The Witch's Workshop: A Halloween Potion Logic Puzzle
- Grade band
- 4
- Duration
- 40 minutes
- Skill
- Solving a three-category logic grid
- Standards
- RI.4.1 — Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
- MP.1 — Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
- Materials
- Student worksheet with three-part grid (printable, included)
- Pencils
- Optional classroom workshop: four clear bottles of water tinted green, purple, orange, and red; four charms (craft charms or drawings); four hand-written spell tags on string
Learning objectives
- Students will be able to record each clue in the correct part of a three-category logic grid (color × charm, color × effect, effect × charm).
- Students will be able to apply a fact from one part of the grid to another (if the green potion is Night Vision and the Levitation potion has the bat charm, the bat charm can't be on the green bottle).
- Students will be able to justify each match by citing the clue numbers that prove it.
Lesson procedure
- Set the scene (5 minutes) — I Do. Before students arrive, set out the four colored “potions,” the four charms, and the four blank spell tags (see Setting up the workshop below), all jumbled together. Read the story at the top of the worksheet aloud with as much drama as you like. The job: put every charm and every spell tag back with the right bottle.
- Tour the grid (5 minutes) — I Do. Show the three-part grid (on a smartboard, use Solve it on screen below — tap a square for ✗, tap again for ✓). The top-left block matches potion colors to charms, the top-right block matches colors to effects, and the bottom block matches effects to charms. The shaded corner would compare effects to effects, so it's never used. Model Clue 1: ✓ in the Green / Night Vision box, then ✗ in the rest of that row and column inside that block.
- First clues together (8 minutes) — We Do. Enter Clues 2 and 3 as a class. Then ask: “The Levitation potion has the bat charm. We know the green potion is Night Vision, not Levitation. So can the bat charm be on the green bottle?” Mark the ✗ together and point out that the answer came from two clues working together.
- Crack the case in teams (15 minutes) — You Do. Teams of 3–4 finish the grid, fill in the Case closed table, and write the clue numbers that prove each match. When a team thinks it's solved, it may label one bottle at the workshop table: tie on the spell tag and set the charm in front of it.
- The big reveal (7 minutes) — Closure. Use the on-screen version below (or simply read the answers) to check the bottles one at a time. For each one, ask a team to explain the clue chain that proves it. Finish with: “Which clue was the hardest to use, and why?”
Printable worksheet
🧪 The Witch's Workshop Disaster
A mischievous raven flew through Madame Hazel's open window and knocked everything off her workbench! The labels fell off her four bubbling potions: green, purple, orange, and red. Her four protective charms — the bat, spider, skull, and crescent moon — are scattered across the table. And nobody knows which potion does what: Night Vision, Levitation, Goblin Invisibility, or Dragon Breath.
Each potion has exactly one charm and exactly one magical effect. Use Madame Hazel's torn notes to put her workshop back together before she gets home!
Madame Hazel's torn notes
- The green potion gives you Night Vision.
- The crescent moon charm belongs on the red bottle.
- The Levitation potion is sealed with the bat charm.
- The bat charm does NOT go on the orange bottle.
- The skull charm does NOT go on the green bottle.
- The Goblin Invisibility potion is NOT sealed with the crescent moon charm.
The detective grid. Put a ✓ when you're sure two things go together. Put an ✗ when they can't. Remember: each row and each column in a block gets exactly one ✓.
| 🦇 bat | 🕷️ spider | 💀 skull | 🌙 moon | Night Vision | Levitation | Goblin Invis. | Dragon Breath | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 green | ||||||||
| 🟣 purple | ||||||||
| 🟠 orange | ||||||||
| 🔴 red | ||||||||
| Night Vision | ||||||||
| Levitation | ||||||||
| Goblin Invis. | ||||||||
| Dragon Breath |
Case closed! Fill in each potion and the clue numbers that prove it.
| Potion | Charm | Magical effect | Proved by clues # |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 green | |||
| 🟣 purple | |||
| 🟠 orange | |||
| 🔴 red |
Solve it on screen
The same detective grid, for a smartboard or a computer. Tap a square once for ✗, again for ✓, and a third time to clear it. “Check my grid” points out marks that break the clues without giving away the answer.
