Now that we’ve got the Christmas tree and decorations up, I’m finding that I want to theme all of our school activities around Christmas too – so I created two printable Christmas word search puzzles for my kids yesterday and want to share them with you!
For my four year, I made a simple word search that uses words she can read on her own, mostly three letters long plus two four letter words that kids can read at this age (tree and sled).
For my eight year, I went with a more complicated Christmas word search with 16 words ranging from four letters to 11 letters long – hello, gingerbread!
I’m really excited to continue designing fun and festive activities like this for the holidays and hope you enjoy this one 🙂 Whether you need an easy independent activity, something calm for your morning basket, or just a little brain break before baking cookies, this printable will make a fun addition to your day.
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Word Searches are Great for Kids
Word searches are not so secretly one of my favorite teaching tools – my kids think they’re fun and we all know they’re learning and practicing the skills they already have. It’s a win win for everyone.
Here’s why I love them:
- Builds vocabulary and spelling – Holiday words like lights and wreath help elementary kids practice unusual spelling rules while joy and tree help little ones with reading practice.
- Encourages focus – Soothing images and gentle reading make for a calm moment. My girls chose the pictures for each worksheet too so I’m sure kids their ages will appreciate them.
- Strengthens pattern recognition – Spotting letters and saying their sounds is essentially pre-reading disguised as a game.
- Peaceful & independent – You can tidy the kitchen, wash laundry, or even work on your blog, while the kids are doing “school work”.
I recommend getting dry-erase sleeves or even a menu like this so your kids can do these again and again this holiday season or even the next. Don’t forget dry-erase pens too!
What’s Inside the Printable
This one’s festive but printer-friendly – because I know how fast those ink cartridges disappear in December (I say as I order more ink after running out this morning, lol).
Below you’ll find puzzles that:
- include a cheerful list of Christmas words below each word search
- three cute pictures on each puzzle (you could also print them in black and white to save ink)
- are perfect for ages 4 to 12 (and maybe even moms too… I totally did it myself first to make sure all words in the lists are there!)
- an answer key for the more complicated puzzle intended for Grades 3 and up (this one includes diagonal and backwards answers)
How to Download & Print
- Click the images or text just below them to download the pages you want (since its simple, I didn’t make an answer key for the junior word search)
- From your computer or a mobile device, click print (you can choose color or black and white from here)
- Grab your word search puzzles and enjoy!
More Activities and Ideas for Homeschool & Elementary School Students:
- FREE Printable European Flags Coloring Pages (with Coloring Guide!)
- Loog Guitar Review: How I Taught My Kids to Play Guitar and Love Music
- 10 Best Tips to Organize a Homeschool Room
- Our Honest Opinion About The Good and The Beautiful (And What We’re Doing Instead)
More Educational Activities for Preschool & Kindergarten Students:
- Preschool Math Pages (Learn Number 1 to 10)
- Preschool Alphabet Pages (Letters A through Z)
- Best Alphabet Activities to Teach Young Kids Phonics and Letter Recognition
- Free Preschool Phonics Flashcard Set (Double Sided for Easy Printing and Laminating!)
Fun Ways to Use Your Word Search
For even more fun, you could include your word search during:
- Family Night: Hand everyone a word search puzzle and see who finishes first. Winner gets to pick the Christmas movie.
- Morning Basket Starter: A calm way to ease into the day.
- Road-Trip Activity: Place it in a menu like this one (so the kids can do it again and again) with some of our other fun Christmas activities, and hand the kids dry-erase pens (I really like these ones because they have erases on top of each pen) for fun Christmas boredom busters during long drives – or flights!
- Read-Aloud Pairing: Try it during or after a read aloud – my girls adore St. Francis and the Christmas Donkey and The Christmas Promise (we also did the Advent for this one a couple of years ago and loved it!).
- Advent Countdown: Add one printable activity per day – it’s such a simple and cost-effective way to make your countdown fun – I can’t recommend this cute fabric advent wall calendar with pockets enough.
More Christmas Printables You’ll Love
For more festive fun, check out these:
- Christmas Song Challenge Printable – a festive musical twist on the 30-day challenge!
- Christmas Reading Challenge for Kids – color your way through your holiday book list
- Advent Morning Basket Ideas – sweet ways to celebrate the season together (coming soon)
Add Joy All Season Long
The Christmas season moves fast!
So, be sure to embrace the quiet moments and slow down every once in a while. Between events, shopping, baking, and regular life, it’s easy to get caught up and burn out.
We love puzzles and activities as well as playing music and reading seasonal books 🙂 how about you? Let me know in the comments below.
Merry Christmas, friend!
– Nikki
