Forces and Motion word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

Forces and Motion word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

I made this forces and motion puzzle set for my 3rd and 4th graders during our physical science unit. The kids knew you had to push or pull something to make it move but couldn't explain words like friction, gravity, or inertia. So I put together a word search, a word scramble, and a crossword using words like force, motion, push, pull, gravity, friction, inertia, speed, velocity, acceleration, balanced force, unbalanced force, mass, weight, and newton. Nothing fancy — just puzzles to help the vocabulary 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 argue about whether a book sitting on a table has any forces acting on it. The crossword I use for partners. I added a couple simple arrow drawings showing pushes and pulls but nothing too busy.

Works for 3rd through 5th grade. Print and go. Sometimes I have early finishers give one example of friction and one example of gravity on the back. The kids actually ask for these now.