Most word searches you hand a five-year-old bury the words diagonally and backwards, and the kid gives up before the first find. The two free puzzles below keep every word horizontal or vertical, forwards only, in an 8x8 grid with 8 words each, which is the version that works for ages 5 to 9. Print the page, tick each word off the bank as it turns up, and check the hidden answer grids when a word refuses to show itself. When these are done, the full 120-page worksheet pack is linked at the bottom, and there are more puzzles on the kids sudoku page and the free printable mazes page.
How to play word search (3 steps):
1. Pick a word from the word bank and read it out loud. Look at its first letter, because that is what you are hunting for.
2. Slide your finger along each row, left to right, hunting for that first letter. Then go down each column, top to bottom. Every word in these puzzles hides one of those two ways.
3. Found it? Circle the whole word, then tick its checkbox in the word bank. Eight ticks means the puzzle is done.
Both grids are 8x8 with 8 words each. Puzzle 1 words run 3 to 4 letters, puzzle 2 is all 4-letter words, so it takes slightly longer. Answers are hidden so nobody sees them by accident, and they stay off the printed page.
Puzzle 1. The 28 green letters spell all 8 words:
Puzzle 2:
Where they hide: puzzle 1 has CAT, TREE, BOOK, FISH and MOON running down, DOG, SUN and STAR across. Puzzle 2 has BIRD, RAIN, DUCK and SHIP going down, CAKE, FROG, EGG and BALL across. BALL and BIRD share their first square, which is the one place two words overlap.
Opinions from handing these to kids, not a teaching study:
This page holds 2 word searches. The full pack is a 120-page kindergarten workbook (ages 4 to 6) built by a generator, so every claim below is a check the build ran, not a promise:
Print-at-home PDFs in A4 and US Letter, one activity per page, big type, no color printer needed.
Ages 5 to 9. The easy part is deliberate: only two directions to check (left to right and top to bottom), 8 words per grid, and short words. A five-year-old can finish puzzle 1 in one sitting with the word bank read aloud first. By age 8 both puzzles go fast, so use the laminate tip and time the second run.
No. Every word in both puzzles runs either left to right or top to bottom, forwards only. Backwards and diagonal words are what make standard word searches brutal for young kids, so they are left out here on purpose.
Both grids came out of a generator that re-scans the finished letters after filling in the blanks, and all 16 words were confirmed present before publishing. The answer grids above show exactly where each one sits.
Yes for your own students, same as the rest of the site's printables: print as many copies as your class needs. The full worksheet pack license also covers single-classroom use.