National Puzzle Day is on Jan 29th every year. Yes, puzzles have their very own holiday! Mrs. P loves puzzles. They help with spelling, building word skills such as increasing vocabulary and they sharpen skills such as reading, and writing. Of course there are many wonderful types of puzzles. Puzzles will include jigsaw, picture, crossword, word search, logic, and Sudoku.
TRIVIA TIP: Crossword puzzles are said to be the most popular and widespread word game in the world, yet have a short history. The first crosswords appeared in England during the 19th century. They were of an elementary kind, apparently derived from the word square, a group of words arranged so the letters read alike vertically and horizontally, and printed in children's puzzle books and various periodicals. In the United States, however, the puzzle developed into a serious adult pastime. (source: The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament)
Let’s make a Picture Puzzle: I like this activity because it helps to encourage creative thinking, language development and my favorite, storytelling skills. Not to mention visual thinking.
What you’ll need:
- An old stack of magazines suitable to be cut up
- Glue stick
- Some thicker poster paper or cardboard
- Scissors
How to Make:
- Have your students or child select an image from the magazine stack or they can draw their own.
- Have them glue it on a stronger piece of paper (the poster board or cardboard).
- Help them if needed cut the image into puzzle shapes.
- Test putting the puzzle together themselves.
- Then have them give their puzzle to another classmate to put together.
- Lastly have them share why they selected the image, let them tell a story about it, and ask why they thought it would be a good puzzle.
“This is a puzzling world” George Eliot
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