How to Make Word Search Puzzles

Learning to make word search puzzles is much easier to do than you might imagine. Word search puzzles are excellent educational games, since they encourage the person doing the puzzle to repeat the word while searching. They also teach proper spelling. This can be especially helpful for people who have trouble memorizing new words.

Follow these instructions to make an educational word search puzzle:

1. Identify the words you want to emphasize. These could be answers to questions or new vocabulary words. Make a list of the words.
2. Create a grid of boxes on your computer. This is to maintain order in your word search. You may want to use an excel spreadsheet. You won't want to actually print out the grid lines, so be sure check the option to not print grid lines on the printed page.
3. Type the words into the grid, using one box per letter. Type some words horizontally, some vertically and some diagonally. If you want to increase the challenge, type some words backwards.
4. Fill in all the empty boxes with random letters. If you want to make the puzzle extra challenging, use some of the letter patterns from the words chosen as search words. For example, if one of the answers is "Lincoln," make sure you place "l" then "i" and "c" then "o" and "l" then "n" in boxes, so the person doing the search has to pay attention to the spelling of the whole word in order to get it right. You can also write out questions as clues, instead of listing the words to search for. For example, instead of writing "Lincoln," you might ask the question, "Who delivered the Gettysburg Address?" Leave seven lines, indicating it is a seven-letter word.
5. Print out a copy of the word search, circle the right answers, and post the answer sheet where it can be checked when the puzzle is finished.