Easy Thanksgiving Word Search for Kids (Free Printable)

The word list

Twelve words from the table, three to six letters each. Turkey and thanks are the long ones; remove them for a child who is only beginning to read and the puzzle will still fill the page.

How to do it with a 5 to 7 year old

The best moment to hand a child this puzzle is when the table is set and the food is not ready. It is built so they can succeed alone: a small grid, words they can smell from the kitchen, and only two directions to look in.

1. Read the twelve words together once, pointing at each. Ask which one they can see on the table right now.
2. Choose a word and find its first letter by running a finger along each row in turn.
3. When the letter appears, check right and then down for the second letter. If it fits, circle the word with a crayon.
4. Tick the word on the list. Let the child pick the next one, and if they are stuck, say which row to look in rather than pointing.
5. When all twelve are found, the child reads them aloud to the cook, who is thankful for the warning that dinner is wanted.

Allow ten to fifteen minutes with help for a five year old; a seven year old may finish in five and ask for another, which the Puzzles setting provides.

Three changes for your family

• Six-word version. For a child who is only beginning to read, trim the list to PIE, CORN, YAM, ROLL, NUTS and LEAF. Everything left is three or four letters.
• Name hunt. Add the first names of the cousins at the table (keep them under eight letters) and the puzzle becomes personal. Children find their own name first, every time.
• A new puzzle for every seat. Set Puzzles to the number of children and each gets a different grid from the same list, so nobody can peek.

Tips for hosts and kindergarten teachers

Leave the difficulty on Easy. Backward and diagonal words are what turn a word search into a frustration for early readers, and across and down matches how they read.

If you are a teacher using this the week before the break, pair it with the Thanksgiving bingo for kids on this site. The same words appear on both, so the vocabulary is practiced twice.

Keep the answer key on the fridge, not the table. A hint ("it is in the bottom row") keeps the child doing the finding.

Printing for small hands

Large print is already on, so the grid and the word list come out big and bold. Puzzle plus answer key is two pages; untick the key if you only want the puzzle, or set Puzzles to the number of children for a stack.

Plain paper is fine and a thick crayon beats a pencil at this age. Ink saver mode keeps a class set cheap, and the sheet copies well in black and white.