Contractions Word Search, Scramble and Crossword Puzzle

I made this contractions puzzle set for my Year 2 and Year 3 students during our grammar unit. The kids knew how to say "don't" and "can't" but had no idea which words they came from or where the apostrophe went. So I put together a word search, a word scramble, and a crossword using words like don't, doesn't, didn't, can't, couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't, won't, isn't, aren't, wasn't, weren't, I'm, you're, he's, she's, it's, we're, they're, I'll, you'll, he'll, she'll, we'll, they'll, I've, you've, we've, they've, and let's. Nothing fancy — just puzzles to help the contractions finally stick.

The set is six pages. Three puzzles, each with its own answer key page. The word search works well for quiet time after break. The scramble gets them talking because they argue about whether "won't" makes any sense from "will not." The crossword I use for partners. I added a couple simple apostrophe and smiley face drawings but nothing too busy.

Works for Years 2–4. Print and go. Sometimes I have early finishers write the two words for each contraction on the back. The kids actually ask for these now.