Hobbies And Interests
Word
Make word puzzles at home or buy books of them. Word puzzles include such games as word searches and crossword puzzles.
Make your word search puzzle by filling a grid with words running forward, backward, vertically or diagonally. "Hide" the words by filling in the rest of the squares with letters. Put a list of the words to be found on the side or at the bottom.
Make a crossword puzzle by writing words running vertically or horizontally on a piece of grid paper. Make sure one word intersects with another at a common letter. Number each word at its beginning. Then place each number you've used on the side or bottom of a second sheet of grid paper. On that paper, highlight the squares that were used for the words on the first grid, number the locations where the first letter of each word goes, corresponding to the clue of that word.
Jigsaw
Make a jigsaw puzzle at home by gluing a picture, drawing, invitation or letter onto a piece of poster board. Cut the picture into puzzle pieces using scissors or an Xacto knife. The puzzle is a lot of fun to send in an envelope to loved ones and friends to put together and enjoy.
Mailed puzzles can include pictures of kids, pets, favorite toys, scenery or anything that comes to mind, as well as drawings, letters or invitations. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends would enjoy receiving a homemade jigsaw puzzle.
Tanagrams
Make tanagrams at home by cutting colored poster board into geometric shapes like as squares, triangles, rectangles and arranged them into shapes (e.g., a dog). Tanagrams can be used to play a game: Have two sets of the same geometric shapes and see who can first form the chosen shape (e.g., the dog). Keep score, one point per puzzle. Whoever has the most points after six or seven rounds wins.