MenteBrillante
What each sheet works on
- Spot the letter: sustained and selective attention. You have to work through the whole grid without being fooled by look-alike letters (an F next to an E, a Q next to an O). The sheets with two targets also ask you to keep two things in mind at once.
- Odd one out: attention and language. To see which word does not belong you have to read all four and think about what group they are in: fruit, jobs, towns, card games…
- Mazes: planning and looking ahead of the pencil. The first ones are 6 × 6 squares with very wide paths; the last ones are 10 × 10.
- Copy the shape: visual attention and spatial awareness, counting dots across and down. The first shapes have no diagonals; they come in later.
- Word search: visual scanning, with eight words on one theme, running only across and down.
Tips for a group session
Attention tires more quickly than memory, so short sessions work best: twenty to thirty minutes, with two or three different sheets and a break in the middle. It is a good idea to start with odd one out, which the whole group can do out loud (“Which one doesn’t belong here? Why?”), and keep spot the letter or the mazes for when everyone has warmed up.
- Good light and a soft pencil or a felt-tip. Much easier to see than a fine ballpoint, and in the mazes it helps you keep track of the line.
- No stopwatch. Finishing slowly and carefully beats finishing first. Anyone after a challenge can count how many they found and compare it with the answer page.
- Checking without pointing. The spot the letter answers give the count for each row, so everyone can check their own sheet row by row, without being told in front of others where they went wrong.
- Everyone on the same sheet. Every sheet has its own number, so the whole group can have exactly the same one and talk it over at the end.
An honest word
These sheets are for an enjoyable half hour, keeping a routine going and concentrating on something people like doing, which is no small thing. But there is no solid evidence that exercises like these prevent cognitive decline, and they do not replace an assessment or a plan from a professional. We go through the sources in what the science says about puzzles.
More large-print sheets: memory activities, maths worksheets, word searches and the activity sheets for seniors, with nine different kinds.
