Thanksgiving Word Search: Free Printable

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Grid size

Puzzles per page

Include answer key

Answer key style

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: Thanksgiving

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

– AUTUMN– FOOTBALL– GATHER– GRATEFUL– GRAVY– HARVEST– PARADE– PIE– PLENTY– POTATOES– WREATH– YAMS

Answer Key: Thanksgiving

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

Thanksgiving week runs on a broken schedule. Attendance is uneven, the days are short, and whatever you had planned is competing with a four day weekend.

A word search does not pretend to fix that. It buys back the first ten minutes of the morning, which in that particular week is not nothing.

What is on each grid size

The bank runs to forty-five words across three groups. The food and table words: TURKEY, GRAVY, STUFFING, CRANBERRY, CORNBREAD, CASSEROLE, WISHBONE, LEFTOVERS. The gratitude words: THANKFUL, GRATEFUL, BLESSING, ABUNDANCE, PLENTY. And the historical terms: PILGRIM, MAYFLOWER, PLYMOUTH, COLONY, SETTLER.

Grid size selects on length alone, not on theme. Anything short enough can appear at any size, so PILGRIM and PLYMOUTH are as likely on an 8x8 as on a 14x14. The larger grids simply hold more words, and the longest ones, CORNUCOPIA and HARVESTMOON, need the 12x12 or above.

If your unit calls for a specific vocabulary, the craft page takes a pasted list and builds the sheet from that instead.

The one that works at the table

On the day itself, print the 10x10 and leave a stack somewhere the children pass. It occupies the long stretch between arriving and eating, which is the actual problem Thanksgiving has.

Four to a page and a pencil each. Nobody finishes a 14x14 with a house full of people, and a puzzle abandoned halfway is worse than one finished quickly.

A writing activity that is not a worksheet

The word list carries THANKFUL, GRATEFUL, BLESSING, ABUNDANCE, PLENTY.

After the search, ask each student to pick one of those words and write a single sentence using it about something specific from their own life. One sentence, not a paragraph. Specific, not “my family.”

It takes four minutes, it is genuinely a writing exercise, and it works in a week when nothing longer is going to happen.

Print it the week before, not the day before

If you are running a class set, do it early in November. The last few days before the break are when every teacher in the building wants the copier, and it is a bad week to discover the toner is out.

Common questions

Does the list include the Pilgrim and Mayflower story?

Yes. Pilgrim, Mayflower, Plymouth, colony and settler are all in the word bank, and any of them can turn up at any grid size. There is no setting that removes them. For a sheet without the historical terms, paste your own list into the craft page.

What size works for the day itself?

The 10x10. On Thanksgiving the puzzle is competing with cooking, arriving relatives and a television, so something finishable in ten minutes beats something impressive. Print a stack and leave it where the children end up.

Is this useful in a classroom or just at home?

Both, and the classroom use is the stronger one. The two or three days before the break run short and uneven, and a fresh sheet each morning buys back the first ten minutes of it.

Will it print without color?

Yes. The puzzle page is black text on white with light gray cell borders, so it uses almost no ink. Pick the gray or lines answer key style and the full set stays black and white.

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

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

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

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

Thanksgiving Word Search Printables