Background Music Puzzles and Games

Puzzles and games are a positive leisure skill which distract, focus, challenge at diverse levels of executive functioning, and provide the opportunity to introduce topics. Provide puzzles and games for patients to use during their free, unscheduled time. You may provide the printed pages with appropriate writing utensils, but because they are so readily available for private use on the internet, encourage nurses at in-patient facilities to print out puzzles or coloring pages for individuals, or clients of out-patient groups to print out copies at home.

Further, it is wise to have several back-up plans prepared, or last minute activities available for unexpected circumstances. You may want to keep a folder of puzzles and games ready to print on your computer.

Activities

Music-Based Puzzles: Find or make your own puzzles that engage participants by featuring preferred bands or genres, or educate participants by using musical information. Informative Puzzles: Establish rapport and facilitate socialization using puzzle content. You might initiate Goal/Objective or various counseling topics through discussions from thematic puzzles.

Resources

Free Puzzlemaker Make your own custom puzzles, including word searches, crosswords, and crytograms. Select key words to reinforce topics or to raise talking points. Depending on your patients, you may want to address vocabulary!

Contributors

James E. Riley, MT-BC