The ideas

1. A puzzle and a pot of tea. Put a large print word search, a dark felt-tip pen and a good lamp on the table. Our 5 free large print word searches print on any home printer.
2. Word search for two. One person reads the words from the list aloud, the other hunts for them in the grid, then swap. It turns a quiet puzzle into a chat.
3. Sudoku for the number lover. Start with gentle large print grids that have plenty of numbers filled in. Keep a pencil with an eraser close by.
4. Memory Lane questions. Ask one question over a cup of tea: the first Christmas you remember, the dish that always came out on the day, the story behind an old ornament. Write the answers down for the family.
5. Christmas cards together. Write cards at the kitchen table with thick pens and a printed address list in big type. A grandchild can do the stamps.
6. A carol afternoon. Choose a few old carols, print the words in big type, and sing or listen along. Old favourites in the public domain are easy to find.
7. Paper chains and snowflakes. Strips of coloured paper, a glue stick and an afternoon. Safety scissors help if hands are less steady.
8. A mystery with the grandchildren. A murder mystery word search is a whodunit solved on paper, for adults and children 12 and up, with no gore. One person reads the case, everyone searches the grid. Try our free Christmas mystery and see how they work.
9. A December plan on the desk. Write the month's visits, church services, parties and phone calls on one big page, so nothing is a surprise. Our free large print day planner has Today, Week and Month pages.
10. A puzzle a day in Advent. Clip one puzzle page to each day from December 1 to 24 and open one each morning, like an Advent calendar.
11. A gift that's easy to wrap. A large print puzzle book fits in a stocking and suits grandparents, neighbours and the residents of a care home.
12. Share the pages. If you visit a care home or senior centre, ask the activity team before you bring printed puzzles, then leave a few copies for the next session.

Making large print work

• Print at "Actual size" or "100%". "Fit to page" shrinks the letters.
• Use a dark felt-tip or a soft pencil. Thin ballpoint lines are hard to see on a grid.
• Light from the side, not behind the reader, and a clipboard if the page slides about.
• Easy first. Start with an easy puzzle, and leave the harder ones for when it's going well.
• Keep the answers close. Checking a word you can't find is part of the fun, not cheating.

Our Christmas puzzle books

Each has big, bold print, one puzzle per page and answers at the back, in paperback and hardcover:

• Large Print Christmas Word Search for Seniors
• Large Print Christmas Sudoku for Seniors
• Large Print Christmas Puzzle Book for Seniors (word search, sudoku and mazes)
• Nostalgic Word Search & Memory Journal for Seniors

Prefer to print at home? See the printable puzzle packs.

This guide was written with AI assistance.