Students connect the items they know first and use a process of elimination for the ones that they don't. Near the end there are only one or two items left. Two pictures and two words. Too easy for me, so if I can I leave out an image, so that there is one more word than images left. Or, I leave out a word. I hope this makes them think more.

My students are apt to copy from each other, so I generate six or eight different copies of this activity. Then copying is harder and requires more thinking to do so, thinking is good

When I generate the different copies, every two different, I change the font (so they get more practice with different fonts) and change the missing word/image to make copying a little harder.

If one student helps another they can't just use their own sheet to show the positions of the connecting word and image, because they have different sheets. They have to search and read to find the answer on their friend's sheet. More thinking.

Zoot, that's a great way to mix up and make the worksheet a little more difficult for older students.

I slightly updated the worksheet makers on Tools for Educators. I added the print, reload, close menu at the top and I went back and forth about the spaghetti string maker. I was going to randomize both the words and images for each page load, but I thought that some teachers might want a specific word to use as 'word 1'. So, I think I left the words as they are entered by the teacher but the images are now randomized with each reload/refresh.