Minerals and gems word search, free printable with pictures
Ten crystals and gemstones, from quartz to opal, 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 stone, with the page it comes from.
Two pages in each file: A4 60 kB, US Letter 60 kB. Free, with no account and no email address.
The words
The ten minerals and gems in the grid, with a fact for each.
QUARTZ
An ideal quartz crystal is a six-sided prism with a pyramid-like point at each end.
DIAMOND
Diamond is a form of carbon, like graphite; most natural diamonds are 1 to 3.5 billion years old.
RUBY
A ruby is red corundum, coloured by chromium; its name comes from ruber, Latin for red.
EMERALD
Emerald is green beryl; the mossy flaws inside it are called jardin, French for garden.
SAPPHIRE
Blue is the best-known colour, but sapphires also occur in yellow, green, purple, pink and more.
AMETHYST
Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz; its Greek name means not intoxicated.
PYRITE
Pyrite is known as fool's gold; its Greek name means a stone which strikes fire.
MALACHITE
Malachite, a green copper mineral, was used as a pigment in green paints from antiquity until about 1800.
TURQUOISE
The word turquoise comes from the Old French for Turkish; ancient Egyptians mined it in Sinai.
OPAL
Opal holds water, 3% to 21% of its weight, and most precious opal comes from Australia.
For teachers and parents
What is on the sheet, and how to use it.
- Grid
- 12 by 12 letters
- Names
- Ten to find, 4 to 9 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.
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 minerals and gems 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 stone 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.
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Trees word search
Mountains word search
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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.