Why are games expensive? Here are the best puzzle + activity books

We had a little game cabinet growing up and inside sat a small copy of Hoyle’s Card Game Rules full of ways to play numerous games with a standard deck of cards. It was a cheap an easy way to stay entertained. There are a lot of other game, activity, and puzzle books online for free. In fact, if your library has a Hoopla subscription, you have access to so many game books! If not, it’s still a very inexpensive way to access a vast collection of activity and game books.

Whether you’re a classroom teacher or homeschooler, both want fun a creative ways to educate without breaking the bank. So online activity books help fill this need.

How to access game books online

Need to know how to play without a big budget? Here are the best puzzle books online via Hoopla and other online resources.

Where to find riddles, activity books, and brainteasers

Some, but not all of the links below are affiliate links. This means we earn from qualifying purchases.

• Amazon – try a free 30-day trial on Audible
• ThriftBooks.com
• Hoopla – we get a few free from our local library + we have a plan for fifty per month
• Overdrive – we also get some free books via our library
• Your Local Library – a bit redundant here, but maybe yours has other options.
• eBay – a great place to buy used books, CDs, and more

A few notes:

1. This list has ebooks and audiobooks included.
2. Please understand some books go in multiple categories, but we tried to split them up in a way that best suits them.
3. If you have a great game resource book, let us know! You can comment on this post or email checkmate@boardgamesforlearning.com so we can consider adding it to our list.
4. We have no affiliation with Hoopla – our family simply uses and loves their service. Any Amazon buttons are affiliate links and we earn from qualifying purchases.
5. If listening to audiobooks, we highly recommend the speaker below:

Puzzles, Riddles, and Brainteaser ebooks

Origami and other Activity ebooks

We have found that Origami challenges our children to persevere and also adjust their expectations. So often our girls will think that doing a certain origami creation will be easy, only to find it much harder than expected. Therefore, we love doing game-like activities such as origami as a joint way to creatively learn and have fun.

Board Game Guidebooks

Sometimes the best way to learn through play is to read more about the game mechanics and strategy behind a board game such as Chess, Go, or even the Rubik’s cube!

Sudoku, Crosswords, and other number and word games

We started teaching our kids sudoku at around the age of 3 and they all love it. It’s a great way to introduce some logic and reasoning with a 3×3 grid. In fact, read more about how to teach children sudoku here.

Books full of indoor and outdoor games for children

More Resources

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