Insects word search

Every word in this puzzle belongs to the world of insects: bees and wasps, butterflies and moths, beetles, crickets and flies, plus the words for how they grow and live. You will meet the stages of a butterfly's life (caterpillar, chrysalis) and the parts of an insect's body (antenna, thorax, abdomen).

An insect has six legs and a body in three parts: head, thorax and abdomen. That simple rule leaves out some famous creepy-crawlies, which is why you will not find the spider here. Spiders have eight legs and belong to a different group, the arachnids. Two more surprises are hiding in the list: the ladybug and the firefly are both beetles, and the firefly makes its own light.

The theme suits a science unit on life cycles or a nature walk. Before the puzzle, ask children to guess which words are insects and which are insect homes or body parts; after it, check the answers together.

Play tip: when you spot BEE or FLY in the grid, look at the letters in front of it. They may turn it into HONEYBEE, BUMBLEBEE, HOUSEFLY, HORSEFLY, FIREFLY or DRAGONFLY, so make sure you drag from the true first letter.