Easy Halloween Word Search for Kids (Free Printable)

The word list

Twelve friendly words, three to seven letters each, and not one of them is frightening. Pumpkin is the longest; cut it if your child is only just reading, and the grid stays the same size.

Doing the puzzle with a 5 to 7 year old

For a child who has just learned the alphabet, a word search is a treasure map. The trick is to keep the map small. This puzzle hides 12 short words across and down only, in a 10 by 10 grid of big capital letters, so a kindergartner can hold the whole thing in view at once.

1. Say each word on the list out loud together and let the child point to the first letter of each.
2. Pick one word. Slide a finger along the top row looking for its first letter, then the next row, and so on.
3. Found it? Check whether the next letter sits to the right or underneath. If it does, circle the whole word in orange crayon.
4. Cross it off the list. Let the child choose which word to hunt next; choosing keeps them in charge.
5. When all twelve are circled, read them back in a spooky whisper, or draw a pumpkin face in a corner of the sheet.

Expect about ten minutes for an early reader with a little help, and less for a seven year old who wants to race. If the mood drops, stop after six words and finish tomorrow.

Three ways to change it

• Starter six. For a four or five year old, trim the list to BAT, CAT, OWL, HAT, BOO and MOON. Six words of three or four letters in a small grid is a confidence builder.
• Class copies. A teacher can set Puzzles to 5 and get five different grids from the same list, so children sitting side by side cannot copy.
• Find and draw. After circling each word, the child draws it in the margin. Twelve tiny pictures make a Halloween placemat for the party table.

Tips for parents and teachers

Stay on Easy. Words that run backward or diagonally are the reason most kids this age give up on a word search, and across and down matches how they are learning to read.

Keep the key for yourself and give hints in the child's language: "it starts near the top" or "look for a P". Finding it is the whole fun.

Nothing on this list needs a costume or a party. Children who do not celebrate Halloween still know bats, owls, moons and hats, and a teacher can swap CANDY and BOO for LEAF and CORN to make a plain fall puzzle.

Printing for small hands

Large print is on by default: big letters in the grid and a word list in a size a child can read without squinting. One puzzle and one answer key print, two pages in all.

Plain paper and a chunky crayon work best. For a party table, print one puzzle per child and skip the key by unticking it; keep a single key printed for yourself.