Introduction
The Find-A-Word Puzzle Maker is a premium feature for iKnowthat.com subscribers.
It's a simple tool for making your own word search puzzles. This editor has
features that let you add variety to your puzzles, as well as present content in
ways that can help your children study and review material for school. There are
lots of puzzles from the iGuy that you can use as is, or edit them and save your
own version.
Find-A-Word puzzles can be done on-line or printed out. When done on-line, finished puzzles are saved at the site. Your children can even do puzzles from the same topic over and over again.
The Quiz Reports summary chart includes information on all finished Find-A-Word puzzles. You can access this chart by going to the Progress Reports Center at the site and clicking on the Quiz Reports button. Or, you can access Quiz Reports from the Quiz Central page.
Using the
Find-A-Word Puzzle Maker
This guide has all the information you need to use the features of the
Find-A-Word Puzzle Maker. The step-by-step instructions will help you make
puzzles quickly and easily.
Each Find-A-Word puzzle is saved in its own "master puzzle document" that you name. You can selectively make puzzles available to your group members. This allows you to work on puzzles that your group can not access until they are ready.
For step-by-step instructions and other information about the Find-A-Word Puzzle Maker, select one of these topics.
Changing the Availability of a Puzzle for Your Group
Descriptions of Puzzle Options
Examples of Different Clue/Word Lists
Creating a New
Puzzle
To make a new Find-A-Word master puzzle document, follow these steps.
Login at iKnowthat.com.
Click on the gold Quiz Central tab in the navigation bar on the left side of the page.
From the Quiz Central page, click on the "Find-A-Word Puzzle Maker" button.
On the
Find-A-Word Puzzle Maker page, select the "Click Here to Start" button.
The editor opens in its own window.
Click in Puzzle Title box and type in a title for your puzzle.
Click on the Topic pull-down menu. Select one of the existing topics. Or, choose the "Other..." option and enter your own. Topics are used to sort and organize your lists of puzzle documents.
Click in the Instructions box and type in any information you want to include with the puzzle. You can enter up to two short lines of text.
Uncheck any of the options that you don't want to use. You can always change the option settings while making the puzzle. Click here to see a description of each option.
Set your letter grid size by clicking and dragging the slider until the desired grid size is displayed.
Enter your list of words and clues by filling in the Word in the Puzzle and Clue in the List fields. NOTE: These do not have to be the same. Click here to see some examples.
To change an entry in your list, click on it. Make your changes in the Word in the Puzzle and Clue in the List fields, and then click on the Update button.
To delete an entry, click on it in the list. The Word in the Puzzle and Clue in the List fields will be filled in. Click on the Delete button to remove the entry from the list.
Time Saver Tip! If the text hidden in the puzzle and the text in the clue list are the same, just fill in the Word in the Puzzle field and click on the Add button, or press the Enter key on your keyboard.
Important! The maximum number of words that can be hidden in a puzzle is 15. If your list has more than 15 entries, the "Generate New Puzzle Each Time it is Played" option is automatically checked and you will need to select how many words will be used in a puzzle. This means that a different subset of words will likely be in this puzzle each time it's played. You're making lots of puzzles from only one list!
If the "Generate New Puzzle Each Time it is Played" option checked, you need to select how many words will be used each time this puzzle is generated. Click on the "Subset of Words to Include" pull-down menu. Choose a number or choose All if your list has less than 15 entries.
Click on the Generate button to make a sample puzzle.
Important! Make at least one sample puzzle. If a puzzle can't be generated, you will need to increase the grid size or use fewer words in the puzzle.
When you're ready, click on the Save button.
Type in a name for this master puzzle document.
Click in the box next to "Make Available to My Group Now" if you want this material to show up immediately in the list for the Find-A-Word Puzzles activity. You can also show and hide documents from the Find-A-Word Puzzle Maker page.
Click on the Save button.
To close the puzzle editor, click on the Quit button.
Editing an Existing Puzzle You can edit any master quiz document that you authored. You can also open a master puzzle document that was authored by the iGuy or another member of your group. You can not change it; however, you can edit the material and save it in your own master puzzle document. To edit an existing master puzzle document, follow these steps..
Login at iKnowthat.com.
Click on the gold Quiz Central tab in the navigation bar on the left side of the page.
From the Quiz Central page, click on the "Find-A-Word Puzzle Maker" button.
On the Find-A-Word Puzzle Maker page, click on the name of the puzzle you want to edit. The editor opens in its own window.
If desired, change the title.
