Word searchesPlanets and space
Space word search
A word search drawn from 32 space terms, including the planets, moon, comet, galaxy and telescope. It is for children who like astronomy and for teachers wrapping up a solar system unit.
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- Answer key on its own page
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On this page
Planets, rockets and telescopes are popular with young readers. This puzzle turns that interest into a letter hunt. It opens on the Space and Planets theme at Medium.
What prints
The sheet has a title ("Space and Planets Word Search"), an instruction line telling you to find 16 words, a 14 × 14 grid and an alphabetical word bank with a tick box beside each word. Words run across, down and diagonally. Page two is the solution sheet, drawn as a ring round every word.
The theme's 32 words are star, moon, sun, Mars, Venus, Earth, orbit, comet, alien, nova, Pluto, ring, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, galaxy, rocket, eclipse, asteroid, gravity, meteor, crater, planet, astronaut, telescope, spaceship, solar system, black hole, shooting star, satellite and astronomer. Multi-word entries are joined with no space, so look for SOLARSYSTEM, BLACKHOLE and SHOOTINGSTAR. Uranus is not in the list.
The settings
- Title (optional) could be "Mission Log" or a child's name.
- Theme is Space and Planets, with 29 more and "My own words" available.
- Difficulty: Easy 10 × 10 keeps to words of eight letters or fewer, like moon, Mars and comet. Medium is 14 × 14. Hard is 17 × 17 with words in every direction.
- Large print gives 12 × 12 and 12 words.
- Lowercase letters prints a small-letter grid and bank.
Ways to use it
Before the puzzle, ask children to name the planets in order from the sun. After, have them choose three found words and draw them. The NASA learning resources page links to planet pages and student activities that go with many of these words. A short trip through those can turn a puzzle into a research prompt: where does a comet come from, and what is an eclipse?
For a party, print a copy for each guest, add a title like "Space Camp", and award a sticker to the first person who finishes. Press "New puzzle" between copies so neighbors cannot just look across.
Worked example: a library space day
Ms. Kim runs a Saturday story hour with eight children aged seven to ten. After reading a picture book about the moon landing, she prints four Easy copies and four Medium copies, all with the Space and Planets theme. The younger children get ten short words in a 10 × 10 grid. The older ones get sixteen words, including telescope and astronaut. She sets each answer key on the back table, and children bring their finished page there to check their work.
More puzzles
Try the science word search for a broader unit review, or the printable word search for other subjects. The word scramble uses the same space words with a hint under each one.