Find the Ugly Duckling

Introduction

Find the duck and other words from The Ugly Duckling by making your own Ugly Duckling word search.

Materials:

• Lined paper
• a ruler
• pen or pencil

Directions:

• Make a grid on your paper that is 7 boxes across and 7 boxes down. (For a total of 49 boxes on your page)
• Randomly fill in the following words into your grid. Have the letters go across from left to right. Each letter should be in it's own box:
• duck
• swim
• water
• pond
• kick
• float
• glide
• quack
• Fill in the remaining 14 empty boxes with letters. Make sure to use letters b,h,j,v,x,y and z to fill in some of the boxes as they are letters that are not found in any of the above words.
• Underneath the grid, make a word bank with all of the words you put into the word search.
• With your child, read the words in the word bank and then ask your child to find and circle them in the puzzle. You can give your child hints. For example: Look for the letter d or look for the letters d and u that are next to one another. When you have found all of the words, you win!
• *For younger children, try making a word search with only three or four of the words. A printable version of this simpler word search is also available.

Take It Further

• For a bigger challenge make an Ugly Duckling word search with more words.
• For greater difficulty, you can have the words go up and down, diagonally and even backwards.
• For more of a challenge place distracter letters in the puzzle next to one another that are also next to one another in the words themselves. Ex: d-u, n-d, f-l.
• Try making other word searches using:
  • rhyming words
    • words that rhyme with duck
  • colors
  • days of the week
  • numbers
  • animals
  • names of friends and family
• Have your child go through the puzzle and identify the letters that are not circled.
• Make a puzzle but leave some of the letters in the alphabet out and have your child identify what letters are missing. (For example, we added b,h,j,v,x,y and z to our puzzle because we wanted to ensure we had at least one of each letter. Instead leave those out and reuse letters that are already in the puzzle.)

Talk About It

• In the story of the Ugly Duckling, the duck wanted to learn how to swim. He practiced and kept trying to swim until he had learned. Talk to your child about what he/she has learned how to do by practicing and not giving up.
• Can your child swim? If so, how did he or she learn?
• Can your child float, kick and glide? Have them show you how.

Download these Examples (PDF, 147kb) for added help.