Garden Science Vocabulary word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

Garden Science Vocabulary word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

I made this garden science vocabulary puzzle set for my 2nd and 3rd graders during our spring science unit. The kids loved planting seeds and watching them grow, but they had no idea what words like soil, seed, sprout, or sunlight meant when we started learning about what plants need to live. So I put together a word search, a word scramble, and a crossword using words like seed, soil, sun, water, air, sprout, root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit, garden, plant, and grow . I also threw in a few like "compost" and "pollinator" because they kept coming up in our class discussions . Nothing fancy — just puzzles to help the 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, and the scramble gets them talking because they argue about the spelling of "sprout" or whether a root and a stem are the same thing (they're not—they always have opinions about it) . The crossword I use for partners or as a review, and I usually have a simple plant diagram nearby for the kids who need the visual support to see the parts of a plant and what they do . I added a couple simple seed, flower, and sun drawings but nothing too busy.

Works for 1st through 3rd grade. Print and go. Sometimes I have early finishers draw a plant and label its parts on the back. The kids actually ask for these now.