Spring Word Search
- GREEN
- SHOWER
- BUD
- TULIP
- ROBIN
- SPROUT
- POLLEN
- MEADOW
- CROCUS
- FLOWER
- LADYBUG
- BUTTERFLY
Created for free at puzzleandprint.com
Your word search
Spring Word Search, Answer Key
- GREEN
- SHOWER
- BUD
- TULIP
- ROBIN
- SPROUT
- POLLEN
- MEADOW
- CROCUS
- FLOWER
- LADYBUG
- BUTTERFLY
Created for free at puzzleandprint.com
Or take one that is already made
Four sheets, each with a different job. Every one is a two-page PDF, the puzzle, then the answer key on its own page.
Spring word search, large print11 × 11 · 7 words · EasyDownload PDF ↓
Spring word search, everyday14 × 14 · 11 words · MediumDownload PDF ↓
Spring word search, more words15 × 15 · 14 words · MediumDownload PDF ↓
Spring word search, challenge17 × 17 · 15 words · HardDownload PDF ↓Every sheet here is free to print as often as you like. If one saved you time, the tip jar is on Ko-fi.
Spring words reach more of the senses than most seasonal lists: BLOSSOM and PETALS to look at, a BREEZE and a SHOWER to feel, a BEE to hear. It suits the start of a growing or life-cycle topic.
A puzzle built from what is genuinely happening outside that week lands better than a generic seasonal sheet. Swap words in if your spring looks different from the list.
The four printed sheets take the list in order, from BLOSSOM on the large-print sheet to PETALS, the thirty-third word, on the challenge sheet, and each of the other three opens with between one and eight words carried over from the sheet before, so a child moving up a level starts on familiar ground.
Doing it at the start of the season and again at the end is worth trying. What was a list of words in March is a list of things they have actually seen by May.
Which spring words name a baby animal or a young plant
Eight of the forty spring words name something young: CHICK, LAMB, DUCKLING, TADPOLE and CATERPILLAR among the animals, and SEEDLING, SAPLING and SPROUT among the plants. Pairing each one with what it grows into is a quick follow-on that needs nothing but the finished sheet: a LAMB becomes a sheep, a TADPOLE a frog, a SAPLING a tree, and a CATERPILLAR a BUTTERFLY, which is on the list as well. CATERPILLAR is also the longest word on the list at eleven letters, and it first appears on the more-words sheet, where the grid is fifteen squares across and has room for it.
Three of them share an ending. DUCKLING, SEEDLING and SAPLING all finish in ling, an old way of saying small or young that also turns up in gosling and fledgling, and pointing it out lets a child read the ending as one chunk instead of four separate letters. That helps most on the challenge sheet, where DUCKLING and SEEDLING both appear. The rest of the young animals are spread through the set: CHICK and LAMB are on the large-print sheet, CATERPILLAR and TADPOLE on the more-words and challenge sheets, and DUCKLING on the challenge sheet alone, so the youngest children meet the most familiar two.
When do the flowers on the spring word search come out
In a British garden the five flowers on the spring word search sheets usually open in this order: CROCUS from February, DAFFODIL in March, PRIMROSE and DAISY from March onwards, and TULIP in April and May. TULIP and DAFFODIL are on the everyday sheet, while CROCUS, DAISY and PRIMROSE are on the challenge sheet, so the earliest of the five to flower sits on the hardest sheet. Putting the five in flowering order once they have been found makes a short sequencing task, and checking the answer against what is actually out in the school grounds that week makes it a better one.
DAFFODIL is the flower name to spell aloud before starting: a double F in the middle and a single L at the end. PRIMROSE hides rose, BLOSSOM has a double S, and UMBRELLA a double L. LADYBUG is the American name for the insect British children call a ladybird, and it sits on the challenge sheet, while RAINBOOTS is on the list but on none of the four printed sheets. If a class only says ladybird, the maker at the top of the page will build a sheet with that word in its place, which takes less time than explaining the difference.
Common questions
When is the right time to print this?
Print it earlier than feels natural, in the weeks when the garden has barely begun: BUD on the large-print sheet and SPROUT on the everyday and more-words sheets name the start of the season rather than the middle of it. THAW belongs with them but is on none of the four printed sheets, so type it into the maker at the top of the page for a sheet that has it.
Does it pair with anything we are growing?
Yes, a windowsill of beans: SPROUT, SEEDLING, BUD and PETALS follow a plant from first shoot to open flower. No printed sheet has all four, since BUD is on the large-print sheet and SEEDLING and PETALS on the challenge sheet, so type the four into the maker at the top of the page to put the whole sequence on one page.
Can the spring word search be used for Easter?
Yes, for a class that wants the season rather than the holiday: CHICK, LAMB, BUNNY and NEST are on the list, but there are no eggs, baskets or holiday words on it. For those, the Easter word search on this site has a list of its own.
Want to know when new printables go up?
New printables when they go up, mostly seasonal, a few times a year.