- The green potion gives you Night Vision.
- The crescent moon charm belongs on the red bottle.
- The Levitation potion is sealed with the bat charm.
- The bat charm does NOT go on the orange bottle.
- The skull charm does NOT go on the green bottle.
- The Goblin Invisibility potion is NOT sealed with the crescent moon charm.
| 🦇 bat | 🕷️ spider | 💀 skull | 🌙 moon | Night Vision | Levitation | Goblin Invis. | Dragon Breath | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🟢 green | ||||||||
| 🟣 purple | ||||||||
| 🟠 orange | ||||||||
| 🔴 red | ||||||||
| Night Vision | ||||||||
| Levitation | ||||||||
| Goblin Invis. | ||||||||
| Dragon Breath |
The big reveal (smartboard)
Use this after teams have solved the case on paper. Drag each charm and each spell tag to its bottle — a wrong guess wiggles back. Works with touch, a stylus, or a mouse.
🟢 Green
🟣 Purple
🟠 Orange
🔴 Red
Background for the teacher
This is a three-category logic grid puzzle: four potions, each matched to exactly one charm and exactly one effect. Students solve it on paper using the grid; the physical workshop is the reward and the reveal, not the solving tool. That matters, because once bottles start getting labeled at the table, the rest of the class can copy the answers — so teams should only label a bottle after their grid proves it.
Every clue is needed, and two of the steps require linking clues across blocks of the grid — the core skill of this lesson. The most common stuck point is Clue 6, which never names a color: “Goblin Invisibility is not sealed with the moon.” Since Clue 2 put the moon on the red bottle, Goblin Invisibility can't be red. If a team stalls, ask: “Which bottle has the moon? So what does Clue 6 tell you about that bottle?”
Setting up the workshop. Four clear plastic bottles or jars of water tinted with food coloring (purple = red + blue; orange = red + yellow). For charms, use Halloween craft charms or simple drawings on paper squares. For spell tags, write the four effect names on index cards or paper tags, punch a hole in each, and add a loop of string. Lay everything out jumbled, with no tags attached. Colored water only — and remind students that real potions stay in stories.
One solving path. (1) Clue 1: green is Night Vision. (2) Clue 2: red has the moon. (3) Clue 3 says the bat charm goes with Levitation. Green is Night Vision, so green can't have the bat; red already has the moon; Clue 4 rules out orange. So purple has the bat and purple is Levitation. (4) Clue 5: the skull isn't on green, and red and purple are taken, so orange has the skull. Green gets the last charm: the spider. (5) Clue 6: Goblin Invisibility doesn't have the moon, so it isn't red. Red isn't Night Vision or Levitation either, so red is Dragon Breath, and orange is Goblin Invisibility.
Differentiation
Support: Give struggling teams a copy of the grid with Clues 1 and 2 already entered, or start them on only the top-left (color × charm) block, which Clues 2–5 nearly solve on their own. Prompt with “Which bottle is still left?” rather than giving answers.
Extension: Challenge early finishers to write a fifth potion (color, charm, effect) and two new clues that keep the puzzle to exactly one answer — then trade with another team to test it.
ELL support: Pre-teach the effect names with gestures and pictures (Night Vision = hands as goggles, Levitation = float upward, Invisibility = cover eyes, Dragon Breath = puff of fire), and point to the matching spell tag each time a clue mentions one.
IEP/504 support: Read the clues aloud and allow students to solve by physically moving small paper slips (one per charm and effect) next to colored paper squares instead of marking the grid. Reduce the written proof column to one clue number per potion.
Answer key (for teachers)
| Potion | Charm | Magical effect | Proved by clues |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | Spider | Night Vision | 1; spider is the last charm left after 2–5 |
| Purple | Bat | Levitation | 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| Orange | Skull | Goblin Invisibility | 5, once purple and red have their charms (skull); 2 + 6 (effect) |
| Red | Crescent moon | Dragon Breath | 2 (moon); 1, 3, 6 (effect) |
Accept other clue combinations if the team's reasoning is valid.
Digital extension (optional)
Want more mysteries after Halloween? Sleuth Scouts has a whole case file of logic grid puzzles kids can solve by tapping ✓ and ✗ — start with the 4×4 Scout cases.