Crossword Puzzles for Kids: Getting Started, With a Printable Sample

A kids crossword is a crossword for kids, built so that a child can finish it: short words, clues in plain language, and a small grid. This page explains how the LogikLand kids crosswords work, shows a complete one for ages 6 to 8, and gives ideas for solving it with a child. A printable sample with four crosswords and their solutions is linked under the first example.

What a kids crossword is

The rules are the ones of every crossword. Each clue describes a word, the number in the corner of a square shows where the word starts, and across words read from left to right while down words read from top to bottom. Where two words cross they share a letter, and that shared letter is the best help a child gets.

What changes for children is the material. The clues are written in short everyday sentences, for example "The sound a duck makes" for QUACK, and every clue is at least three words long and never contains its own answer. The words belong to themes a child knows, such as animals, food, school or toys.

Two age levels

The Kids Crossword assistant has two levels. The numbers come from the generator:

The older level draws its words from both age lists, so it also contains easy words. That is on purpose: a grid is more pleasant when a few answers come at once.

A first puzzle to try together

This is a real ages 6-8 puzzle with the theme animals, made by the generator. It has six words in a 7 by 6 grid.

How it is solved

1. Start with the clue a child can answer without the grid. 5 across says "The sound a duck makes": QUACK. Five letters, five squares.
2. QUACK now gives letters to the words that cross it. Its third letter, A, is the third letter of 4 down, "Big furry animals that sleep in winter". A word of five letters with A in the middle: BEARS.
3. BEARS gives its first letter, B, to the word on the line above: 3 across, "A small bird with a red chest", has B in its third square. ROBIN fits and its last letter N starts to fix 1 down.
4. The last letter of QUACK, K, is the fourth letter of 1 down: "A long animal with no legs that slithers". S-N-A-K-E agrees with both N and K, so it is SNAKE.
5. Only two clues are left, 2 down (SNAIL) and 6 across (LIONS). They cross in the bottom left square, which must be the letter L: the last letter of SNAIL and the first letter of LIONS.

Nothing here needed a guess. Each answer was found from a clue, then checked against a letter that was already in the grid. That check is the habit to teach.

An ages 8-12 grid

Choosing a theme

The English word list has 17 themes: actions, animals, body, clothes, colors, family, feelings, food, holidays, home, jobs, nature, school, sports, toys, transport and weather. You can pick one theme for a whole book or mix them all. Our suggestion, not a rule: for the ages 6-8 level, pick a single theme, because a child who knows the theme guesses faster. For a long book, choose "all themes mixed". Narrow themes have a limited number of short words, so a big book on one theme repeats words.

Doing it with a child

• Read the clue aloud together, then count the squares to know how many letters the answer has.
• Use a pencil. The how-to-play page in the book says the same, because a rubber removes the fear of a mistake.
• Let the child pick which clue to try first. Choosing is part of the fun.
• When an answer does not fit a crossing letter, ask which of the two words might be wrong rather than saying which one is.

Making a kids crossword book

Create a free account to open the Kids Crossword assistant. You choose the age level (or both), the theme, the number of crosswords, one or two grids per page (always one for the older level and for 6 x 9 books), and how many solutions go on a page. The book has a how-to-play guide, the crosswords, and a solutions section. On the free plan a book can have up to 50 pages.

Next steps: read the kids crossword rules for the exact rules, or how to solve a kids crossword for a method to teach.

Questions