Large Print Brain Games for Seniors

Written for the person doing the puzzles and for whoever sits beside them, this printable activity book is made for older adults. There are 75 activity pages in seven sections: word games, nostalgia and trivia, memory games, visual games, numbers and logic, conversation and group games, and a short relaxing section at the end.

Three levels, marked on every page

Each page carries a label. 45 are Easy, 23 are Gentle Challenge and 7 are Moderate. Most of the book is meant to be pleasant rather than hard, and the Moderate pages are the ones to save for a sharp day.

What’s inside the sections

The word pages are word searches with no diagonal words, plus scrambles, missing vowels, opposites and rhymes. The trivia is American and runs from the 1950s to the 1970s: I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, what a gallon of gas cost, old household gadgets and school days. Memory pages ask you to look at a picture or a list, cover it and recall it. The number pages stay gentle, with 4×4 and 6×6 sudoku, clock faces and everyday shopping sums.

The conversation section is written to be read aloud. Think Fast, Name Five, Senior Charades and This or That need no pen at all, which helps when hands are unsteady.

How big is the print

Questions are set at 16 point, word search letters at 20 point and sudoku numbers at 24 point. Instructions and multiple-choice answers are a little smaller, at 14.5 point. Print at 100% or “Actual size,” because “Fit to page” shrinks everything.

For caregivers and activity directors

The 15-page kit covers running a group session, matching pages to what someone can do that day, one-to-one visits, and three ready-to-run 30-minute session plans. It also has a weekly planner, a monthly calendar, a session log, a six-week participation tracker, twelve cut-out conversation cards, a reminiscence guide and a certificate of participation.

Printing

The color edition gives each section its own color. The ink-saving edition keeps the seven sections apart in shades of gray, so it works on a black-and-white laser printer or a copier. Print the cut-out pages single-sided. Every puzzle with a right answer has its answer at the back, and each activity also comes as its own one-page PDF, so you can print just today’s page.