Do you know how a crossword puzzle can help you in your kids’s studies?
Image by Richard Innfield from Pixabay
For a long time, games have been part of teaching aid for teachers and learners to interact and promote the learning process. Many games can help you achieve your kid’s study goals – even when outside the learning environment. Crossword puzzles are efficient in promoting the study process for your kid. They stand out from other games that one can use as a class study tool.
This article describes the various ways a crossword can help your kids with their studies. The goal of the game is to improve their academic performance by sharpening their skills – and they are many. Take your time in the evenings and help them solve the puzzles instead of playing chess. You can also rekindle your memories with the same.
Here are the benefits of crossword puzzles to kids undertaking their studies.
Empower the learner with vocabulary
Building up a list of newly learned words is not easy. Whether you were reading a passage or doing your personal research, you can come across new words but getting their meaning immediately is not as easy as it may seem. There is, therefore, the need to develop a way to master the new vocabulary so they can enhance the next stages of your kid’s academics.
The role of crossword puzzles is to help the kid identify the words with given descriptions, meanings, or hints. When the crosswords are used as a way of solving new words learned in a passage, they not only help a kid to know the meaning but also how to construct sentences correctly with the words. The kid can refer to the passage and figure out which words the clues are describing.
Sometimes, there is more than one word for the same explanation – synonyms with the same number of letters. They can both fit in the boxes, but only one is the right answer. They, therefore, have to work out the possible answers until they get the word right. In this way, they will have learned a new term they will not easily forget.
Help in improving a kid’s spelling skills
You cannot complete the crossword accurately without the right spellings for each word you have to fill in. For the kids, the challenge of getting the correct spelling becomes easier the more they have to complete more crosswords. The “across” and “down” lines need to agree on the correct letter in the box where they intersect before you get the right answer.
In cases where the students have trouble figuring out the correct spelling for certain words, a USA crossword can help them solve them. They will first fill the word with incorrect spelling. But when filling out the other rows that cross the incorrectly spelt word, they will realize that they need a different letter in some box. They will then discover what the correct spelling of the previous word should be. And this they will note down not to forget it again.
Enhance reading skills in kids
Reliable sources show that many kids do not know how to read by the time they are in third grade. The information goes on to explain that those who do not master their reading skills by third grade have a higher probability of dropping out of school by the time they reach high school. It is, therefore, inevitable to ensure that your kids know how to read as early as possible.
With crosswords, you can easily teach your kids how to read effectively. First of all, they cannot fill a word correctly if they cannot read it. Spellings and reading go hand in hand. Secondly, the kid should read the given instructions and understand them before they can come up with the correct word that fits in the puzzle. Start off by helping them to read out aloud the words and sentences. With time, they will start mastering reading skills.
Improve your kid’s comprehension abitities
Getting an understanding of the description or story and mastering it is not easy. Reading alone is not as effective if it is not accompanied by writing. That is why after a student reads a passage, they are asked to answer some questions. A study also reveals that writing down with your pen will improve comprehension than typing.
The kid has to work out the solutions for each question and ensure they get it right before they can fill out most of the other questions. They can do their scribbling with a pencil while trying to figure out the correct word for the given context. For this reason, provide your kid with printed crosswords so that they can fill them by hand.
Sharpen memory
Memory (both short-term and long-term) is necessary for kids to perform better in their studies. The crosswords can help your kid to remember things faster – especially when they revolve around a subject they have learned. When they complete the puzzles, they will remember the demonstrations they received in class or the illustrations in the book they read on the topic.
While writing down their answers on the grid, they will build long-term memory about specific words, their meanings, and usage. The skills empower them to do better in their classwork. Crossword puzzles introduced in every subject at the end of a topic help learners remember their classwork better.
Summary
The next time you see your kid playing with crosswords, know that they are not wasting time. If possible, you should help them to get more engaged with crosswords to help them with their studies so that they can improve their academic performance. You should choose the complexity of the crosswords according to the student’s grade to make it feasible.