Halloween word search

Halloween is one of the few themes where children will happily do a reading exercise without noticing that it is one. The words are long and strange — cauldron, skeleton, midnight — which makes them good practice precisely because they are not words that turn up in a reading book every week.

The four ready-made sheets step up gradually. Large print runs across and down only in an eleven by eleven grid, which suits five to seven year olds. Everyday and More words move to fourteen and fifteen squares. Challenge is a seventeen by seventeen that allows backwards and diagonal words, which is where most adults start finding them interesting too.

These work well as a class-party activity, as something to put on the table at a children's party while you are still setting up, and as a quiet alternative for a child who would rather not go out trick-or-treating. Print a mixture of difficulties if you are handing them to a group of mixed ages — the same theme, so nobody feels singled out, but the right level of challenge each.

Nothing here is gory, and there are no character names from films or games. If you want a puzzle built from your own list, the maker on this page will do it in about ten seconds and includes the answer key automatically.