Sunday, October 4, 2015

Mystery Puzzles - Excercises in Reading Comprehension



We worked on a number of puzzles, together as a family, during Grandma's visit. 



Our favorites by far were a couple from the Bepuzzled Mystery Puzzle series (non-affiliate link).  They turned out not only to be challenging puzzles (the picture on the box is not what the puzzle actually looks like),
but also a great reading comprehension activity for the entire family.  Each puzzle comes with a short mystery story.  After reading the set-up for the mystery, you are instructed to stop reading, and put the puzzle together.

There is no picture guide for the puzzle, as the completed picture contains clues to help you solve the mystery.

However, as details from the story are represented in the puzzle, the story also contains clues to help in piecing together the puzzle.  The more attention you pay while reading the story, the easier it will be to put the puzzle together. 

Once the puzzle is complete, you can scan the picture for clues to solve the mystery (you might need to reread the story, at this point to refresh your mind to any forgotten details), before reading the solution (printed upside down and backwards) to the story to see if your guess is correct.

There are a number of different puzzles in the series - even one based on a Sherlock Holmes mystery with the complete story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle included (I couldn't have been more thrilled).


We found the 1000 piece puzzles were more suited to the teens, than the younger children in the family, but everyone enjoyed the stories.  In fact, we had almost as much fun reading the story together, as we did in putting the puzzles together, and solving the mystery through the clues in the puzzle. 

I really can't think of a better introduction to the mystery genre, especially for teen readers, and puzzle lovers in the family.

9 comments:

Dawn said...

These sound wonderful! I look forward to getting one. Thanks for sharing the idea.
Blessings, Dawn

Ticia said...

One of my favorite puzzles is a series of scenes that you put together the scenes and use the clues from the scenes to put together the entire puzzle. It's a fun challenge.

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

Ooh, this could be a good present for our friends who enjoy puzzles!

claireshomeeducation said...

I've never heard of murder puzzles before - they sound great fun! I shall keep my eye open for some.

MaryAnne said...

I hadn't heard of mystery puzzles, but it sounds like great fun!

Sunita said...

Great idea for family fun and reading comprehension! What is the fun-looking puzzle in the top of your post with all the classic book jackets?

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Sunita - I'm glad you asked! I meant to make note of that in the post, but forgot. It is "Old Book Store" by Steve Crisp from White Mountain Puzzles. It's not a mystery puzzle - but has lots of fun literary titles in the picture, that I thought also promoted reading, along with puzzling :)

Sunita said...

Thanks!

MaryAnne said...

I love the idea of using the clues in a puzzle to solve a mystery. I should send one of those to my puzzle-loving mom.