Crossword Puzzles for Kids

Kids' crosswords live or die on two things: words they can spell and clues they can read on their own. The puzzles here are written for roughly grades 1 to 5, built around topics children already talk about, such as farm and ocean animals, the seasons, holidays, community helpers, art supplies and telling time.

They use a criss-cross layout rather than a dense block of squares. Each answer stands out as its own line of boxes, joined to the others where letters are shared, with open space around it. A young solver can see how long each word is, count the boxes, and use a shared letter from one answer to start the next. There is no dense block of black squares to puzzle over.

Every puzzle has three clue sets on the same grid. Easy is the default and suits early readers. Medium works for older elementary students, and Hard is there for a strong reader who wants a stretch. Because the grid does not change, a whole class can do the same puzzle at different levels.

Each one prints as a two-page PDF with the answer key on the second page, and there is a large-print version with bigger squares for small hands and new writers.