Wednesday, December 25, 2013

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 25

Did you open gifts today? Did Santa bring your special someones something special? If those dear ones happen to play with everything before the day is done and then claim they're bored, print off Day 25 of the Puzzle Advent and give them something else to do!

Puzzle Advent Day 25

I hope you have enjoyed this year's Puzzle Advent!  Stay tuned to this channel for more puzzle fun coming up!  (Do you watch "The Christmas Story"?  I've got some secret decoder style puzzles in mind...)

And Happy Holidays, whichever kind you celebrate, I hope it was amazing!

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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 24

In our family, we always open presents on Christmas Eve. We like to have a smorgasbord style dinner and then tear into the holiday fun! Sometimes we like to torture the kids by making them go for a drive to look at Christmas lights or reading some holiday stories first. You can just see the ants in their pants while they try so hard to wait patiently for the presents! I also like to start putting presents under the tree as soon as I get them wrapped. I love seeing the pretty papers and ribbons. And it's just a little bit of added torture for the kids. They always want to open everything right away. Maybe I'm just mean, or maybe I'm teaching them some self control?!? (...probably just mean....hahahahaha!)

So enjoy Day 24 of the Puzzle Advent!  Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the last advent puzzle!

Puzzle Advent Day 24

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Monday, December 23, 2013

Saturday, December 21, 2013

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 21

Day 21 is here!

Puzzle Advent Day 21

I almost forgot to mention...today is the 100th anniversary of the Crossword Puzzle!

History of Xword Puzzle

Here's a nice article on the history of the Crossword Puzzle from PuzzleNation.

http://blog.puzzlenation.com/2013/12/05/5-questions-with-magician-and-puzzle-constructor-david-kwong/

And another article from PuzzleNation (great blog btw!) with an interview with David Kwong.  He's a magician and puzzle constructor.  The melding of the two is amazing!  Watch the video and prepare to have your socks blown off!!

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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Monday, December 16, 2013

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 16

Did you catch the Psych Musical last night?! It was 2 hours of awesome!

Day 16's puzzle:

Puzzle Advent Day 16

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Saturday, December 14, 2013

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 14

Do you have snow?  It's finally gotten a bit chilly here, but I doubt we'll see snow in GA any time soon!  :-(

Here's today's puzzle...

Puzzle Advent Day 14

Friday, December 13, 2013

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 10 & 11

What happened to yesterday!??!  I completely slept through it or something!  So here are days 10 and 11 of the Puzzle Advent together.

Puzzle Advent Day 10

Puzzle Advent Day 11

Happy Solving!

Monday, December 9, 2013

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 9

Yesterday's hidden word was "Candy Cane" ... yum!  Can you figure out today's hidden word?

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 9

Saturday, December 7, 2013

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 7

Day 7 has arrived!  That means there are only 18 day left until Christmas!

Puzzle Advent Day 7

Friday, December 6, 2013

Five Gift Ideas for Puzzling People

5 Gift Ideas For Puzzling People

Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet?  Need some brilliant ideas for the puzzle lovers on your list?  Try some of these...


1.  Top of my gift giving list, without a doubt, is Laser Maze from ThinkFun.  You can check out my review of it here and find out the nitty-gritty, but you simply can't go wrong with lasers and puzzles combined!  Unfortunately, Amazon has raised the price by $20 for the Christmas season, and ThinkFun is sold out!  But MindWare still seems to have some at the more reasonable price of $30.  This is great for kids and adults alike!

http://www.hammacher.com/Product/83921?promo=search

2.  Scrabble is a fabulous way to build your vocabulary!  My kids and I have been trying to figure out a way to have a long-play board of Scrabble set up so that people could play their turn when they were in the mood.  But we just don't have any surfaces at our new house for something like that to sit out.  (We gave up having an eating table so that we could have a homeschool room instead.)  And with 2 very nosy cats, the board would get messed up at least once or twice a day!  So I was very pleased when I stumbled on The Walk By Scrabble Board and quickly purchased one.  It will be a family gift for Xmas, so I haven't opened it up yet, but I does look good from the outside!  Now both the kids can play my favorite word game with me and not feel too pressured to make a word within a given amount of time.  I think it'll be a hit!

http://www.amazon.com/Puzzlecraft-Ultimate-Guide-Construct-Puzzle/dp/1402779240/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386375249&sr=8-1&keywords=puzzle+craft

3.  Here's a gift for the budding puzzle maker.  Mike Selinker and Thomas Snyder do a fabulous job of presenting a ton of different puzzle types with tips on how to create them and solve them.  It includes chapters on Perception Puzzles, Word Puzzles, Logic Puzzles, and Puzzles Within Puzzles.  The book is also full of solvable examples.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0954656202/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

4.  Here's a fairly esoteric idea.  I just bought a copy of "Numbers: facts, figures and fiction" by Richard Phillips for my puzzle writing reference shelf.  It is chock-full of interesting facts about numbers.  Want to know something about the number 78?  Turn to page 68 and you will find that the number 78 is 2x3x13, is the life expectancy for women in the UK, and is the number of presents sent on the twelfth day of Christmas.  I know, you can probably find all this info on the internet, but this is a really glossy book with pretty pictures and, even though I adore my Kindle app, I still like to flip through a real book sometimes!

http://www.smartgames.eu/en/smartgames/vikings

5.  And one last single-player puzzle recommendation...Vikings Brainstorm from Smart Games.  You can find more about the game here and buy it at Amazon for $20.  It is a really nifty little game.  I haven't had a chance to write a review for it yet, but it is quite satisfying to play with and solve.  Definitely for kids and adults.

Good luck shopping and happy holidays!


2013 Puzzle Advent Day 6

And today's puzzle is here!

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 6

And just because....

http://www.usanetwork.com/psych/features/musicalcountdown

I think we are more excited about the upcoming Psych musical than Christmas!  ;-)

Thursday, December 5, 2013

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 5

Day 5's puzzle!

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 5


If you'd like to share these free puzzles with your friends on pinterest, I've created a graphic below!

http://thepuzzleden.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 4

I hope your having fun solving these puzzles!  I'm having a blast making them!

Puzzle Advent Day 4


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 3

Day 3 of the puzzle advent.  What secret word will you find?

Puzzle Advent Day 3

And don't forget the last day of the TpT Sale!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/

(This graphic is from A Sketchy Guy...check out his store, it's full of cool stuff!)

Monday, December 2, 2013

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 2

Did you find the hidden word yesterday?

Here's today's puzzle!

Puzzle Advent Day 2

And don't forget the big sale!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Puzzle-Den


Sunday, December 1, 2013

2013 Puzzle Advent Day 1 (and a sale!)

Hello December!

I thought I'd celebrate this lovely month with a puzzle advent.  The puzzles will all be "Count Your Chickens" which involve some spelling and counting and hidden words!  I'm thinking these would be great for 3rd thru 5th graders, but younger kids could work these together with their parents for help with the spelling.  Click on the picture below and you can download today's puzzle!

2013 Puzzle Advent Day1

(Clip art for these puzzles comes from ClipArt.com)

TpT is having another site-wide sale!  So if you need to stock up on some teaching resources, this is the time to do it!  Primary Possibilities is having a link-up with all the other stores that are participating in the sale.  You can check that out below!

http://primarypossibilities.blogspot.com/2013/11/huge-cyber-monday-and-tuesday-sale-at.html

You will get a 20% discount off anything you purchase at my store.  Then TpT will be taking off another 10%, for a total of 28% off!  Really nice discount for the holiday shopping season!  Don't forget to use the code "cyber".

Enjoy the holidays!