Bugs and insects word search
A wētā in the woodpile, cicadas in the heat and a glow-worm lighting up a damp bank at night. Twenty creepy crawlies for curious kids, slaters included.
- Beetle
- Bumblebee
- Caterpillar
- Cicada
- Dragonfly
- Earwig
- Glow-worm
- Honeybee
- Huhu grub
- Katipō
- Ladybird
- Monarch
- Mosquito
- Moth
- Praying mantis
- Sandfly
- Slater
- Stick insect
- Wasp
- Wētā
This is the same puzzle as on the printable sheet. Every word you find turns green and is crossed off the list.
Make your own versionBugs and insects
Name
| N | N | H | U | H | U | G | R | U | B | W | A | S | P |
| S | T | I | C | K | I | N | S | E | C | T | O | L | P |
| N | C | A | H | O | N | E | Y | B | E | E | M | H | R |
| L | I | S | A | N | D | F | L | Y | R | N | C | H | A |
| S | C | L | B | E | E | T | L | E | Y | R | T | A | Y |
| K | A | T | I | P | O | F | W | T | A | O | I | E | I |
| I | D | F | B | K | N | O | Y | N | M | H | E | E | N |
| V | A | G | L | O | W | W | O | R | M | B | M | A | G |
| Y | E | T | G | T | O | M | A | W | E | T | A | R | M |
| R | C | A | T | E | R | P | I | L | L | A | R | W | A |
| N | R | A | L | A | D | Y | B | I | R | D | H | I | N |
| D | H | N | N | I | M | M | I | U | U | C | S | G | T |
| R | L | N | C | T | U | S | L | A | T | E | R | O | I |
| A | E | M | E | B | M | O | S | Q | U | I | T | O | S |
Find these words
- Beetle
- Bumblebee
- Caterpillar
- Cicada
- Dragonfly
- Earwig
- Glow-worm
- Honeybee
- Huhu grub
- Katipō
- Ladybird
- Monarch
- Mosquito
- Moth
- Praying mantis
- Sandfly
- Slater
- Stick insect
- Wasp
- Wētā
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Bugs and insects
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About this word search
New Zealand's insects are some of the strangest in the world. The giant wētā is one of the heaviest insects anywhere, the huhu grub chews through old logs before it turns into a large beetle, and the glow-worms of the Waitomo caves are really the larvae of a small fly. In summer the cicadas are deafening, monarch butterflies lay their eggs on swan plants, and on the West Coast the sandflies find you before you have even parked.
The grid is fourteen by fourteen and the words run across, down and diagonally, never backwards. Praying mantis is the longest at thirteen letters, written PRAYINGMANTIS, followed by stick insect and caterpillar at eleven. Wētā, wasp and moth are only four letters and slip in easily, and wētā is WETA in the grid. The Q of mosquito is the only Q on the board, and bumblebee has three B's that are easy to spot.
After the puzzle, take the sheet on a bug hunt in the garden or the school grounds. Every creature on the list that you actually find gets a tick, and slaters under a log count.
Ways to use this word search
In the classroom
Print it as a task for early finishers, or to open a lesson on this topic. With the QR code on the sheet, students check their own answers.
At home and on the go
Pack a few printed sheets for the car, the ferry or the bach. A pen is all you need, no screen required.
Play together
Print the sheet twice and race each other. Whoever finds all the words first wins. Or play it online and see who is fastest.
Try it in French too
The same theme also exists in French and Italian, each with its own word list in that language. Handy if you are learning a language: you already know the topic, now just the words.
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