These suit January and February, when the holidays are over and there are still weeks of cold to fill. They work for snow days at home, for caregivers looking for a calm half hour with a parent or client, and for activity programs that need something that is not tied to a holiday.
Ideas for using them
Print a few ahead of a storm. A folder of puzzles by the armchair is a good thing to have when the roads are bad.
For a group with mixed vision or memory, choose the Easy pages: just six words, going across and down only, in the largest letters we print.
Finish with a mug of something warm and ask everyone for their best winter memory; the word list is a good prompt.
Which level to choose
Easy (8 × 8 grid, 6 words): words go across and down only. A good place to start, and the right choice for a group with mixed eyesight or memory.
Medium (10 × 10 grid, 8 words): words also run on the slant. A relaxed challenge for most people.
Hard (12 × 12 grid, 10 words): words go every which way, backwards too. Fun for keen puzzlers, and still in large print.
The letters are printed bold and large, 20 points or bigger even on the Hard grid, with a box beside each word to tick when you find it.
Printing tips
In the print window, choose Letter or A4 paper. Both are set up to fit, and each puzzle always fits on one page.
Leave the scale at 100% (“Default” or “Actual size”), and turn Headers and footers off, so the page is clean.
Black and white is fine. The answer key uses bold type rather than color, so it still reads clearly on a plain printer.
The answer key is always the second page. Ask the printer for page 1 only if you want to keep it back.
The words in these puzzles
Each puzzle uses some of these 39 everyday words: snowflake, snowman, sledding, mittens, scarf, boots, cocoa, fireplace, blanket, icicle, frost, blizzard, skating, skiing, sled, snowball, cozy, wool, hat, coat, chilly, freezing, flurry, sleet, drift, hibernate, cardinal, evergreen, stove, soup, stew, knitting, quilt, snowshoe, earmuffs, gloves, january, february, toboggan.