Māori legends word search
Māui and the sun, Tāne pushing apart Ranginui and Papatūānuku, Kupe chasing a great octopus across the ocean. Twenty names and words from pūrākau, the traditional stories of Aotearoa.
- Fish hook
- Hine-nui-te-pō
- Hinemoa
- Jawbone
- Kupe
- Kurangaituku
- Matahourua
- Māui
- Mokoia
- Papatūānuku
- Patupaiarehe
- Pūrākau
- Ranginui
- Rona
- Tama-nui-te-rā
- Tāne
- Tangaroa
- Taniwha
- Tāwhirimātea
- Te Wheke
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 versionMāori legends
Name
| R | G | M | O | R | K | H | I | N | T | Y | E | M | A |
| L | F | A | T | O | U | I | E | U | A | T | N | O | D |
| D | A | T | A | N | R | N | T | E | W | H | E | K | E |
| E | I | A | M | A | A | E | S | R | H | F | I | O | T |
| U | E | H | A | T | N | N | T | R | I | I | Y | I | A |
| P | N | O | N | F | G | U | A | A | R | S | J | A | N |
| U | H | U | U | K | A | I | N | N | I | H | A | O | I |
| R | I | R | I | U | I | T | G | G | M | H | W | I | W |
| A | N | U | T | P | T | E | A | I | A | O | B | H | H |
| K | E | A | E | E | U | P | R | N | T | O | O | A | A |
| A | M | M | R | S | K | O | O | U | E | K | N | I | A |
| U | O | P | A | T | U | P | A | I | A | R | E | H | E |
| E | A | C | A | L | E | P | L | G | M | A | U | I | A |
| T | N | I | P | A | P | A | T | U | A | N | U | K | U |
Find these words
- Fish hook
- Hine-nui-te-pō
- Hinemoa
- Jawbone
- Kupe
- Kurangaituku
- Matahourua
- Māui
- Mokoia
- Papatūānuku
- Patupaiarehe
- Pūrākau
- Ranginui
- Rona
- Tama-nui-te-rā
- Tāne
- Tangaroa
- Taniwha
- Tāwhirimātea
- Te Wheke
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Māori legends
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About this word search
Pūrākau are the traditional stories of Māori, passed down through generations and told in different ways by different iwi. Māui slowed the sun, Tama-nui-te-rā, with a jawbone, Tāne pushed apart his parents Ranginui and Papatūānuku to let light into the world, and Kupe chased the great octopus Te Wheke-a-Muturangi across the ocean in his waka Matahourua. Hinemoa swam across Lake Rotorua to her love on Mokoia Island.
The grid is fourteen by fourteen and words run across, down and diagonally, never backwards. Tāwhirimātea, Patupaiarehe and Kurangaituku are the longest with twelve letters. Māui, Tāne, Kupe and Rona have only four. Macrons drop out, so Papatūānuku becomes PAPATUANUKU, and the hyphens in Tama-nui-te-rā and Hine-nui-te-pō go too, giving TAMANUITERA and HINENUITEPO. Look for the J and the B, which both appear only in Jawbone, and the F and the S, which appear only in Fish hook.
Read one pūrākau aloud, such as Māui and the sun, and let students find every name from that story. If you can, invite someone from a local iwi to share their version, because the stories belong to the people who tell them.
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.
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