Once you've drawn your grid, it's time to pick some theme words and start filling them in. To get started on your grid you'll need either graph paper, or any kind of paper with a ruler, and a pencil. There's no need to decide on an exact number ahead of time - just give yourself a general idea of how many words you want, and then see how the grid looks as you get close to that number. A 30x30 grid, for example, would quickly become a chore to fill in, so I'd recommend keeping the dimensions around 14x14.Īs for how many words you'll use, that's also totally up to you! I'd say you shouldn't have less than 10 or more than 20 in a grid of this size, and in my example I went with 12 words. For my example puzzle I'm going to use a 14x14 grid, which allows me to use long words without being unnecessarily large. Step 2: Decide on Your Grid Size and Number of Hidden WordsĪs with your choice of theme, you have a lot of flexibility here - the only real rule of thumb to stick to is to make your puzzle a square, and to not make it too small, since that limits your options for choosing words. For this walkthrough I chose animals, which you'll see in the images below. Harry Potter is a fun choice, along with movies, animals, or even states and countries - it's totally up to you. You can choose anything you like, and take inspiration from anywhere. Here's a step by step guide for how to do it. Making word search puzzles isn't too demanding, and is actually a lot of fun. Or, even better, once they understand how to make them you can both create your own, and then swap puzzles! A great way to take this fun to the next level is to teach your child how to create their own word search puzzles, and then let them challenge a friend or family member with it. They're satisfying to solve, not usually too hard, and often come with fun and interesting themes, which can be a great educational tool. Word search puzzles are one of those great, fun activities everyone remembers from childhood.

Printable make your own word search