Word Bogglers

Book excerpt: Are you looking for a motivating way to combine problem solving, visual discrimination, and language? Word Bogglers is just what you need. A word boggler is a puzzle, a brain teaser, and a lesson in language, all rolled into one. These clever visual puzzles use words and phrases to build flexible thinking and word literacy. Each word boggler is a word or phrase that has been written so that its meaning is conveyed via the position, number, or size of the words and letters. Some of the puzzles are words while some are familiar idioms and clichés. Thus, this book brings an opportunity to develop vocabulary and knowledge of often-used phrases in the form of motivating brainteasers. Each page features six of these visual puzzles. Students analyze the way the words are written (size, position, and direction) to solve each boggler and match it with its definition. A way to further reinforce the understanding of each phrase is to have students use the phrases in a written sentence. You can use these puzzles in a variety of ways, including: putting them on the overhead for a quick daily thinking challenge, using them as starting points for daily writing exercises, using an entire page for a weekly challenge, forming groups to work together on solving the puzzles, using them in a learning center, and having students make up their own puzzles. Bring Words Bogglers into your classroom today. The result of using these word puzzles is lots of fun, lots of challenge, and increased knowledge of the meaning of common idioms and words. For more word puzzles, see The World's Greatest Brain Bogglers and Brain Twisters!