Student Inventors word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

I made this student inventors puzzle set for my 4th graders during our social studies and STEM unit. The kids had heard of famous inventors like Edison and Bell, but they had no idea that kids their own age invented everyday things like the Popsicle (Frank Epperson was 11), ear muffs (Chester Greenwood was 15), and the trampoline (George Nissen was 16) . They were amazed to learn that kids came up with these ideas and it sparked a lot of questions about the process of inventing. So I put together a word search, a word scramble, and a crossword using words like inventor, invention, patent, creative, idea, solve, problem, experiment, design, improve, and prototype . 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. The scramble gets them talking because they argue about the spelling of "prototype" or whether the Popsicle was actually invented by accident (it was — the kids always have opinions about it). The crossword I use for partners. I added a couple simple light bulb and gear drawings but nothing too busy.

Works for 3rd through 5th grade. Print and go. Sometimes I have early finishers brainstorm their own invention idea and draw it on the back. The kids actually ask for these now.