Printable Birds word search

What is on the sheet

• One 12 by 12 grid of letters with columns labelled A to L and rows numbered 1 to 12.
• Eight birds words, listed so nobody has to guess what is hiding in the grid.
• A name and date line at the top, which is what turns a puzzle into a worksheet.
• A separate solution sheet, printed on page two, with every word highlighted and its exact position.

How to use it

• Print at 100 percent. The grid is sized from the page width, so a "fit to page" setting stretches the squares and makes the letters uneven.
• Two pages come out. The puzzle is page one and the solution is page two. Print both and cut the solution off, or print page one twice if you want a clean copy per player.
• Black and white is fine. The sheet uses solid fills rather than colour, so it comes out clean on the cheapest printer available.
• Photocopy as many as you need. These sheets are free to reproduce for classroom, club and family use, and no attribution is required on the copy.
• Harder versions are easy. Cross out the word list and let the player work from a category instead, or take the solution sheet away and let the class check each other.

Why a printable word search is still worth printing

A printable word search of birds: the ones in the garden, the ones on the beach and a few that most people only ever see in a book. The 12 by 12 grid hides eight of them, and the answer key on the second sheet does the marking for you.

A paper word search does three things a screen cannot. It works when the connection does not, it gives two people something to race on rather than something to tap on, and it survives a room full of children and six tablets. The grid above is generated from the same word list as the online game, so anyone who gets stuck on a word can move to the screen version without starting over.

Tips for whoever is handing it out

• Birds work as a naming game before the hunt: read the list and ask which ones have been seen this week.
• Read some rows right to left as well as left to right. Backwards is where most people miss a word.
• Let people scan the grid in a fixed order — down each column first, then across, then diagonally. Random scanning is what makes people think they are bad at word searches when they are simply looking in the wrong place.

Prefer to play on a screen

The word search game has a fresh free-play puzzle every time and a daily puzzle where everyone gets the same grid. This exact printable puzzle can be played online as well, letter for letter.