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Christmas Words Word Search

A word search dedicated to the magic of Christmas, perfect for the festive season. Hidden in the grid are eight words to find: reindeer, snow, gift, sleigh, star, stocking, elf and lights. Every word carries a piece of holiday wonder that children already know and love. Print it for free or download it as a PDF: ideal for the last week before the holidays or a cosy family evening.

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Christmas Words, one by one

Christmas brings a whole world of pictures and symbols that children adore. The eight words in this grid are typical of the season, and below is a short note on each, useful for talking about the traditions once the grid is solved.

Reindeer — Pulls Santa's sleigh through the sky; the most famous one is Rudolph, with his glowing red nose.

Snow — Transforms the landscape into a white, silent world, and every snowflake has a unique shape.

Gift — Wrapped in colourful paper, it's the most eagerly awaited moment of Christmas morning.

Sleigh — Santa's vehicle, loaded with presents and pulled through the sky by his reindeer.

Star — According to the story, a bright star guided the Wise Men, and one is placed atop the Christmas tree.

Stocking — Hung up so it can be filled with sweets and small gifts overnight.

Elf — Santa's little helper, said to build toys in his workshop at the North Pole.

Lights — Colourful lights decorate trees, houses and streets, making everything feel magical during the holidays.

Christmas traditions with a story

Many Christmas traditions grew out of old stories. The stocking comes from a legend about Saint Nicholas, a generous bishop who is said to have tossed gold coins through the window of a poor family; the coins landed in the stockings drying by the fire. Over the centuries his name, Sinterklaas in Dutch, became Santa Claus. Rudolph, by contrast, is quite new: the red-nosed reindeer was invented in 1939 for a story booklet given away by an American shop.

A few facts for curious children: male reindeer shed their antlers in early winter, while females keep theirs until spring, so Santa's antlered team in the pictures would really be female. Snow crystals grow with six sides, so a typical snow crystal has six arms, and it is very unlikely that two match exactly. And the first electric Christmas tree lights appeared in New York in 1882, devised by an associate of Thomas Edison; before that, trees were lit with real candles.

Four activities for the days before Christmas

In the weeks before the holidays the words of the grid can turn into small creative projects:

  • Letter to Santa. Each child writes a short letter using at least five words from the grid, which is a good chance to practise capital letters, punctuation and greetings such as “Dear” and “Yours”.
  • Paper snowflakes. Fold a sheet of paper into six sections and cut out snowflakes with six points, then hang them in a window; it is also a chance to mention that snow crystals have six sides.
  • Riddle time. Each child writes a riddle for one word of the grid, such as “I have a glowing red nose and I pull a sleigh. What am I?”, and reads it to a friend to be guessed.
  • A gift you cannot buy. Ask each child to choose a handmade present, such as a drawing, a card or a bookmark, for someone they love; it is a way to talk about the value of gifts rather than their price.

How this grid is built

Eight words hide in 12×12 squares: three horizontal, two vertical and three diagonal, and the three diagonals are parallel, all sloping down to the left like the runners of a sleigh. REINDEER and STOCKING, with eight letters each, are the longest words, and ELF, with just three letters, is the shortest, in the first column. No word crosses another, and the last two rows are empty.

More festive words

For a longer game, open the generator with the Christmas theme, which includes words such as Santa, nativity, candle, chimney and wreath, and mix them with the ones on this page. It works well as a team activity in the last week before the holidays: each team gets a different grid and the first to finish wins.

Also in Italian

The Italian words are renna (reindeer), neve (snow), regalo (gift), slitta (sleigh), stella (star), calza (stocking), elfo (elf) and luci (lights). In Italy the stocking belongs to the Befana, a kindly witch who fills it on the night before Epiphany, 6 January. The Italian version of the puzzle, Crucipuzzle delle Parole di Natale, has four vertical words, twice as many as this one.

More word searches to try

To stay in the holiday spirit, try these word searches too:

More festive word lists and printable ideas for the weeks before the holidays are in the article Christmas word search puzzles.