PuzzlEd

  This page is for my latest additions and my new discoveries as I roam the internet looking for educational, fun, free (or very cheap) activities.

e-cards:  I have been trying out various free ecards, but have not had much success with some of them. I'll keep trying, but have found a couple of good sites (see below).

New Puzzles: I am still looking at sites as I come across them. I have started looking at online games as well as those you can download and play off-line. Some of my new ePuzzle jigsaws are below, too.

Stories, both to read and to listen to- some online, others you can download to keep. There are some freebies out there- see my Stories for Children page for some excellent free stories!

Good Sites with games, activities etc for kids - see below...

*Image by Cool Text: Logo and Button Generator ... make your own for free...                      Bobblehead bird GIF Copyright BillyBear4Kids.com

APTE Puzzle Centre:  http://www.apte.com/puzzles

This is a free site, although you do need to sign up. There are puzzles to play online, or you can create your own puzzles. You can also send animated e-cards, with or without a puzzle.

The puzzles you can make are:

Word Paint-   a simple but clever game.

Create a list of words in up to 3 categories. A screen is shown with colour buttons below. When you click on a button, a word is shown, and you have to choose the correct category. As you correctly answer the quiz, colours appear in the screen to gradually “paint” a picture. Note: there is a max. of 12 characters/spaces in the categories and the words; the quiz format is “.......(word) is .......(category)”, so it can be tricky to create a grammatically correct puzzle.

 Word shape match- the words and shapes are fairly small and cramped, so this is not easy- it’s best to use words with very distinct shapes, and not too many...

Word search-

3 size options- normal (10 by 10 spaces), small (8x8) or smaller (6x6)

The words can go forwards, backwards, up, down, sideways and diagonally, so it can be quite challenging!

There is also the option to just give clues, not words!

http://www.uptoten.com/ is an award-winning site for young children, with a lots of free activities.

There is a range of online games, animated stories, songs, colouring pages and art activities. These seem to be fine with dial-up internet (it doesn't take too long for the stories etc to load). There is also a range of cute, animated ecards which are easy to send... but I haven't had any arrive yet... I'll keep trying.

 billybear4kids.com - some lovely, free resources for kids, including downloadable StoryBooks  that you can personalise with your children's names! The books won't win awards for great literature, but kids just love to read stories with their own name in.

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 Send a card via email, and make someone happy without using any paper or transport resources (just power, but you can't have everything...)

These sites have worked for me:

http://www.apte.com/puzzles/index.cfm?action=dsp_greethome - animated, puzzle-themed; can include a game...see notes above on APTE site

http://www.wishlist.com.au/ECards/Index.asp

-limited range of fairly basic designs, but animated; free, and easy to send... recipient gets an offer to enter their store...

http://www.greetingsnecards.com - good range of cute animated designs, with music; all free, and easy to use.

http://www.epuzzlecards.com -  Stave epuzzle cards- You can use their range of classic paintings or other images (not much range for kids), or you can upload your own picture; you can make the picture into a puzzle with around 12 pieces (several designs, including a rose or dragonfly shape). The recipient gets an email with the link to the puzzle card, and when they complete the jigsaw, your message is displayed. Completely free, so great value! 

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To download- click on the link below the picture to go to the download site. You may need to scroll down/across to the DOWNLOAD button- then a new page will open. Click on the title of the puzzle. If you have any problems downloading, just go back to the previous page. Please take all usual precautions and note that there are advertisements on the download site.

DownloadPony & Friends jigsaw, 37 pieces,Rotated, W,sh.ex...

DownloadHorses on the hill jigsaw, 30 pieces, w sh NR.exe 

DownloadHere's Looking at You - Kookaburra jigsaw, 49 piec...

"FEEL-GOOD" ACTIVITIES

If you would like to help the environment or other people, here are some sites with free/low-cost options:

Free donations

www.thehungersite.com

-just visit the site and you can make a donation to a variety of causes- just by clicking on a sponsor's button, you can donate as often as you like to:
Hunger
Breast Cancer
Child Health                    
Literacy

      FREE CLIPART      

Here are some sites I use for free clipart-  for illustrating books etc for my students, and for this website:

• Webweaver.nu - Free Website Tools & Clipart  free, no pop-ups or sign-ins - lots of cute little pictures,  many animated (e.g.running dog and kids on bench, above).
• www.kamsart.com -mostly wmf format, lots of pics, many larger size, all in the public domain and free to use by anyone. Site search facility.
• GIF.com -if you can find your way through the maze of ads and links, there is a huge collection of quality, free clipart available for your use.

• www.freeclipartnow.com/ -huge, searchable database of public domain clipart images- ads on site, but no sign-ups.

• www.allfreeclipart.com -ads everywhere, and only a few images per page-  but some nice pics and cute mini images/little animations- see above.

*like the fancy header images on this page? You can easily create your own heading/logo for free at     Cool Text: Logo and Button Generator . They also have a great range of free fonts! 

FREE MINI BOOKS TO DOWNLOAD AND PRINT

August 2009- I have found some excellent sites to download free little printable books for children. These encourage the joy of reading, and many can be read independently or with a little help, so build reading skills. With just a printer and paper, you can build a whole library of readers for your child. The latest site I have found is www.homeboundbooks.com.  This site offers 30 little story books with simple stories and delightful pictures; subscription is free. Suitable to share with grade K-1 children for more confident grade 1-2+ readers.

When I get a chance, I'll add a new page to this site with links for other good "mini-books" sites