Dinosaur Word Search: Free Printable PDF

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Name, class and date linesLowercase letters

Kindergarteners and first graders see lowercase in most classroom materials. It is worth matching what they already read.

Free, no account. Prints on US Letter at actual size.

Word Search: Dinosaurs

F	O	O	T	P	R	I	N	T	S
R	A	N	C	I	E	N	T	M	W
S	A	V	O	X	P	S	N	U	A
K	G	P	E	C	E	Q	F	S	M
U	H	R	T	U	A	R	S	E	P
L	T	O	X	O	S	M	A	U	D
L	H	M	R	X	R	P	B	M	I
N	E	S	T	N	T	T	I	E	G
S	K	E	L	E	T	O	N	K	R
J	U	R	A	S	S	I	C	B	E

– AMBER– ANCIENT– DIG– ERA– FOOTPRINT– HORN– JURASSIC– MUSEUM– NEST– RAPTOR– SKELETON– SKULL– SPIKE– SWAMP– TREX

Answer Key: Dinosaurs

F	O	O	T	P	R	I	N	T	S
R	A	N	C	I	E	N	T	M	W
S	A	V	O	X	P	S	N	U	A
K	G	P	E	C	E	Q	F	S	M
U	H	R	T	U	A	R	S	E	P
L	T	O	X	O	S	M	A	U	D
L	H	M	R	X	R	P	B	M	I
N	E	S	T	N	T	T	I	E	G
S	K	E	L	E	T	O	N	K	R
J	U	R	A	S	S	I	C	B	E

Dinosaur names are the longest words most young children learn voluntarily. A five-year-old who cannot reliably spell because will say TRICERATOPS without hesitating, which makes this topic behave differently from every other one on the site.

That length is also a constraint, and it decides which sheet you should print.

A word has to fit inside the grid

The grid is fourteen letters wide at most, and the longest names here are BRACHIOSAURUS at thirteen. It fits, barely, and takes up most of a row when it lands.

The list uses TREX rather than the full name. It fits every size, it leaves room for a second long name on the same grid, and it is what children say anyway.

The practical effect is a sharper split between sizes than any other topic has:

8x8 reaches only TREX among the species names. It fills with FOSSIL, BONES, CLAW, TAIL, SPIKE, HORN, NEST, SWAMP.
10x10 admits the shorter ones: RAPTOR, IGUANODON at nine, ALLOSAURUS and DIPLODOCUS at ten.
12x12 brings in STEGOSAURUS and TRICERATOPS at eleven.
14x14 is the only size that holds BRACHIOSAURUS. ANKYLOSAURUS, at twelve letters, fits a 12x12.

If a child wants the real names, they need the big grid, and the big grid also turns on reversed and upward placement. That combination is hard. It is a fourth grade sheet with a five-year-old’s subject matter, which is an unusual and useful thing to have.

The vocabulary a unit actually needs

Species names are the hook. The words a fossil unit is really teaching are the other ones: HERBIVORE, CARNIVORE, OMNIVORE, PREDATOR, PREY, EXTINCT, SKELETON, PALEONTOLOGY, and the periods JURASSIC, TRIASSIC, CRETACEOUS.

Those are on the 12x12 and 14x14 alongside the species. Give students the word list first and ask them to separate the animals from the ideas. Sorting ALLOSAURUS away from CARNIVORE requires knowing which one is a name and which one is a category, which is most of what the lesson is after.

Say them out loud first

Pronounce the long names together before the search starts. Break ANKYLOSAURUS into pieces on the board, say it as a group, then let them hunt for it. Children who can say a word find it faster, because they are holding a sound rather than a string of letters.

It also removes the quiet embarrassment of a child who wants to talk about dinosaurs and is not sure how to pronounce the one they like.

Common questions

Why is Tyrannosaurus not on the list?

It is thirteen letters, so it only fits on the 14x14, and it eats most of a row when it lands. The list uses TREX instead, which fits every size, leaves room for a second long name, and is what children say anyway.

Which size do I need for the real dinosaur names?

