Christmas Word Search

This free printable Christmas word search would make a great activity to entertain the kids and get them excited for the holiday season! It would also be the perfect game to play at a classroom holiday party.

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There are 21 Christmas themed words to find in this fun word search puzzle. It is a fun activity that also helps kids build their vocabulary and improve their spelling skills.

Benefits to working on word search puzzles

Spelling and word recognition
Word search puzzles help kids learn new words. They can improve both their vocabulary and spelling skills.
Relaxation
There is a reason there are so many huge word search books out there. They can be a fun way to relieve some stress. Working on a word search puzzle will force your brain to think about something other than whatever stressful event may be going on in your life at the time.
Sense of accomplishment
When you find a word that you have been searching for for a while, it will make you feel good. You’ll be proud of yourself and motivated to keep going. Even if it’s just a quick moment of feeling accomplished, that feeling that boost your mood, if even for a short time.
Something to do other than scroll social media
Here’s an idea for the next time you are on a long car, plane or train ride. Instead of immediately taking out your phone and scrolling through all of your friends social media accounts, take out a word search and work on the puzzle. With everyone so attached to their phones these days, your brain will thank you for stimulating it with something different and educational.

How to make word searches more fun:

Hand out all the word search games to each guest face down. When you say START, have your guests try and find all the words as quickly as possible. Whoever finds all of the words first can win a prize!
Set a timer and see which party guest can find the most words in a set amount of time. The person who has found the most words when time is up, wins!
You can have everyone work on their word search puzzle on their own time throughout the party. After, have each guest write their name on the top of the page and put the finished puzzle into a box. At the end of the party, you can have the host choose one piece of paper out of the box at random and whoever is chosen will win a prize!

Word search strategies:

Turn the word search upside down.
Back when I was in art school, one of my drawing professors would occasionally have us turn our reference photo upside down and recreate the image that way. Turning something upside down forces your brain to look at whatever you’re looking at, in a totally different way. If you’re struggling to find a certain word, turn the puzzle upside down and see if any words suddenly jump out at you.
Don’t look at the word list.
Have you ever seen those graphics on social media where it says something like “whatever word you see first is what you should have for dinner?” Basically the theory here is that your brain will try and find words without you really knowing what you are looking for! This is a great way to start a word search. Ignore the list at first, and see what words pop out!
Try and find the end of the word first.
This strategy is great for words that end with less common letters such as X,Y,Z etc. Say you are searching for the word “multiplex,” instead of trying to find “multi,” and then go from there, try finding the word “plex.”

The printable pdf will print 2 games per 8.5×11 page. Simply use scissors or a paper cutter to separate the two games. This is the paper cutter that I am currently using for all of my projects and can definitely recommend it as it gets tons of use!

Feel free to download and print as many copies of the word search game as you would like. However, please do not edit or redistribute the files in any way. This word search was created for personal use only.

Fun Holiday themed pencils to use when working on the word search!

Be sure to check out the other free printable Christmas activities:

Christmas Word Scramble: Work to unscramble all of the Christmas themed words.
Christmas Dinner Placemats: A free printable activity placemat that will keep the kids entertained, while keeping your dinner table clean!
Christmas I Spy Game: A fun activity to count how many of each Christmas themed item you can find in the picture above.

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