Accessibility is about progress, not perfection.

Activity

No-Cost Digital Resource Riddle Hunt

Solve the riddles. Find the tools in No-Cost Digital Resources

Opens in a new tab, so you can keep the tools beside the riddles.

By Beth Stark, M.S.Ed., CPACCEducator and ConsultantInclusive Learning SystemsUDLAccessibility

How to Play

  • Play alone or with a group. In a group, one person can read the clues aloud.
  • Each riddle hunt starts with a word riddle. Solve it to find the secret word. Each letter of that word is one tool.
  • Read each rhyming clue and work out which no-cost digital tool it describes. Keep the A to Z list of tools open beside you while you play.
  • When you are ready to check, select Show the answer. Each answer links to the tool in the collection.
  • You do not need to finish. Solve what you can.
Open the A to Z list of toolsNo-Cost Digital Resources, section 6. Opens in a new tab, so you can switch back and forth.

Download the printable versionPDF, 6 pages, 167 KB, with an answer key page

Riddle Hunt #1

Word riddle. Four letter word.

Run and jump and sing and read are four examples of me. I am the action in a sentence. What word can I be?

Clues

  1. Letter 1: Press one red button, speak out loud, I save your voice, with no app, no cloud.
  2. Letter 2: I teach Easy Read, a clear and simple way: short sentences and pictures make ideas stay.
  3. Letter 3: Give me a text that is hard to read, I make an easier twin to meet your need.
  4. Letter 4: I help make websites work for one and all. My guides and my checker catch mistakes big and small.
Show the answer

The word is VERB.

Each letter is one tool. Select a tool to see it in the collection.

Riddle Hunt #2

Word riddle. Four letter word.

You cannot see me, but you feel me on your face. I push the clouds and kites along from place to place.

Clues

  1. Letter 1: I track your heart with a band, through the day and night, and help you pace your energy just right.
  2. Letter 2: Paste in your words or upload a file, I read them all aloud in a little while.
  3. Letter 3: I am a set of checklists, careful and keen, I find the barriers that go unseen.
  4. Letter 4: I check if your text and its background fight, or sit together so the words read right.
Show the answer

The word is WIND.

Each letter is one tool. Select a tool to see it in the collection.

Riddle Hunt #3

Word riddle. Three letter word.

I am the wide and open space that sits up high. Birds and planes go flying through. Now, what am I?

Clues

  1. Letter 1: A toolbar of helpers, all in a row, at no cost for teachers, to help reading grow.
  2. Letter 2: I bring out the helpers your computer hides away, so its built-in features are easy to use each day.
  3. Letter 3: I scan a web page, then I explain each fix you need, in words that are plain.
Show the answer

The word is SKY.

Each letter is one tool. Select a tool to see it in the collection.

Riddle Hunt #4

Word riddle. Five letter word.

I am a tool that grips and holds two things up tight. I squeeze them so they will not slip, with all my might.

Clues

  1. Letter 1: I put the words of a video on the screen. You fix the timing so the captions read clean.
  2. Letter 2: Type with your eyes, a touch screen, or a switch. This on-screen keyboard helps without a hitch.
  3. Letter 3: I look at a picture and write what I see. A screen reader shares my words, you see.
  4. Letter 4: I read out the screen, every word in sight, a no-cost screen reader, working day or night.
  5. Letter 5: I show your design in a different light, so colour-blind eyes can see it right.
Show the answer

The word is CLAMP.

Each letter is one tool. Select a tool to see it in the collection.

Riddle Hunt #5

Word riddle. Three letter word.

I am a low grey cloud, and hard to see right through. Drivers slow right down when I am blocking the view.

Clues

  1. Letter 1: Give me one big task that feels too tall, I break it into small steps, easy for all.
  2. Letter 2: Point your phone and I will say the words and the world in front of you today.
  3. Letter 3: Add me to your browser, I am named for a bird. On almost any page, your reading help is heard.
Show the answer

The word is FOG.

Each letter is one tool. Select a tool to see it in the collection.

Riddle Hunt #6

Word riddle. Three letter word.

I am a little shelter, simple, small, and snug. Step inside, out of the rain, all cosy as a bug.

Clues

  1. Letter 1: We are two fonts, designed with care, easy to read in print anywhere.
  2. Letter 2: Before you begin, I let you see how long the reading is going to be.
  3. Letter 3: I put pictures and symbols beside the words, so a message can be pointed to, not just heard.
Show the answer

The word is HUT.

Each letter is one tool. Select a tool to see it in the collection.

Leftover Letters

Four tools did not fit into any of the six words. Their letters are J, Q, X, and Z. Solve these clues too.

Clues

  1. Letter J: I record your screen, your face, your voice, then give you a link to share by choice.
  2. Letter Q: I play soft sounds that you can choose, like rain or a hum, to focus or to snooze.
  3. Letter X: I show time passing as a coloured ring, it shrinks as it goes, a simple little thing.
  4. Letter Z: As people speak, I show the words right away, live captions on the screen with no delay.
Show the answer

Take It Further

You have found the tools. Now think about your own setting. Share your thinking in the way that works best for you. You could:

  • talk it over with a colleague or a group
  • record your voice, for example with Vocaroo (tool V), which works in any web browser
  • sketch, draw, or use symbols, for example with Global Symbols (tool T)
  • type, write by hand, or use speech to text
  • think it through on your own. You do not need to show or share anything.
  1. Looking at the tools you found, many give learners new ways to engage with learning. Choose two. How could you use them in your own setting, and what would that change for learners?
  2. Imagine options like these were built in from the start of a lesson, not added later when a barrier appears. What would that change about the way you plan?
  3. Think of a learner who takes part in their own way, different from most. What could you change in your planning so this learner can take part from the start?