts "I cannot see it" into "there is a line I have not looked at again", which is a searchable problem rather than a dead end. Start on 5×5 grids and move up only when a child finishes without abandoning a line halfway.
Frequently asked questions
- How do you solve a nonogram?
- The numbers on a row list the runs of shaded squares in order, with at least one blank between them, so "3, 1" on a five-wide row means three shaded, a gap, then one. You work out what must be shaded and what must be blank from one line at a time, mark both, and the marks you make narrow the lines that cross them. Repeat until the picture is done.
- Do I ever have to guess?
- No — and that is guaranteed, not hoped for. Every puzzle is checked by a solver that only ever applies line logic, one row or column at a time, and any pattern that solver cannot finish is thrown away and a fresh one drawn before the sheet is built. If you are stuck, there is always a line somewhere that can be advanced.
- Which grid size should I start with?
- 5×5 for a first puzzle: it is small enough to finish in a couple of minutes and the whole grid stays in view. 8×8 is the everyday size. 10×10 is the classic small picture and prints with a heavier rule every five squares, because counting to ten along a row is where mistakes creep in.
- What does the difficulty change?
- How much of the grid is shaded. Easy puzzles are dense, so the long runs barely fit and a great deal is forced on the first pass. Tricky puzzles are sparser, so short runs can sit in several places and you have to come back to a line more than once. Both stay well inside what line logic alone can finish.
- Is there an answer key?
- Yes. Turn it on and every solved picture is printed on a clearly labelled page at the end of the same PDF, drawn small so all four puzzles fit on one page.
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Last reviewed: July 2026. Worksheet content is generated by deterministic algorithms and covered by automated correctness tests — no AI-generated answers.