US State Flowers word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

US State Flowers word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

I made this US state flowers puzzle set for my 3rd and 4th graders during our geography unit. The kids could name a few state flowers like the California poppy and the Texas bluebonnet, but they had no idea that Maine's state "flower" is actually a pine cone and tassel, or that many states have both an official flower and a separate wildflower . They also kept mixing up which flower belonged to which state. So I put together a word search, a word scramble, and a crossword using some of the most iconic state flowers like the California poppy, Texas bluebonnet, New York rose, Florida orange blossom, Georgia Cherokee rose, Hawaii hibiscus, Illinois violet, Kansas sunflower, Louisiana magnolia, Maryland black-eyed Susan, and Oklahoma mistletoe. I also threw in a few unique ones like Maine's white pine cone and tassel, New Mexico's yucca, and Alaska's forget-me-not because they always spark good conversations .

The PDF is four pages. Three puzzles plus one answer key page. The word search works well for quiet time after recess or independent practice. The scramble gets them talking because they argue about the spelling of "bluebonnet" or whether a pine cone really counts as a flower. The crossword I use for partners or as a review after we've looked at pictures of state flowers and maps. I added a couple simple flower, pine cone, and state outline drawings but nothing too busy.

Works for 3rd through 5th grade. Print and go. Sometimes I have early finishers pick one state flower from the puzzles and draw it or write a sentence about its state on the back. The kids actually ask for these now.