About this puzzle
Summer has a sound and a taste all its own: the slap of flip flops, a sprinkler ticking across the lawn, lemonade that's a little too sweet, and a watermelon slice dripping down your wrist. This list tries to catch it all, from backyard pleasures like fireflies, sandcastles, and popsicles to bigger events like a road trip or a Fourth of July fireworks show. A few, like the dog days, carry some history too.
It's a handy boredom-buster for the long stretch between school years, and camp counselors and librarians running summer reading programs use it as a quiet-time activity. Toss a printed copy in the beach bag or keep it on a tablet for rainy days at the cabin. Easy keeps to 12 familiar words for young kids; hard uses the full list, with diagonal and backward words that give older solvers something to chew on.
The 32 words in this puzzle
Every word, with a short note. Handy for teaching the vocabulary before or after solving.
In every version (12)
- Firefly
- Fireflies are beetles, not flies. They make light through a chemical reaction in their abdomens, and each species flashes its own pattern to attract mates.
- Fireworks
- Fireworks were invented in China. Their colors come from metal salts: strontium makes red, barium makes green, and copper makes blue.
- Flip Flops
- Simple sandals held on by a strap between the toes. The name imitates the slapping sound they make against your heel as you walk.
- Ice Cream
- Ice cream is frozen, sweetened cream or milk churned to keep the ice crystals small. July is National Ice Cream Month in the United States.
- Lemonade
- A drink of lemon juice, water, and sugar. Kids' lemonade stands are a long-running American summer tradition and an early lesson in running a business.
- Picnic
- A meal eaten outdoors, often on a blanket in a park. The word comes from the French pique-nique, first used in the 1600s.
- Popsicle
- Popsicle is a brand name for a frozen treat on a stick. Frank Epperson said he invented it as a boy in 1905, and he patented the idea in 1924.
- Sandcastle
- Damp sand holds a castle shape because thin films of water between the grains pull them together. Bone-dry sand pours apart, and soaking-wet sand slumps.
- Sunglasses
- Good sunglasses block ultraviolet light, which can harm the eyes over time. Look for a label saying they block 100 percent of UVA and UVB rays.
- Sunscreen
- Sunscreen protects skin from the sun's ultraviolet rays. Dermatologists generally recommend broad-spectrum SPF 30 or higher, reapplied about every two hours and after swimming.
- Vacation
- Americans tend to say vacation, while people in Britain usually say holiday. Summer is the most popular time for family trips because schools are on break.
- Watermelon
- Watermelon is about 92 percent water. It is native to Africa and has been grown for thousands of years, including in ancient Egypt.
Added in Medium and Hard (8)
- Barbecue
- Cooking food slowly over low heat and smoke, or the backyard party built around it. The word comes from the Spanish barbacoa, borrowed from a Caribbean word for a wooden cooking frame.
- Heat Wave
- A heat wave is a stretch of unusually hot weather lasting days or more. Drinking water and resting in the shade or air conditioning help prevent heat illness.
- Lifeguard
- Lifeguards watch swimmers at pools and beaches and are trained in water rescue, CPR, and first aid. The red rescue tube they carry helps keep a tired swimmer afloat.
- Mosquito
- Only female mosquitoes bite, because they need protein from blood to produce eggs. They find people by sensing the carbon dioxide we breathe out.
- Road Trip
- A long journey by car, often with stops at roadside attractions. The U.S. Interstate Highway System, begun in 1956, made cross-country road trips much easier.
- Sprinkler
- Lawn sprinklers water grass and gardens, but on hot days kids have long run through them to cool off.
- Summer Camp
- Summer camps began in the United States in the 1800s. In 1861 Frederick Gunn led students from his Connecticut school on a two-week camping trip, often called the first American summer camp.
- Swimming Pool
- Public pools are a classic summer gathering place. The ancient Romans built heated pools in their bathhouses, and many American towns built public pools in the 1920s and 1930s.
Added in Hard (12)
- Corn on the Cob
- Sweet corn is picked while the kernels are young and sugary. Its sugars begin turning to starch soon after picking, which is why fresh-picked corn tastes sweetest.
- Dog Days
- The dog days are the hottest weeks of summer. The name comes from ancient Greece and Rome, when this period was linked to Sirius, the Dog Star, rising with the sun.
- Hammock
- Hammocks were used by Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and Central and South America long before Europeans arrived. The English word comes from the Spanish hamaca, taken from the Taino language.
- Humidity
- Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air. On humid days sweat evaporates slowly, so the body cools off less easily and it feels hotter than the thermometer reads.
- Shaved Ice
- Ice shaved into fluffy flakes and soaked with sweet syrup. Hawaii is famous for shave ice, a treat brought to the islands by Japanese plantation workers around the late 1800s.
