Fun and Games: How much do you know about mental health? (A Crossword Puzzle)

One of the primary methods of coping with mental health and/or emotional distress is to distract your mind from the problem(s) at hand. Although we all have unique ways to distract ourselves (some people venture into the garden, others spend time with a certain 900 year old Time Lord) some methods of distraction are universal.

One of the most common distraction techniques are puzzles and quizzes. Whether it’s sitting down with a tough Sudoku or wiling away the hours with a jigsaw puzzle, spending time enjoying these activities is not only emotionally productive but can prove beneficial to both mood and memory.

This week, we’re going to have a little bit of fun (whilst honing this particular coping skill) with a variety of puzzles, quizzes and games.

Enjoy! :)

~~♥~~

#5: A ‘Mental Health’ themed Crossword Puzzle

“On December 21, 1913, Arthur Wynne, a journalist from Liverpool, England, published a “word-cross” puzzle in the New York World that embodied most of the features of the genre as we know it. This puzzle is frequently cited as the first crossword puzzle, and Wynne as the inventor. Later, the name of the puzzle was changed to ‘crossword’.”

In all honesty, I’ve never been the greatest crossworder, especially in regards to those really annoying ‘cryptic’ crosswords, but there are many people around the world who incorporate a crossword into their day-to-day activities.

However you feel about them, they are an excellent way to distract your mind from life’s ills as you battle to correctly fill in each of those blank white spaces. Or, if you’re anything like me, an excellent way to wile away the hours creating nonsense words that fit the spaces for all the answers you don’t know! :p

This is my first ever attempt at creating a crossword puzzle so I’ve based it around the theme of Mental Health.

Can you answer all the questions correctly?

Why not give it a go and find out! :)

Other Fun and Games in this series…

• #1: Mental Health at the Movies (a wordsearch)
  
• #2: Where in the world? (an inspirational quote anagram)
• #3. Jigsaw Puzzles – Woohoo! (a collection of online jigsaw puzzles)
• #4. How many words can you find? (a word challenge)

Fun and Games: How many words can you find?

One of the primary methods of coping with mental health and/or emotional distress is to distract your mind from the problem(s) at hand. Although we all have unique ways to distract ourselves (some people venture into the garden, others spend time with a certain 900 year old Time Lord) some methods of distraction are universal.

One of the most common distraction techniques are puzzles and quizzes. Whether it’s sitting down with a tough Sudoku or wiling away the hours with a jigsaw puzzle, spending time enjoying these activities is not only emotionally productive but can prove beneficial to both mood and memory.

This week, we’re going to have a little bit of fun (whilst honing this particular coping skill) with a variety of puzzles, quizzes and games.

Enjoy! :)

~~♥~~

#4: The ‘How many words can you find?’ Challenge

The three games we’ve played so far this week have been competition free…but not today!

Your challenge (should you choose to accept it) is to make as many words as you can from the nine letters below within a five minute time limit. The only rules are:

a) The words must be legal Scrabble words (i.e. no names, abbreviations, made up words etc.)
b) You can use each letter only once in each word.

The person who finds the highest number of words in the time limit will be declared the winner, so remember to brag about your result in the comments field below!

Now, given I’m not perched on your shoulder, we’ll implement the ‘honor system’ in regards to the time limit, okay?

Good.

Pens at the ready……set……go!

Other Fun and Games in this series…

• #1: Mental Health at the Movies (a wordsearch)
  
• #2: Where in the world? (an inspirational quote anagram)
• #3. Jigsaw Puzzles – Woohoo! (a collection of online jigsaw puzzles)

Fun and Games: Jigsaw Puzzles – Woohoo!

One of the primary methods of coping with mental health and/or emotional distress is to distract your mind from the problem(s) at hand. Although we all have unique ways to distract ourselves (some people venture into the garden, others spend time with a certain 900 year old Time Lord) some methods of distraction are universal.

One of the most common distraction techniques are puzzles and quizzes. Whether it’s sitting down with a tough Sudoku or wiling away the hours with a jigsaw puzzle, spending time enjoying these activities is not only emotionally productive but can prove beneficial to both mood and memory.

This week, we’re going to have a little bit of fun (whilst honing this particular coping skill) with a variety of puzzles, quizzes and games.

Enjoy! :)

~~♥~~

#3: Jigsaw Puzzles

Back in the day I used to spend hours putting together jigsaw puzzles. Once completed, I glued them together, mounted them, framed them and displayed them on my wall. Not only was this cheaper than artwork (a bonus for someone living in poverty) but whenever I gazed upon the image I remembered the wonderful time I’d spent putting it together.

Piecing together a jigsaw puzzle can be an incredibly meditative and relaxing experience, hence why I’m sharing four puzzles (of varying difficulty levels!) for you to play around with! :)

Why not give them a go?

Difficulty: EASY (24 Pieces) [Image © Addy]

Difficulty: MODERATE (48 pieces) [Image © Addy]

Difficulty: HARD (96 pieces) [Image © Addy]

Difficulty: EXPERT (300 pieces) [Image © Addy]

~ CLICK EACH IMAGE TO TAKE YOU TO THE ONLINE JIGSAW PUZZLE ~

Other Fun and Games in this series:

• #1. Mental Health at the Movies (a wordsearch)
• #2. Where in the world? (an inspirational quote anagram)

Fun and Games: Where in the world?

One of the primary methods of coping with mental health and/or emotional distress is to distract your mind from the problem(s) at hand. Although we all have unique ways to distract ourselves (some people venture into the garden, others spend time with a certain 900 year old Time Lord) some methods of distraction are universal.

One of the most common distraction techniques are puzzles and quizzes. Whether it’s sitting down with a tough Sudoku or wiling away the hours with a jigsaw puzzle, spending time enjoying these activities is not only emotionally productive but can prove beneficial to both mood and memory.

This week, we’re going to have a little bit of fun (whilst honing this particular coping skill) with a variety of puzzles, quizzes and games.

Enjoy! :)

~~♥~~

#2: Where in the world?

Today’s puzzle should (hopefully) prove a little easier than yesterdays – but still tax those beautiful brain muscles of yours!

All you have to do is fill in the blanks of the inspirational quote below (you know, like on that game show, only without the necessity of buying a vowel!)

Hint: each of the photos are of famous places, once you’ve correctly identified them, rearrange the first letters to complete the quote (e.g. the first photograph is of Amsterdam, thus one of the missing letters is A)

Other Fun and Games in this series:

• #1. Mental Health at the Movies

Fun and Games: Mental Health at the Movies

One of the primary methods of coping with mental health and/or emotional distress is to distract your mind from the problem(s) at hand. Although we all have unique ways to distract ourselves (some people venture into the garden, others spend time with a certain 900 year old Time Lord) some methods of distraction are universal.

One of the most common distraction techniques are puzzles and quizzes. Whether it’s sitting down with a tough Sudoku or wiling away the hours with a jigsaw puzzle, spending time enjoying these activities is not only emotionally productive but can prove beneficial to both mood and memory.

This week, we’re going to have a little bit of fun (whilst honing this particular coping skill) with a variety of puzzles, quizzes and games.

Enjoy! :)

~~♥~~

#1: ‘Mental Health at the Movies’ Wordsearch

For this first puzzle, I’ve cunningly hidden the titles of twenty-two Mental Health related movies and TV shows in the grid below. The words may be running horizontally, vertically or diagonally, they may share the same letters and some may even be running back to front. But they are definitely all there!

How many can you find?