This is a great group activity which works best with participants without any cognitive impairment. When facilitating the activity, my observation is the activity is more challenging than it appears for a lot of people. It’s best to facilitate with participants with higher cognitive functioning. I like to use the activity since it introduces something new and if they like it, I can recommend apps they can use in their leisure time if they have a tablet. Alternatively, if they don’t have a tablet, you can print the puzzle sheets out for them to work on.
How to play: On a white board, draw a box or circle with the letters at the bottom of the board. On the top of the board, draw lines to represent how many letters are needed in each word. Ask the group to call out words they can think of using only the letters in the box/circle. If participants are struggling, you can put the first letter for the word on the lines. I continue to give extra letters, if needed. For uncommon words, I’ve added the meaning of the word below the puzzle sheet so participants can also learn new words.
This can also be done individually so each person is challenged and after a certain amount of time agreed upon, do it together on the board or just call them out. Sheets are provided for participants if done individually. When printing, only every second sheet needs to be printed (pages 2, 4, 6, 8, 10).
After the group, inform participants of apps called ‘Word Trip’ and ‘Wordscapes Uncrossed’ if they wish to do this activity independently. There are lots of other similar apps online as well. It’s a great opportunity for cognitive stimulation.