Rebus Puzzles

Posted by Elizabeth Yetter Jul 2, 2007

In The Secret of the Loon Lake Monster by M. Masters, The Case of the Computer Cutup has a rebus puzzle to solve that involves adding and subtracting letters from words to make out new words. What fun! My son had a blast solving the case and wanted to find more rebus puzzles to figure out.

Rebus puzzles are all about having fun with words and sayings. For example, if you see the words “got go go” you will notice that “got” is followed by two goes. Got to go.

NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) has a bunch of fun rebus puzzles online featuring common sayings such as “head over heels” and “no one to blame.” These are great for older kids, 10 and up.

There are oodles of rebus word puzzles on the Fun with Words website and, if you take a look at the sidebar, you’ll also find links to anagrams, tongue twisters, and more. This is a great website for home schooling parents and educators.

Another great way to use the rebus puzzle is for spelling word activities. Start with one word (not a spelling word) and have the student add and subtract letters from the base word until she gets the spelling word. Let us say, for example, that the spelling word is balloon. Here is how you might write out a rebus puzzle for the word:

ball + spoon – sp = balloon

It’s not difficult to set up a spelling worksheet like this in Word or any other writing program and use the rebus puzzles to help children break down and recognize their spelling words.