Make Your Own Word Search

by Carl
(Virginia)

Recently I was placed in charge of putting together a newsletter for a small rental property. I wanted to make it fun so not only did I include news and recipes and other tidbits people might enjoy, I also included a games section.


For the first issue, I decided to make a homemade word search. I’d never made a word search before but I found it surprisingly easy to do and also fun.


First, you’ll want to gather together a list of words you’d like to include in the search. It’s best to have a theme, but you can use any words you’d like. These words will be listed either underneath or on top of the word search game itself so that people know what they’re searching for.


For my newsletter, I chose words relating to an apartment complex and set about making my very own word search.


Using Microsoft Word, I created a box that I knew would fit into the section of the newsletter I’d allotted for the games. At first, I just typed really fast until I filled up the box. Then, I set about replacing arbitrary letters with the words I’d chosen as my word list. This didn’t work, however, as I found I’d accidentally typed bad words. This isn’t good for any kids playing.



I recreated my homemade word search, this time being more careful about how I filled the remainder of the box. Make sure you read over the word search several times and even complete the search as if you’re a person playing to make sure there are no mistakes.


Now Publish It

I used Microsoft Publisher to make my newsletter and just included the Word homemade word search as an object. But you can just print out your word search that others can play. As you can see, it’s easy to make one and it can be a lot of fun.