Lots of kids really like word searches, or sopa de letras, in Spanish. As a supplemental activity, these puzzles can focus attention on a specific category of Spanish words that a child is learning. Also, adding a visual cue for the words can make the puzzle a much more valuable language learning activity. This set of word search puzzles is designed for native Spanish speakers and each has six common Spanish words from basic categories. Some of the puzzles are 9×9 letters and others are 15×15 letters.
Word searches alone do not provide context to make the meaning of the words clear or to reinforce the meaning a child has learned. However, if teachers and parents include drawing as part of the activity, kids have the meaning of the word in mind. The easiest way to do this by having children draw a picture for each word around the border of the puzzle and label it with the word they are going to look for in the word search. You can also use stickers for this, if you happen to have them. Another option is for children to draw one scene with all of the words in the puzzle and label them in the picture.
Click this link for printable word search puzzles in Spanish.
These are some of the categories of the 9×9 puzzles:
Los colores – colors
Los alimentos – food (This food vocabulary is somewhat regional. There is a slightly bigger word search on the page that uses standard food vocabulary.)
La familia – family
Los transportes – transportation
Los aves – birds
Los mamíferos – mammals
Los árboles frutales – fruit trees
There are 15×15 puzzles in these categories:
La granja – farm
La selva- jungle
La escuela – school
Los oficios – professions
Las frutas – fruit
Los deportes – sports
There are a few puzzles with eight or nine words at the bottom of the page:
Prendas de vestir – clothes
Meses – months
Alimentos – food
Sistema solar – the solar system