- Snorkel
- A snorkel is a curved breathing tube that lets you float face down and watch fish without lifting your head. The word comes from the German Schnorchel, an air tube used on submarines.
- Solstice
- The summer solstice, around June 20 or 21 in the Northern Hemisphere, has the most daylight of the year. It marks the astronomical start of summer.
- Sunburn
- A sunburn is skin damage caused by too much ultraviolet light. Redness can take a few hours to show up, so reapply sunscreen before skin starts to look pink.
- Sunflower
- Sunflowers are native to North America and bloom in mid to late summer. Young flower heads turn to follow the sun during the day, but most fully grown blooms face east.
- Surfboard
- Surfing was developed by Native Hawaiians, who rode waves on long wooden boards. Duke Kahanamoku, a Hawaiian Olympic swimmer, helped spread surfing around the world in the early 1900s.
- Thunderstorm
- Summer heat and humidity fuel thunderstorms. Thunder is the sound of air expanding rapidly as lightning heats it to around 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Water Balloon
- Small rubber balloons filled with water for backyard tosses, relays, and battles on hot days. Picking up the broken bits afterward keeps them away from birds and pets.
A few facts to share while you solve
- The dog days of summer are named for Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, which the ancient Greeks and Romans associated with the hottest part of the year.
- Firefly light is made by a chemical reaction between a compound called luciferin and an enzyme called luciferase, and it gives off very little heat.
- On the summer solstice, places north of the Arctic Circle have the sun above the horizon for the full 24 hours.
Four versions of this puzzle
Pick a version with the buttons above the grid. Each one has its own grid and answer key, and your progress on each is saved separately in this browser.
| Version | Words | Grid | Directions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 12 | 13 × 13 | The 12 most familiar words, reading forward across and down. |
| Medium | 20 | 15 × 15 | Twenty words across, down and diagonally. No backwards words. |
| Hard | 32 | 19 × 19 | Every word, in all eight directions including backwards, with look-alike filler letters. |
| Large print | 12 | 12 × 12 | The 12 most familiar words on a small grid with big letters. No backwards words. |
Hard and large print versions
Hard summer word search: all 32 words on a 19 × 19 grid, hidden forward, backward, up, down and along both diagonals, with filler letters borrowed from the word list. Print it without the word list for an extra challenge. Play the hard version, or see all hard word searches.
Large print summer word search: the 12 most familiar words on a 12 × 12 grid, printed with big letters and a big word list, and no backwards words. Play the large print version, or see all large print word searches.
Printing this word search
Press Print / PDF above the puzzle. You get a clean one-page sheet with the title, the grid, a word list with tick boxes, and optional name and date lines. The answer key prints on a second page. Prefer a file? Download it as a PDF or an image to print later or drop into a worksheet. Whatever version is showing on screen is the one that prints, and the large print version prints with bigger letters.
How to play online
- Find a word from the list in the grid. Scanning for its first letter is the quickest way.
- Drag across the word from its first letter to its last. On a phone, you can also tap the first letter, then the last.
- Found words get highlighted and crossed off. Stuck? Hint circles the first letter of a word you haven’t found.
Read the full guide to solving word searches, with tips that make big grids much faster.
Questions and answers
What ages is the summer word search for?
On easy, the words run only forward across and down, which suits kids around 6 to 8. Medium adds diagonal words for older elementary students. Hard adds backward words and look-alike filler letters, so teens and adults get a real challenge too.
Is this summer word search good for a long car ride?
Yes. Print a few copies at different levels so siblings each have one that fits, and bring a clipboard and pencil. The list even includes Road Trip, so it is a nice one to hand out as you pull out of the driveway.
What are the hardest words in the summer puzzle?
Long entries like Thunderstorm and Corn on the Cob take up a lot of the grid, and two-word phrases are hidden without spaces, which trips people up. Short words like Picnic and Dog Days are easy to skip past, so double check those.
Is there an answer key for this summer word search?
Yes. Choose Print / PDF above the puzzle and keep “Add an answer key page” ticked. The key prints on its own page, with every word highlighted. While playing online, Show answers outlines any words you haven’t found yet.
Can I print copies for my class or group?
Yes. Every puzzle on BetterWordSearch is free to print for personal, classroom, library and homeschool use. Print as many copies as you need. To change the words or make several different versions of the grid, use the word search maker.
What changes between Easy, Medium, Hard and Large print?
Easy hides the 12 most familiar words, reading left to right and top to bottom. Medium uses 20 words and adds diagonals. Hard hides all 32 words in every direction, including backwards, with look-alike filler letters. Large print uses the same words as Easy on a small grid and prints with big letters.
