A favourite for the week before the break
Word searches are a classroom staple in the days before Thanksgiving. They're quiet and calm, and they still give spelling practice. This puzzle has 16 words, including turkey, harvest, cranberry, pilgrim and grateful, hidden across, down and diagonally on a 14 × 14 grid.
Pick the right difficulty
- Kindergarten and 1st grade: choose Easy and a grid of 10, and cut the list to 8 short words like pie, corn and feast.
- 2nd–3rd grade: Medium (this setting) adds diagonals.
- 4th grade and up: Hard adds backwards words, which really slows down speed-solvers.
Make it your own
Type your class's own words into the list: names of family dishes, what students are thankful for, or this week's spelling words. The generator builds a new grid in seconds and tells you if a word is too long for the grid.
More than a time-filler
After finishing, ask students to sort the found words by number of syllables or into nouns and verbs. Or have them write a short thank-you note using five of the words. That turns a ten-minute puzzle into a real literacy activity.