Crossword Puzzles, Brain Exercise of Choice?

Wednesday’s Words

This week’s Wednesday’s Words is a play on an old standard — crossword puzzles.

Crossword puzzles have been around since the late 1800’s and have long been the recommended, ultimate brain exercise.

• Yes, crosswords are wonderful workouts for memory, comprehension, word finding, and problem solving!
• Yes, crossword puzzles are fun and help you stretch your thinking and your vocabulary!
• Yes, crossword puzzles are available in so many different levels of difficulty that everyone can find one that fits!

This is an easy puzzle but in order to succeed, you need to dig into your memory and pull the right words and phrases out of your well of Cranium Crunches facts!  If you get stuck, you can find all the answers on our site www.craniumcrunches.com.

Don’t forget to register for Crunch Time and have photo puzzles sent to directly to you!

Weekly Brain Games: Wednesday’s Word Challenge

Word games are excellent ways to fit in a brain workout!   People have been playing paper and pencil word games like crossword puzzles, hangman,  and acrostics for centuries.   The first published crossword puzzle showed up in 1890 in an Italian magazine and the first example of this same type of puzzle appeared in the US in the New York World in 1913.

The following is a word game we call Word Sequences.    Playing Word Sequences will help you with some thinking tasks many of us struggle.  You will work on skills that help with word finding and recall while practicing putting items in order, following patterns, filling in the blanks, and remembering words and meanings in categories.

Here is how you play.   Start with the top 2 lines.   Move letters from the top word down to the lines below.   Then use the clue on the side to fill in the circles and complete the word!  Here is a sample:

Try this one on your own.   It is a bit more difficult because the words don’t line up and word length varies!  Same idea — move the letters down on to the lines and fill in the circles using the clue to complete the word!