Large-print puzzle and activity books for seniors: a gift guide
A gift guide to large-print word searches and nostalgia activity books for seniors, from easy puzzles to Italian, Jewish, Mexican-American and Midwestern family books.
Buying for a grandparent gets harder every year. They have enough sweaters. They've told you they don't need anything. A puzzle or activity book is one of the few gifts that gets used every day, as long as the print is big enough to read without hunting for glasses.
Every book below is a paperback on Amazon, most at $9.99, and most are also a printable on Etsy if you'd rather print it at home or send it to someone far away.
Large-print word searches
The thing to look for in a large-print word search is not just the font. It's how many words are hidden, which directions they run, and whether each puzzle gets a page to itself. Ours keep the words running forward only, so nobody is reading backward up a diagonal.
Something to talk about
If the person you're buying for would rather talk than solve, these have questions on the page and room for stories.
For the family that never wrote the recipe down
These four are activity books about growing up in a particular kind of family, or a particular part of the country. They're for the grandparent who lived it, and just as much for the kids and grandkids who grew up hearing about it. Each one has ten sections of activities, and they make a good book to pass around the table at the holidays, when everyone is already telling the same stories anyway.
Fair warning: somebody is going to argue about whether it's called gravy or sauce, or pop or soda. That's part of the gift.
For the one who isn't a senior yet
Not every activity book has to be for Grandma. This one is for her daughter, who is going to say the title out loud the first time she sees it.
How to pick
If you're not sure, think about what they already do. Someone who works the newspaper puzzle every morning will want sixty full word searches. Someone whose eyes or hands tire quickly will do better with eight words a page. Someone who lights up telling stories will get the most out of a book with questions. And if the person is recovering from a stroke or living with memory loss, our guides on word games for adults with aphasia and activities for a parent with dementia go into more detail.
Add a good pencil and a decent eraser. A clipboard helps if they like to work in an armchair, and a small lamp helps more than either. If you're mailing it, Amazon can ship the paperback straight to them.