Any topic, any week
Science vocabulary, a book’s characters, counties and their towns, French words: if you can list it, you can turn it into a word search.More puzzles
See the crossword maker and bingo cards. For pre-readers, picture puzzles have a picture beside every word.Curriculum links in England
- Year 1Pupils name the letters of the alphabet in order and spell words using the sounds they have been taught.
- Years 3–4The statutory word list includes words such as February, library and separate, which work well in a grid.
- Years 5–6The second statutory list, with words such as rhythm and yacht, suits a Hard puzzle.
A word search practises recognising a spelling rather than writing it from memory, so in England it works best as a warm-up or early-finisher task alongside dictation and the spelling routines the DfE writing framework describes.
For Key Stage 2 topic work, history and geography words such as Anglo-Saxons, invaders or rivers make a good list. In Key Stage 1, keep to Easy and choose words with the sounds your phonics programme has taught.
Summarised in our own words from the National Curriculum in England: English programmes of study, English Appendix 1: Spelling and the DfE writing framework.
