If you can't get enough of word searches, there are many Web sites available for instantaneous fun. Some of the sites require you to print out the puzzles, but others are interactive and let you solve them with your mouse. We've listed some of our favorite Web sites for you to explore:
Discovery Education's Puzzlemaker
Create your own word search puzzles to print out and solve at home. Using the easy, step-by-step directions, you choose a title, hidden message (optional), size (number of squares in the grid), and the words. The Web site does the rest, including a solution page. In addition to creating word searches, you can also create a number of other puzzles such as cryptograms, crisscrosses, and mazes. Technical help is available.
Education Place: Kids' Place Web Word Find
Publisher Houghton Mifflin hosts this interactive site complete with sound effects. Click your mouse on the first letter of a word and drag the circle over the whole word. If you are correct, you hear a “ding” and the word disappears from the list. If you are wrong, you hear a “buzz” and have to try again. Topics are seasonal. Other types of puzzles for kids are also available on this site. Brain Teasers (problem solving) and Fake Out (word definitions) are two examples.
Mensa for Kids: Word Roundup
This word search puzzle is changed five times a week. It has an online timer so you can see how quickly you can find all the words. Rather than giving you a word list, you are provided with a set of clues of types of words to find. For example, in one puzzle you might need to search for two Greek gods, five state capitals, four vegetables, and six animals with four legs. Each time you find a correct word, a box gets checked and you receive a star next to that category when you have found all of the words in it. There is a great hint feature to help you out, and you have the option of resetting the game when you are done to try and complete it in a faster time. Mensa has other games for kids on the same site.
Merriam-Webster's Word Central
Although this award-winning site may not have word searches, if you are a kid who loves words, you will definitely want to visit it. Designed like a school, it has different classrooms to explore and word-related activities to try. You can look up words in the online student dictionary, view the daily buzzword, make up your own new words, encode and decode messages, and even create silly poetry. The site is visually appealing and very easy to navigate.
Puzzle-Club.com
This site includes printable word searches for children on many different topics and in a range of difficulty levels. The puzzles are divided into Super-Easy, Easy, Medium, and Hard. Topics included are nature, holidays, school, and other kid-friendly themes.
