Cookie's Domain: puzzle books

I used to buy activity books for my oldest (and then only) child when he first learned how to read. I'd get the books from Dollar General that contained activities like dot to dots, word searches, and secret messages. It really helped him become a fluent reader quickly because he enjoyed reading the instructions and then working through the activities on his own.

Today, my (latest) 5 year old picked up a coloring book and started working on a word search in it. He completed a lot of it by himself. He sounded out the words in the word list and then looked for the word in the puzzle. I helped him whenever he got stuck.

I had forgotten what a great learning tool these puzzles are. I was temporarily tempted to head out to the Dollar General and pick up a couple of the above mentioned books. But that would be going against my belief that most educational materials can be found for free online. So, I'm compiling some links to some good sites where I can print off some puzzles and put together a homemade activity book.