Word Search For Kids – Family Member Names

I love puzzles and there’s a special place in my heart for word puzzles. I hope my love gets passed on to my kids which brings us to today’s project: Word Search For Kids using family member names. Solving puzzles has so many benefits, especially for kids. Word search puzzles are an amazing way for your kids to:

• improve their vocabulary
• strengthen their focus, and
• learn how to drill down to fine details

Oh and it’s an entertaining activity that can be done quietly or as a group. To make it even more fun, I thought by using family member names would make the kids even more interested by finding the names of people they love! Want to make your own? Read on for the full tutorial!

*This post contains affiliate links for products that I use and love!

What Is Silhouette Studio?

As you know, I use Silhouette Studio a lot, so I thought I’d share these FAQs as a quick review of the software, which will hopefully answer any questions you may have before downloading and using it to make your own word search for kids.

Materials: DIY Word Search For Kids

• Silhouette Studio (there is a free version!)
• Images or patterns for your word search printout. I used this fun Stick Kids DoodleBat Font from The Silhouette Design Store
• Printer
• Scissors
• Cardstock or printer paper

How To Make A Word Search For Kids

With Silhouette Studio

Step 1: Design Your Word Search

1. Open Silhouette Studio
2. Show the grid
3. Use the text tool to type your letters as separate elements so that you can align each one individually
4. Line up each letter like a grid
5. As you type each letter, remember to spell out the words or names in the search for the kids to find them. That is, type the words or family member names backwards, diagonally, horizontally or vertically
6. Under your puzzle, use the text tool again to type the word or names the kids will be searching for. Once they find the name or word, they can cross it out with a pencil
7. Fill your text with color – I used black
8. Group your text

Step 2: Design Your Word Puzzle Printout

1. Use the rectangle tool to create a square or rectangle that will act as a frame around your puzzle (I used a square)
2. Thicken the lines and change the line color (I used black)
3. Fill your square with color and center it with your puzzle
4. Now create an outer rectangle with your pattern or images and place it behind your square from step 3 above
5. Thicken the lines of the rectangle and change the color (I used black)
6. Center everything and now your design should look like a polaroid shape

Step 3: Send your word puzzles to print

1. Place your design on the print area
2. Replicate your design throughout the print area
3. Load your cardstock or printer paper into your printer
4. Send your word puzzle designs to print
5. Cut along the outer borders of your puzzles

Tip: Try printing a sample on regular printer paper first to make sure that the size and colors meet your expectations

Note: If you have a Silhouette cutting machine, and you want to try the print and cut feature, you can show your registration marks before printing your designs. The Print and Cut feature will be activated by just loading the printout onto your Silhouette with the registration marks and then sending to cut automatically on your machine!

All you need to do now is grab some pencils, gather the kids and let the fun word search begin! Let me know how your puzzles turned out!

Looking for some more fun and DIY inspiration? Take a look at some of my Home Decor DIY Tutorials and craft a little longer with me!