Puzzlemaker

Discovery Education has an excellent online tool called Puzzlemaker. Puzzlemaker is a tool that allows teachers to create all sorts of customized fun puzzles using words of your choice. It would be useful in teaching target vocabulary, for example. The site includes puzzles such as word search, crossword, mazes, letter tiles, hidden messages, and more. The best part about this tool is that it's free. I think that puzzles are an effective and fun way to get kids engaged in learning new language. I have to say though that I'm amazed at how many ads there are on this site. As part of Discovery, I expect this site to be much cleaner and kid friendly. It's so commercial looking! It feels like one big advertisement. However, the generation tool is quick, accurate, and free and I would absolutely take advantage of it despite the unfriendliness of the site.