Inventions word search, free printable with pictures
Ten inventions that changed everyday life, from the wheel to the light bulb, hidden in a 12 by 12 grid with a drawing of each to colour. Page two has the answers and one short fact for every invention, with the page it comes from.
Two pages in each file: A4 67 kB, US Letter 67 kB. Free, with no account and no email address.
The words
The ten inventions in the grid, with a fact for each.
WHEEL
A wooden wheel and axle found in the Ljubljana Marshes in Slovenia is over 5,000 years old.
TELESCOPE
The oldest record of a telescope is a patent Hans Lipperhey submitted in the Netherlands in 1608.
TELEPHONE
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell got the first US patent for a device that clearly reproduced a human voice.
MICROSCOPE
Compound microscopes appeared around 1620; in 1676 van Leeuwenhoek reported micro-organisms.
CAMERA
In the early days of photography, a single exposure often lasted several minutes.
BICYCLE
The Rover, made in Coventry in 1885, is usually described as the first recognizably modern bicycle.
LIGHTBULBLight bulb
A light bulb glows because its filament is heated; less than 5% of the energy becomes visible light.
GRAMOPHONE
Emile Berliner coined the name gramophone for players of flat discs with a spiral groove.
BALLOONHot air balloon
The first untethered manned hot air balloon flight took place in Paris on 21 November 1783.
CLOCKPendulum clock
Christiaan Huygens invented the pendulum clock in 1656, making clocks accurate to 15 seconds a day.
For teachers and parents
What is on the sheet, and how to use it.
- Grid
- 12 by 12 letters
- Names
- Ten to find, 5 to 10 letters long
- Directions
- across, down and diagonally, always forwards
- Pages
- the puzzle, then the answers with ten facts
- Paper
- A4 or US Letter; page 1 is line art and needs no colour printer
Who it suits. Our suggestion is children who already read short words on their own, roughly ages 7 to 11. Younger children can colour the drawings while an adult reads the names aloud. This is our suggestion, not a tested reading level.
How long it takes. We have not timed it with a class. The grid on its own is a short activity; the colouring and the facts on page 2 can stretch it to fill a lesson.
The grid has one word per name; where the full name is longer, the list on the sheet shows it under the word, for example LIGHTBULB for light bulb.
In class or at home
- Print page 1 for each child, and page 2 once, for yourself or to share at the end.
- Read the names aloud and look at the drawings together before starting.
- Each child ticks a name in the list when it is found, then colours the drawings.
- Finish with page 2: read a fact or two aloud. Each fact names its Wikipedia page, so older children can look it up and read more.
Questions
Questions about this word search.
Is this inventions word search free to print?
Yes. Both PDF files, A4 and US Letter, are free to download and print, with no account and no email address.
Where are the answers?
On page 2 of the same PDF: the grid with every name circled, the drawings in colour, and one short fact for each invention with the Wikipedia page it comes from. Print only page 1 if you want to keep the answers for later.
Which way do the words go?
Across, down and diagonally, always forwards, never backwards. Each of the ten names is in the grid exactly once; our program checks that before the file is made, and also checks that no rude word turns up among the filler letters.
Should I print A4 or US Letter?
Pick the paper in your printer: US Letter in the United States and Canada, A4 in most other countries. In the print dialog choose actual size or 100%.
More printables
Eight more word searches with pictures.
Ocean animals word search
Solar system word search
Musical instruments word search
Vegetables word search
Birds word search
Trees word search
Mountains word search
Minerals and gems word search
All nine on one page: free printable word searches. Or play Field Notes online, with the same drawings and facts in the browser and a new page every day.