puzzEasy printable word search for kids
A first word search should be findable. These grids are seven letters square with only five or six words hidden in them, and — the part that matters most for a young child — every word runs either left-to-right or top-to-bottom. Nothing is backwards, nothing is diagonal, and nothing is upside down. A child who has just learned to track text left to right is not being asked to abandon that skill.
The words themselves are short, three to six letters, and drawn from an everyday themed list. With a grid this size a determined five-year-old finds their first word within a minute, which is really the whole point: the pack is calibrated so that the first success arrives before attention runs out.
What is in this pack
| Grid | 7x7 letters | |
|---|---|---|
| Words hidden | five or six per puzzle, three to six letters each | |
| Directions | across and down only — never backwards, never diagonal | |
| Best for | ages 5-7, and any child new to word searches | |
- Four A4 pagesThree puzzles, then a full answer key. Print the first three only if you would rather keep the answers.
- One verified solution eachEvery puzzle is passed through a solver and discarded unless exactly one answer fits.
- No sign-up, no watermarkA direct PDF download. No email address, no account, nothing to dismiss.
- Free to photocopyUse them at home, in a classroom, at a childminder or in a holiday club.
Teaching tip. For a pre-reader, read the word out and then say its first letter on its own. Hunting for one letter is a shape-matching task rather than a reading task, and children who cannot yet read a word can still find it perfectly well.
How to solve a word search
There is a method beyond staring, and children who learn it get dramatically faster.
- Read the word list firstLook at the list before touching the grid. Pick one word to hunt for rather than trying to spot all of them at once — searching for a single target is far faster than scanning for anything at all.
- Hunt the first letter, not the wordChoose the word you want, then sweep the grid for just its first letter. Every time you land on one, glance at the neighbouring letters to see whether the second letter follows. Most letters are ruled out in under a second.
- Start with the longest wordsLong words are much easier to spot and, once ringed, they cut the grid down for everything else. Working longest-first also means the hardest finds happen while the child is still fresh.
- Check every direction the grid allowsEasy grids hide words across and down only. Medium grids add both diagonals, and tricky grids also run words backwards, upwards and diagonally up. If a word will not appear, it is nearly always running in a direction the child has not thought to look in yet.
- Ring it and cross it offDraw a loop round each word in the grid and strike it off the list at the same time. Keeping the two in step stops the frustrating end-game of re-hunting a word that was already found.
Who this pack suits
Five or six short words, across and down only. Nothing backwards, nothing diagonal.
How the word search packs compare
| Word Search pack | Ages | What it asks of them |
|---|---|---|
| Easy, 7x7 | 5-7 | Five or six short words, across and down only. Nothing backwards, nothing diagonal. |
| Medium, 9x9 | 7-9 | Seven or eight words, and diagonals appear for the first time. |
| Tricky, 11x11 | 9-12 | Nine or ten longer words, running in all eight directions including backwards. |
| Themed packs | 5-9 | A single subject per pack — good for topic work, a party or a rainy afternoon. |
Questions about this pack
Can a child who cannot read yet do these?
Largely, yes. If they can recognise letters, they can match them. Read the word aloud, point at its first letter on the list, and let them sweep the grid for that shape. The reading comes along behind.
Are any words hidden backwards?
No. Easy grids place words left-to-right and top-to-bottom only. Backwards and diagonal words start in the medium pack.
How many words are in each puzzle?
Five or six, each between three and six letters. That is deliberately fewer than a typical printable word search, so that finishing is realistic in one sitting.
What theme are the words?
Each puzzle draws its words from a single everyday theme — animals, food, weather, school and so on — chosen automatically per puzzle, so the three sheets in a pack are varied. If you want a whole pack on one subject, use the themed packs instead.
More free worksheets
Other word search packs
Other kinds of puzzle
See all 17 free worksheet packs.
Hundreds more of these in the app
Puzzeroo is an iPhone and iPad app with two hundred word search levels alongside three other puzzle types — eight hundred in total, all generated by the same verified engines that made this worksheet, all working fully offline with no adverts and no accounts. The worksheets and the app draw from completely separate puzzle ranges, so printing these gives nothing away.