Regular brain puzzles are a great means of training your cognition. Not only do those who regularly complete puzzles find themselves to be more able of thinking laterally, but regular brain training has been proven to improve the density of grey matter while ensuring brain health.
But perhaps more importantly – puzzles are a great amount of fun to complete!
Word puzzles, including excellent fill-in books, are some of the best you can try. This is because they hold everything, from spatial reasoning to calculate the number of letters needed, all the way up to general trivia and testing your vocabulary. In fact, word puzzles can be enjoyed by those who are learning a language or reinforcing the learning of children, all the way up to adults who just want to increase the general selection they use in daily conversation.
But what kind of puzzles should you consider trying?
Types of Word Puzzles
There are many types of word puzzles worth trying. These include:
Crosswords
Crosswords are known for their vertical and horizontal letter-divided grid formats. As you complete one word found via an abstract clue, the classification of the word (verb, noun etc), you fill in the blanks and see what letters contribute to other word lines. This gives you an advantage for the next puzzle. You can even craft your own crossword puzzles online should you wish to. Maybe newspapers stock them each day, but you can also buy books and complete them online.
Word searches
Word search puzzles are fun to do because they slowly unveil themselves to you as you peer and search for further possibilities. Using a grid filled with letters, it’s your job to assess just how many combinations of these letters, diagonally, horizontally, and vertically, will comprise a word you can see. These are relatively easy to craft, just write a few words down on a grid structure, and fill the blanks in with random letters. This is a great means of teaching children vocabulary.
Letter arrangements
Certain popular options include letter arrangement games, such as those made famous by board games such as Scrabble. Giving each letter a point figure and then having two people come together to build worlds will test your ability to seek patterns and construct words out of vowels and consonants. This is by far one of the most competitive, and most fun, word games out there.
Anagrams & Ciphers
Interestingly, both of these word puzzles have been used to create rudimentary codes for secretive communications in the past. Anagrams can help you understand just how many word combinations come from a small subset of letters, while ciphers are used to help you establish a fun personal reference guide to help you develop that kind of code you may wish to keep under wraps.
Many books and online resources can provide you with a range of puzzles involving both of these construction elements, which can potentially help you start thinking more laterally and improve your verbal reasoning.
