Dell Word Search Puzzles Are For All Ages!

One of the most appreciated Christmas gifts I got for my mother last year was a subscription to Dell’s Official Word Search Puzzle Books. They aren’t really “books” they are however as entertaining and consuming as a good book would be.

Word Searches are a puzzle that requires the puzzle doer to find words on a grid that is totally filled in with random letters or numbers. From this grid (usually about 10 letters across by 10 letters down although some, especially the number grids may be a couple hundred of numbers) the user must find hidden words or numbers among the random looking letters. You may look left to right (the way we read) or right to left (backwards) or diagonally in any direction.

The Number Finds are usually the hardest because it requires you to find a five digit or more number nestled among all those other needless numbers. I find it easy to remember a word I’m searching for (like kitten) but not a number I’m searching for (like 284503). This is a great exercise for memory and I think doing these puzzles will help older people retain memory skills. These will also help children do the same thing. My kids have always enjoyed working these puzzles when they visited Grandma. Since these puzzles are aimed at adults, most kids can’t really be successful until they are about 10. If you are interested in puzzle books for younger kids you will often find Word Searches in many of the puzzle books and even coloring books for children.

The Word Searches themselves will sometimes be labeled Easy, Medium, or Difficult. Most of them are theme orientated. For example, the theme might be “Vacations” and have words to find like airplane, travel, Germany, backpacks, suitcases, seashore, etc. Because of the theme set up, kids in middle and above grades can do these and learn categorization as well as spelling. So can older folks, like my mom.

This is the first time I got a subscription for her. In the past, I usually bought them as stocking stuffers. If you are looking for a stocking stuffer for someone, these are great. She has received the approximately 5x7 paperback magazines/books regularly. Even though she loves doing these puzzles (it’s one of her favorite bathroom pastimes) she hasn’t finished them all yet this year. So for this year I will skip the subscription and let her catch up before I give her another one next year. A subscription for a year costs approximately $12.99 and you get 9 copies a year.

These books are easy to carry if you are traveling or if you are going to stick them into your purse to take with you to doctor’s appointments or waiting rooms of any kind. It keeps your mind engaged and off the hours you spend waiting.

If you see your children’s teacher sending home homework that involves word search puzzles, now you will know that it is more than just “busy” work but are skill builders that kids can do and usually don’t mind.

These puzzle books are an easy way to keep yourself and others entertained and enables you to learn and keep skills honed in a fun and challenging way. My suggestion is to buy a few and keep them around the house and enjoy!