Kim Chamberlain - Five-Minute Brain Workout: Games and Puzzles to Keep Your Mind Sharp and Supple

Games and Puzzles to Keep
Your Mind Sharp and Supple

by

Kim Chamberlain

Skyhorse Publishing

Copyright 2013 by Kim Chamberlain

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN: 978-1-62636-019-8

Printed in the United States of America

Hello and welcome!

This is a brain training book based on word games and puzzles.

Taking care of your brain can be equally as useful as taking care of your body. Regularly doing a series of short, varied tasks can keep your mind sharp and flexible. The key to stimulating your brain is to constantly learn, and to regularly challenge your brain with new tasks.

Research shows that brain training games help improve your memory, concentration, problem-solving skills, processing speed, creativity, logic and reasoning.

We learn more if three factors are present: if we are doing something we enjoy; if there is repetition; if there is variety. For these reasons the book uses a games and puzzles theme aimed at people who enjoy words and language; there are ten examples of the same kind of game or puzzle; and there is a wide variety of types of games and puzzles.

By doing both games and puzzles it will give you the discipline that comes with finding the correct answer required for puzzles, along with the creativity of a range of acceptable answers that a game provides.

You have enough for a years worth of working your brain, so feel free to get started... and enjoy!

Games & Puzzles

There are 365 exercisesenough for one a daycomprising 37 different types of word games and puzzles, spaced evenly throughout the book. 36 types have ten exercises, while the 37th has five exercises.

Levels

There are ten levels, Level 1 through to Level 10, generally increasing in difficulty as you go through the book. This means that the tenth exercise will usually be harder than the ones preceding it.

The difference between a game and a puzzle

Generally speaking a puzzle has a specific answer, for example a Word Search, whereas a game doesnt, and may have a number of suitable answers, for example Think of 10 adjectives starting with the letter A. Approximately two thirds of the exercises are puzzles, while the rest are games.

Variety

There is a wide variety of types of exercises (37 to be exact) specifically devised to make your brain work in different ways and keep it alert.

Bonus

Try the bonus puzzles at the end. They are a teaser from the next book!

Answers

You will find the answers at the back of the book. The puzzles have specific answers, while the games have examples of acceptable answers.

First of all, feel free to use the book in any way you like, there is no right or wrong way to use it.

A suggested way is to start at the beginning with Level 1 games and puzzles, and do one a day until you reach Level 10.

As many of the exercises will be new to you, its a good idea to take time to read the instructions so that you can use the 5 minutes well.

The games and puzzles will probably take you different amounts of time. Some may not take the full 5 minutes, while some are more involved and may take you slightly longer.

While the puzzles have specific answers, the games dont, which means you can continue developing your creativity by doing them more than once and getting different answers.

If you are not sure how to tackle a game or puzzle, look at the answer and work out how it is done, then youll know how to do the next one.

As well as a way to exercise your brain, the games and puzzles can be used to challenge yourself, or simply to have fun, or you can bring in a competitive element by using a timer or doing them with others.

The exercises can be used in many settings, for example at home; in work; in social settings; in educational settings such as schools; as ice-breakers and energizers in training sessions, and in therapy settings.

Find the 5 words listed in the grid starting with the circled letters Words go horizontally or vertically.

Find a word that completes the first word and begins the second.

The number in brackets indicates the number of letters that are missing.

Fill in the rows with words of your choice, starting with a 1-letter word, through to a 10-letter word.

Cross out the letters that appear twice.

The remaining letters spell the name of a country.

Choose 10 words that fit the criteria given.

Choose words that are not proper nouns.

Use a different word for each question.

Work out what is unusual about this passage.

I saw six cats in our road. Two black, two brown, and two tabby cats.

All cats had long tails and dirty paws.

A dog was watching, as was a man with two kids.

Four cats ran away. Two sat still, watching and waiting.

Place the correct words in the rows in the grid so that both diagonals spell a four-letter word reading from top to bottom.

Find the ten matching pairs of synonyms in the grid.