If desired, change the topic. Topics are used to sort and organize your lists of puzzle documents.
If desired, change the instructions. You can enter up to two short lines of text.
Check any options that you want to use; uncheck those that you don't. You can always change the option settings before saving the puzzle. Click here to see a description of each option.
If desired, change the letter grid size.
Edit the list of words and clues. You can also add new items.
To change an entry in your list, click on it. Make your changes in the Word in the Puzzle and Clue in the List fields, and then click on the Update button.
To delete an entry, click on it in the list. The Word in the Puzzle and Clue in the List fields will be filled in. Click on the Delete button to remove the entry from the list.
Important! The maximum number of words that can be hidden in a puzzle is 15. If your list has more than 15 entries, the "Generate New Puzzle Each Time it is Played" option is automatically checked and you will need to select how many words will be used in a puzzle. This means that a different subset of words will likely be in this puzzle each time it's played. You're making lots of puzzles from only one list!
If the "Generate New Puzzle Each Time it is Played" option checked, you need to select how many words will be used each time this puzzle is generated. Click on the "Subset of Words to Include" pull-down menu. Choose a number or choose All if your list has less than 15 entries.
Click on the Generate button to make a sample puzzle.
Important! Make at least one sample puzzle. If a puzzle can't be generated, you will need to increase the grid size or use fewer words in the puzzle.
When you're ready, click on the Save button.
If desired, type in a new name for this master puzzle document.
Click in the box next to "Make Available to My Group Now" if you want this material to show up immediately in the list for the Find-A-Word Puzzles activity. You can also show and hide documents from the Find-A-Word Puzzle Maker page.
Click on the Save button. If you edited one of your own puzzle documents, it is updated; otherwise, a new puzzle document has been created and saved with you as the author.
To close the puzzle editor, click on the Quit button.
Login at iKnowthat.com.
Click on the gold Quiz Central tab in the navigation bar on the left side of the page.
From the Quiz Central page, click on the Find-A-Word Puzzle Maker button.
On the Find-A-Word Puzzle Maker page, look at the list of saved puzzles.
Find the document you want to make available to the group. The first icon to the left of the document name should be a lock.
Click on the lock. It will change to the "Share with Group" icon (a group of people with a red arrow).
If you want to hide a puzzle that is currently available to your group members, click on the "Share with Group" icon and it will change to a lock.
Deleting
a Puzzle To delete a document,
follow these steps:
Login at iKnowthat.com. Click on the gold Quiz Central tab in the
navigation bar on the left side of the page. From the Quiz Central page, click on the
Find-A-Word Puzzle Make button. On the Find-A-Word Puzzle Maker page, look at the list of
saved puzzle. Find the document you want to delete. The second icon to
the left of the document name is a trash can. Click on the trash can. A confirmation window will be
displayed. Click on Yes to delete the master puzzle document. It
is removed from the list.
You can delete any master puzzle document that you authored. All finished
puzzles related to the deleted master puzzle document will remain at the site.
scriptions
of Puzzle Options
There are five main feature options that you may use when making puzzles.
Here are descriptions of each option.
Try to Cross Words. Selecting this feature increases the likelihood that hidden words will overlap in the puzzle.
Capital Letters. This option determines whether the puzzle grid will consist of uppercase or lowercase letters. This option does not change the entries in the clue list.
Allow Diagonals. Choose this option if hidden words can be placed diagonally in the grid.
Allow Backwards Words. When this option is checked, hidden words may be backwards in the puzzle.
Generate New Puzzle Each Time it is Played. When this option is checked, a new letter grid is made each time a member of your group launches this puzzle. And, if you are using a subset of the entries in your list, then a different combination of words will be hidden in the puzzle as well. Use the "Subset of Words to Include" pull-down menu to choose the number of entries to be hidden in a puzzle. The maximum number for any puzzle is 15.
Examples of Different
Word/Clue Lists
The text displayed in the list does not have to exactly match what is hidden in
the puzzle. This feature gives you the flexibility to make puzzles that can help
your children study material in different ways. Here are examples of different
ways you can set up these entries.
| Clue in the List | Word in the Puzzle | Comments |
| puppy | puppy | word in puzzle and clue in list are exactly the same |
| blue jeans | bluejeans | two word name or short phrase is hidden in puzzle |
| lemon (meringue) | lemon | only the word "lemon" is hidden in the puzzle |
| a shape with three straight sides | triangle | entry in the list is a definition of the word hidden in the puzzle |
| Cu | copper | another example where the clue is completely different than word hidden in the puzzle |