Rebus Stories

Barbara J. Feldman

A rebus uses pictures or symbols to represent words or parts of words. Some are brainteasers,
such the rebus puzzles at Fun-with-Words.com. But today's sites feature rebus stories for emergent readers, where the pictures are either substituted for certain words, or simply added along with the words.

ABCTeach: Rebus

4 stars

ABCTeach brings us a dozen, printable rebus stories in black and white, reserving the color
versions for paying members. Each three or four-page PDF includes not just the story, but also a
simple worksheet with an activity such as a word search , fill-in-the-blank, or mix-and-match
puzzle. More preschool activities can found by exploring the Subjects topic in the breadcrumb
navigation menu near the top of the page.

Education World: Features from Highlights for Children

5 stars

The twelve printable rebus stories at Education World are compliments of Highlights for
Children, taken directly from the pages of the iconic print magazine. The illustrations and the
story lines are delightful, making this a "must-see" stop on today's rebus stories tour. FYI, there
are no missing words in these stories. The little illustrations simply sit next to the words they
represent. Other printables from the magazine include Hidden Pictures ® Puzzles and Crafts.
Do you remember Highlights for Children from your childhood? I do. The Hidden Pictures ®
were my favorite feature.

Enchanted Learning: Rebus Rhymes

5 stars

For a really big collection of rebus stories, no one beats Enchanted Learning and their rebus
nursery rhymes: there are more than a hundred rhymes here. From "Ants Go Marching" to
"Yankee Doodle," the nursery rhymes are grouped by topic and also listed alphabetically. These
pages are not in PDF, so printing will include all the extraneous stuff from the web page. And,
like those at Education World, there are no missing words in the rhymes. The pictures simply
illustrate the rhyme.

Highlights for Kids: Rebus Roundup Stories

5 stars

Now for something a little bit different! These four rebus stories from Highlights for Kids are
interactive. As each story is read aloud and you move your mouse to the empty spaces between
the words, you can click on any of the pictures on the left to insert it into the story. Each of the
Rebus Roundup Stories come complete with an eraser if you make a mistake, optional picture
hints (to display outlines of the missing images) and a single button that will add all the pictures
at once. Click on the megaphone icon to start and stop the audio track.

MyRebus

5 stars

Rather than a collection of rebus stories, MyRebus is a tool that will create rebus puzzles from
anything you type. "Enter your message in the box below, click ‘create', and your rebus will
popup. When you are done, you can send it to a friend as a puzzle." The resulting brainteasers
are not for the preschool crowd, but this discovery was just so much fun, I had to include it in
today's picks!