Word Power Made Fun 

 Looking for the perfect holiday recreation for your youngster?  It’s not too easy to find options that combine fun and learning without becoming boring or dry. While some store-bought games manage to bridge the gap, not all of them are economical or able to sustain interest. A way out of the mess is to take the matter into your own hands and create the perfect game for your kids.

 Pre-teens and older children can get introduced to classic crosswords and Sudoku, and gradually build their caliber to solve complex variants. Visual aids and phonetic games work better for smaller kids. Coloring sheets can incorporate language learning as well, and are an excellent choice for this group. The very young can begin by matching the color name to the appropriately colored box, or filling in the name of a fruit with its color.

 As their vocabulary grows, word searches within pictures can come in handy. For example, a large fish shape can contain seaside-related words in a grid. Connect-the-dots exercises could yield a word in block letters if done correctly. Pictures of jars with toffees inside can be used for a coloring cum counting activity. Picture outlines with color names printed in the appropriate places can test a child’s recognition of color names, and provide an interesting art session as well.

There are a number of sites on the Internet which offer downloadable puzzles and activity sheets for all age groups. Browsing these can provide many more ideas to beat boredom blues. Watch your child’s imagination and skills grow by leaps and bounds with the right kind of activity. Parental participation with children with something interesting such as an online free bingo game adds so much to the bonding.