Climate vs Weather word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

Climate vs Weather word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

I made this climate vs weather puzzle set for my 3rd and 4th graders during our Earth science unit. The kids kept using the two words like they meant the same thing and I got tired of correcting them. So I put together a word search, a word scramble, and a crossword using words like climate, weather, temperature, precipitation, humid, arid, tropical, polar, temperate, forecast, average, pattern, atmosphere, and season. Nothing fancy — just puzzles to help the difference finally click.

The PDF is four pages. Three puzzles plus one answer key page. The word search works well for quiet time after recess. The scramble gets them talking because they mix up "climate" and "weather" even when unscrambling. The crossword I use for partners. I added a couple simple sun and thermometer drawings but nothing too busy.

Works for 3rd through 5th grade. Print and go. Sometimes I have early finishers write one sentence about today's weather and one sentence about our local climate on the back. The kids actually ask for these now.