Today, children spend hours in front of the TV, on their phone or playing computer games, but word puzzles can be used to great advantage to help your child's learning. Here are 7 reasons why word puzzles are an important and good activity for your child to become interested in. 1. They help to improve and practice spelling: Word puzzles can help your child to practice the spelling rules they have learned at school, while at the same time reinforcing those rules each time they are used. 2. They help to grow and extend vocabulary: The more words your child comes across uses and understands; the broader their vocabulary will become. 3. They improve your child's working memory: Working memory helps both long-term and short-term memory to work together. 4. They improve your child's work pace: Word puzzles can help improve your child's processing speed, so that they are able to problem-solve and arrive at the correct answer, faster. This doesn't just help with literacy, but also with other classroom tasks that require quick thinking, such as mental maths. 5. They encourage and improve problem-solving skills: Many word puzzles require not just a good vocabulary and good spelling, they also require the ability to think logically and strategically. Word puzzles ask children to think outside the box, engaging their problem-solving skills and creativity. 6. They foster persistence: They are going to experience similar failures many times over the course of their lives, where they don't get something right the first time and need to try again. The lesson of "if at first, you don't succeed, try and try again"; is a good one and will help your child through many difficult and sometimes disheartening challenges. 7. They can assist with improving test-taking skills: Word puzzles help to develop the skills your child will need throughout their school career: verbal reasoning, vocabulary, problem-solving, spelling, grammar, and memory. What ways do you incorporate mind-games in your child's daily routine? Post your comments below.