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Earth Day Word Search (free printable)

A free Earth Day word search with twenty-one words (recycle, reuse, compost, habitat, solar, planet), a word bank and an answer key, for April 22.

21 words. “Polar bear” becomes POLARBEAR. Add a clue after a colon (“snow: white flakes”) to put clues in the bank.
Grid size
Difficulty
Up to 40 letters. They fill the first leftover squares, so the letters nobody circles spell it. On the board it flies into place when the last word is found.
Sort and find: the look-alikes hide in the grid and the word bank too, so children decide which to circle.

Use this list in: bingo cards

Earth Day Word SearchEarth Day Word SearchNameDateENOEYTRAOVGRGIFAETRREUSEFULCOEETREESHEOOESNAHABITATSLMNEWNPLANETCYEPORAINFORESTOMNCLPOLLUTIONFMBSAIREDUCEPIKBPEKITEPLANTAKELOYSTUWINDOBRBVSDEDRFOENDWTATRYRECYCLERHIPROTECTPYGMBNFIND THESE WORDSRECYCLEREDUCEREUSECOMPOSTPLANETEARTHTREESPOLLUTIONLITTERSOLARWINDENERGYWATERCONSERVENATUREWILDLIFEHABITATOCEANRAINFORESTPROTECTPLANTPuzzle 87816Free at teach.peabody.kids
Puzzle ·
Earth Day Word Search: answer keyEarth Day Word Search: answer keyEvery word to find is circled.ENOEYTRAOVGRGIFAETRREUSEFULCOEETREESHEOOESNAHABITATSLMNEWNPLANETCYEPORAINFORESTOMNCLPOLLUTIONFMBSAIREDUCEPIKBPEKITEPLANTAKELOYSTUWINDOBRBVSDEDRFOENDWTATRYRECYCLERHIPROTECTPYGMBNPuzzle 87816Free at teach.peabody.kids
Answer key ·

To save a PDF, choose Print, then “Save as PDF” as the printer. Only the sheets print.

All 21 words are in the circle, and each one appears once.

About this set

Twenty-one words for Earth Day: the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), actions (compost, plant, conserve, protect), the resources and energy children learn about (water, air, solar, wind, energy) and the places and living things worth caring for (planet, earth, nature, habitat, wildlife, ocean, rainforest, trees). Use it as a quiet start to a lesson on caring for the environment, and ask students to pick one word and say what they could do about it. The grid is 15 by 15 on Medium, with Easy and Hard available, and page two is the answer key.

Grades: 1st to 6th grade. Best in: April.

The words to find

Recycle · Reduce · Reuse · Compost · Planet · Earth · Trees · Pollution · Litter · Solar · Wind · Energy · Water · Conserve · Nature · Wildlife · Habitat · Ocean · Rainforest · Protect · Plant

How to use it: five ideas

  1. Action words: after solving, students circle the verbs (reduce, reuse, recycle, plant, protect) and write one action for each.
  2. Sort the words: students sort into things we do, things we protect and things we use.
  3. Recycling link: students bring a clean item from home and say which of the Rs it matches.
  4. Poster plan: students pick three words to make an Earth Day poster slogan.
  5. Clean-up walk: use the puzzle as the warm-up before a school grounds clean-up.

Related

Questions

When is Earth Day?

April 22 each year. The first Earth Day was in 1970.

Is the puzzle political?

It uses plain, widely taught environmental vocabulary: recycling, conserving water, protecting wildlife, planting trees. Edit the words if your school prefers a different set.

Can I change the words or the difficulty?

Yes. Edit the 21 words in the box, choose Easy, Medium or Hard, pick a grid size from 8 to 25 and a shape, and add a secret message if you like. The puzzle rebuilds as you change it, and any word that cannot fit is listed.

Can we play it on the board?

Yes. Press “Play on the board”: the class finds words by dragging across them or tapping the first and last letters, each find plays a note, and H gives a hint. Press F to fill the projector.

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 are placed in a new arrangement, which is handy when neighbors should not have the same puzzle.

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