Printable Word Jumbles For Kids

Word jumbles (also sometimes known as “word searches” or “word search puzzles”) are a fun activity for kids to pass the time. They are in fact an ideal way to keep kids busy on rainy days, when travelling, or when they are bored and need to something to fill the time. However, you should not regard these puzzles as simply a leisure activity – they could have educational benefits too – for example, by helping kids to learn to concentrate, to pay attention, and to focus on the precise spelling of the words in the puzzle.

Most people have encountered word jumble puzzles before, but if you’re not familiar with them, here’s what’s involved:

1. The puzzle consists of a grid of letters arranged in rows and columns. The grid is usually square or rectangular in over all shape, but it doesn’t have to be – for example, a themed puzzle may have another shape (e.g. an puzzle containing words related to aviation might be in the shape of an aeroplane).

2. Hidden within the grid are words. These words can be arranged in any direction, left-to-right, right-to-left, upwards, downwards, or diagonally. The words can overlap or intersect, and of course not every letter in the grid is actually part of a word.

3. The player’s objective is to find all the words hidden within the grid, and circle each of them. In most games, the player is given the list of words to look for.

You probably can find books or magazines containing word jumble puzzles, but you may prefer to create the puzzles yourself. Creating the puzzles yourself has the advantage that you can customize the puzzle for different occasions, pick words suited to your child’s reading level, and tailor the puzzles to your requirements (for example bu avoiding hard-to-find diagonal words in puzzles aimed at younger children). Creating puzzles yourself is possible using nothing more than a pen and paper, but you’ll find it incredibly time consuming – so a better alternative may be to use your computer and some word jumble maker software – that way you can simply enter a list of words, and the computer will generate the puzzle automatically.