It depends on the name. Iguanodon is nine letters and Allosaurus is ten, so both fit a 10x10. Stegosaurus and Triceratops are eleven and need the 12x12. Brachiosaurus and Tyrannosaurus are thirteen and only fit the 14x14.

Is there enough here for a fossil or paleontology unit?

Yes. Alongside the species names the bank carries the working vocabulary: fossil, skeleton, herbivore, carnivore, extinct, paleontology, Jurassic, Cretaceous. On the 14x14 you get species and concepts on the same sheet.

Is a dinosaur word search too hard for kindergarten?

Not on the 8x8, which quietly avoids the species names entirely and uses claw, bones, egg, nest, tail, spike. A five-year-old obsessed with dinosaurs gets a puzzle about dinosaurs without needing to decode a twelve-letter genus.

F	O	O	T	P	R	I	N	T	S
R	A	N	C	I	E	N	T	M	W
S	A	V	O	X	P	S	N	U	A
K	G	P	E	C	E	Q	F	S	M
U	H	R	T	U	A	R	S	E	P
L	T	O	X	O	S	M	A	U	D
L	H	M	R	X	R	P	B	M	I
N	E	S	T	N	T	T	I	E	G
S	K	E	L	E	T	O	N	K	R
J	U	R	A	S	S	I	C	B	E

F	O	O	T	P	R	I	N	T	S
R	A	N	C	I	E	N	T	M	W
S	A	V	O	X	P	S	N	U	A
K	G	P	E	C	E	Q	F	S	M
U	H	R	T	U	A	R	S	E	P
L	T	O	X	O	S	M	A	U	D
L	H	M	R	X	R	P	B	M	I
N	E	S	T	N	T	T	I	E	G
S	K	E	L	E	T	O	N	K	R
J	U	R	A	S	S	I	C	B	E

F	O	O	T	P	R	I	N	T	S
R	A	N	C	I	E	N	T	M	W
S	A	V	O	X	P	S	N	U	A
K	G	P	E	C	E	Q	F	S	M
U	H	R	T	U	A	R	S	E	P
L	T	O	X	O	S	M	A	U	D
L	H	M	R	X	R	P	B	M	I
N	E	S	T	N	T	T	I	E	G
S	K	E	L	E	T	O	N	K	R
J	U	R	A	S	S	I	C	B	E

F	O	O	T	P	R	I	N	T	S
R	A	N	C	I	E	N	T	M	W
S	A	V	O	X	P	S	N	U	A
K	G	P	E	C	E	Q	F	S	M
U	H	R	T	U	A	R	S	E	P
L	T	O	X	O	S	M	A	U	D
L	H	M	R	X	R	P	B	M	I
N	E	S	T	N	T	T	I	E	G
S	K	E	L	E	T	O	N	K	R
J	U	R	A	S	S	I	C	B	E

Dinosaur Word Search Printables

Build your sheet

A word has to fit inside the grid

The vocabulary a unit actually needs

Say them out loud first

Common questions

F	O	O	T	P	R	I	N	T	S
R	A	N	C	I	E	N	T	M	W
S	A	V	O	X	P	S	N	U	A
K	G	P	E	C	E	Q	F	S	M
U	H	R	T	U	A	R	S	E	P
L	T	O	X	O	S	M	A	U	D
L	H	M	R	X	R	P	B	M	I
N	E	S	T	N	T	T	I	E	G
S	K	E	L	E	T	O	N	K	R
J	U	R	A	S	S	I	C	B	E

F	O	O	T	P	R	I	N	T	S
R	A	N	C	I	E	N	T	M	W
S	A	V	O	X	P	S	N	U	A
K	G	P	E	C	E	Q	F	S	M
U	H	R	T	U	A	R	S	E	P
L	T	O	X	O	S	M	A	U	D
L	H	M	R	X	R	P	B	M	I
N	E	S	T	N	T	T	I	E	G
S	K	E	L	E	T	O	N	K	R
J	U	R	A	S	S	I	C	B	E