Vocabulary practice with a twist
A crossword makes children recall a word from its meaning and spell it exactly, letter by letter, to fit the squares.More puzzles
See the word search maker and, for pre-readers, the picture crossword in picture puzzles.Irish curriculum links
- ReadingThe Vocabulary learning outcome asks children to build word knowledge across subjects; recalling a word from its clue tests exactly that.
- WritingSpelling and word study: children use letter patterns and word parts to spell correctly. Every square has to be right for the crossword to work.
- Topic workKey words from Social and Environmental Education, the Primary Curriculum Framework’s area for history and geography, make good crosswords.
No Irish curriculum names crosswords, but they suit the middle and senior classes, where the Primary Language Curriculum (2019) expects children to use word parts, synonyms and reference materials to work out meanings. Writing the clues is harder than solving them, so swap puzzles between pairs.
Topic words work well: parts of a plant, Irish counties, or the key words from a history unit on the Vikings or the Famine. Six to twelve words keeps the grid to one page.
Summarised in our own words from the Primary Language Curriculum (2019) and the Primary Curriculum Framework (2023).
