Ocean Animals Crossword Puzzle (free printable)
A free ocean animals crossword with thirteen words and clues for grades 2 to 5: dolphin, octopus, seahorse, plankton, kelp and more, with numbered squares and an answer key.
To save a PDF, choose Print, then “Save as PDF” as the printer. Only the sheets print.
All 13 words are in the crossword (14 × 13 squares).
About this set
Thirteen sea creatures and sea things, each with a clue that teaches a true fact: a fish whose father carries the babies, a soft animal with no bones and eight arms, tiny drifting living things that feed many bigger animals, a giant seaweed that grows in underwater forests. The clues are pitched so that a second grader can solve them with a partner and a fourth grader will still need to think, and the words cross at shared letters, so one answer helps the next. Leave the word bank on for younger students, and turn it off for fifth grade. Press Make another to give each table a different layout.
Grades: 2nd to 5th grade. Best in: April, May, June.
The words and clues
- Whale :
- The biggest animals in the world are this kind of sea mammal
- Dolphin :
- A smart, playful sea mammal that clicks and whistles to talk
- Shark :
- A fish with a skeleton of cartilage and rows of sharp teeth
- Octopus :
- A soft sea animal with eight arms and no bones
- Jellyfish :
- A see-through sea animal that stings with its tentacles
- Starfish :
- A sea animal shaped like a star, with arms and no head
- Seahorse :
- A tiny fish with a horse-shaped head whose father carries the babies
- Turtle :
- A shelled reptile that lives in the sea and crawls onto a beach to lay eggs
- Crab :
- A shelled sea animal that walks sideways on ten legs
- Coral :
- Tiny sea animals whose hard skeletons build colorful reefs
- Kelp :
- A giant brown seaweed that grows in underwater forests
- Plankton :
- Tiny living things that drift in the water and feed many sea animals
- Walrus :
- A big sea mammal with long tusks and bristly whiskers
How to use it: five ideas
- Fact finder: after solving, each student picks one clue and finds a second fact about that animal in a book or on a classroom poster.
- Word bank for grade 2: leave it on and have partners read each clue aloud before writing.
- Habitat sort: after solving, students sort the answers into animals of the shore, the open water and the sea floor.
- Write a clue: students write their own clue for the shark or the crab, trade with a neighbor and solve each other’s.
- Challenge round: fifth graders turn the word bank off and solve from the clues alone, then check the answer key.
Related
Questions
Are the facts in the clues accurate?
Yes. A male seahorse carries the eggs in a pouch, an octopus has eight arms and no bones, sharks have skeletons of cartilage, and kelp is a large seaweed. If you change a clue, check the fact first.
Can I change a clue?
Yes. Each line in the box is a word, a colon and its clue. Edit any of them and the crossword rebuilds with new numbers.
Can I change the words and clues?
Yes. Each of the 13 lines is a word, a colon and its clue. Edit any of them, and the crossword is rebuilt with new numbers.
How do I save it as a PDF?
Press Print and choose “Save as PDF” as the printer. The puzzle is page one and the answer key is page two.
How do I get a different layout?
Press “Make another”. The same words and clues are placed in a new arrangement, so each table can have its own puzzle.
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