Animal Adventure Story Vocabulary word search, scramble and crossword

Animal Adventure Story Vocabulary word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

I made this animal adventure story vocabulary puzzle set for my 2nd and 3rd graders during our creative writing unit. The kids loved telling stories about animals but had no idea what words like adventure, explore, or discover meant when we talked about story structure. So I put together a word search, a word scramble, and a crossword using words like adventure, explore, discover, journey, forest, jungle, desert, ocean, friend, and brave. Nothing fancy — just puzzles to help the animal adventure vocabulary finally stick.

The PDF is four pages. Three puzzles plus one answer key page. The word search works well for quiet time after recess or indoor recess. The scramble gets them talking because they argue about whether a journey is different from a trip. The crossword I use for partners or as a review. I added a couple simple lion, elephant, and dolphin drawings but nothing too busy.

Works for 2nd through 4th grade. Print and go. Sometimes I have early finishers write a short animal adventure story using three words from the puzzle on the back. The kids actually ask for these now.