Customized Word Search
Suggested Group(s): Young/Middle/Teen
Purpose: To engage group members to find words based on a theme, feelings, words or themes that have come up in group, their names, etc.
Task/need: Group building, approaching the pain of the loss
Activity Setup Ideas:
- If using as a feelings activity, begin talking about the different feelings, both positive and difficult, that a person may have. Brainstorm to build a list of feelings. This activity could be helpful to use in addition to a feelings wall developed by the group members. In the word search you could use the feelings they put on the wall.
Materials:
- Computer with internet & printer access
- Copies of word search
- Projector
Description: Access one of the below puzzle websites, which will allow you to enter approximately 20 words to automatically generate a word search puzzle. Print copies and provide them to your group members to complete or project the puzzle(s) on the wall for a group activity.
Activity Wrap Up Ideas:
- If using as a feelings activity, discuss some times that group members have had different feelings.
- Thank the children for participating.
Suggestions: As an icebreaker, you can enter the group members' names. Some sites allow you to adjust the puzzle difficulty to the appropriate age level of your group. If using feelings or grieving words, follow up the activity with a discussion of the feelings or grief words used in your puzzle.*
- http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/WordSearchSetupForm.html
- http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/word_search/
- http://www.armoredpenguin.com/wordsearch/
- http://www.edhelper.com/wordfind.htm
- http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/words/search/
*If these links no longer work, use a search engine to look for "create word search"
