Hard bugs and insects word search
Giant wētā, the pūriri moth and a huhu grub chewing through old wood: twenty-eight bugs and insect words in an eighteen by eighteen grid. They run in all eight directions, for older kids and grown-up naturalists.
- Antennae
- Bumblebee
- Caterpillar
- Cave wētā
- Centipede
- Chrysalis
- Cicada
- Dragonfly
- Earwig
- Exoskeleton
- Giant wētā
- Glow-worm
- Grasshopper
- Honeybee
- Huhu beetle
- Katipō
- Ladybird
- Mānuka beetle
- Monarch
- Mosquito
- Praying mantis
- Pūriri moth
- Sandfly
- Slater
- Stick insect
- Tree wētā
- Wasp
- Weevil
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, extra hard
Name
| V | P | C | I | C | P | S | A | W | K | T | U | E | L | U | S | F | Y |
| Y | U | F | I | K | B | G | R | A | S | S | H | O | P | P | E | R | P |
| L | O | K | N | C | R | E | T | A | L | S | G | H | N | T | P | R | T |
| F | A | U | O | V | A | I | P | A | T | E | W | E | V | A | C | A | O |
| D | U | S | T | Y | P | D | R | A | D | R | I | B | Y | D | A | L | E |
| N | E | K | E | O | N | M | A | N | U | K | A | B | E | E | T | L | E |
| A | D | T | L | E | P | B | Y | S | C | H | E | C | V | A | Y | I | B |
| S | E | R | E | E | S | T | I | C | K | I | N | S | E | C | T | P | E |
| N | P | E | K | R | D | A | N | N | I | E | S | S | B | N | O | R | L |
| X | I | E | S | H | R | I | G | M | H | W | B | U | E | A | T | E | B |
| H | T | W | O | M | A | T | M | R | O | W | W | O | L | G | O | T | M |
| I | N | E | X | O | G | I | A | N | T | W | E | T | A | H | C | A | U |
| L | E | T | E | S | O | M | N | G | I | W | R | A | E | N | N | C | B |
| I | C | A | N | Q | N | H | T | O | M | I | R | I | R | U | P | T | H |
| V | S | E | O | U | F | H | I | C | O | E | A | N | N | E | T | N | A |
| E | U | M | S | I | L | A | S | Y | R | H | C | R | A | N | O | M | S |
| E | O | N | O | T | Y | T | D | H | O | N | E | Y | B | E | E | G | I |
| W | T | S | L | O | H | U | H | U | B | E | E | T | L | E | I | I | N |
Find these words
- Antennae
- Bumblebee
- Caterpillar
- Cave wētā
- Centipede
- Chrysalis
- Cicada
- Dragonfly
- Earwig
- Exoskeleton
- Giant wētā
- Glow-worm
- Grasshopper
- Honeybee
- Huhu beetle
- Katipō
- Ladybird
- Mānuka beetle
- Monarch
- Mosquito
- Praying mantis
- Pūriri moth
- Sandfly
- Slater
- Stick insect
- Tree wētā
- Wasp
- Weevil
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Bugs and insects, extra hard
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About this word search
Aotearoa has more than a hundred kinds of wētā, from tree wētā in the garden to cave wētā with very long legs and the giant wētā of offshore islands. The pūriri moth is the largest moth in the country and spends years as a caterpillar inside a tree trunk, and the katipō is a native spider that lives among the plants of coastal sand dunes. The green mānuka beetle swarms around mānuka and kānuka in early summer.
The grid is eighteen by eighteen and the words go in all eight directions, backwards included. Praying mantis is the longest with thirteen letters, followed by mānuka beetle at twelve and stick insect, caterpillar, grasshopper and exoskeleton at eleven. The three wētā words all end in WETA, so check the beginning carefully. Wasp is the shortest at four letters. Macrons drop out, so pūriri moth reads PURIRIMOTH.
This sheet suits a science lesson on life cycles. Find the words that belong to a stage of growing up, like caterpillar and chrysalis, and talk about which of these creatures go through a full change from larva to adult.
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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