Field Day Word Search Free to Print, From Sack Race to Water Games
Print a stack for the rest station or a rain delay, or press New puzzle for each team's own grid.
Name Date
Field Day Word Search
Find every word hidden in the grid. Words go across and down.
0 of 16 words found
FSDEDMEOEATCBZD
SHMTLEYPNADFANC
GPKXUDHOPSCOTCH
YSPQTASXSOPIOCE
BTORPLLBWVYSNSE
UDPSDPOLKIITYBR
CSACKRSWRLHYSSW
KRROPEHIAESPPPE
EEANTFINISHOLOE
TECXAODNIPRYAOT
EWHISTLETOLUSNF
ADULDNCRBNDBHAS
MATNQBTTUGELBLN
KLEPOITRZEAABUA
ESLLSSUOBTRSLIE
This grid is wider and taller than its box. Slide it to see every letter.To drag, hold the first letter for a moment, then slide.Keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.
BATON
SACK
SPOON
FINISH
WHISTLE
TUG
ROPE
PARACHUTE
HOPSCOTCH
SPONGE
BUCKET
SPLASH
TEAM
CHEER
MEDAL
WINNER
16 of 24 words from the Field Day Favorites list.
Tap or click the first letter of a word, then its last letter. Or drag across the word. On a touch screen, hold the first letter for a moment before you drag. On a keyboard, the arrow keys move, Enter marks the first and the last letter, and Escape clears a first letter.
AnchorThe last runner on a team. Many teams save their fastest runner for this spot.
BackwardsA silly way to run a race: facing the start while heading for the finish.
BalanceWhat keeps you steady on a beam, and keeps the egg on the spoon.
BatonThe short stick passed from runner to runner. Under track rules, dropping it does not put a team out of the race.
ConesBright orange markers. Set in a row, they make a course for weaving in and out.
DashA short race run flat out from the first step to the last.
EggCarried on a spoon to the finish line. The first use of this race's name on record is from 1894.
FinishThe line that ends the race. Also what you do when you cross it.
HurdlesLow bars that runners leap over without slowing down.
JumpTo push off the ground with your legs. Field days often have a long one and a high one.
LapOnce around the track. On a standard outdoor track that is 400 meters.
Show all 100 words (89 more)
Field Day Races, continued
LeapfrogPlayers bend over and the others vault over their backs. The name of the game is more than 400 years old.
ObstacleAnything in your way. A course full of them might have tires to step through and a net to crawl under.
PartnerThe person you pair up with. In the three-legged race your left leg is tied to their right leg.
PotatoA vegetable that grows underground. The cloth bag it is shipped in is the one used for hopping races.
RelayA race run in turns. Each runner covers one part, then hands over to the next teammate.
SackA big cloth bag. Racers stand in one, often the kind that once held potatoes, and hop to the line.
SpoonRacers balance an egg on one. Holding the egg in place with a finger is cheating.
SprintTo run a short way at top speed. The Olympic races of this kind are 100, 200 and 400 meters long.
StopwatchA timer held in the hand. One press starts it and the next press freezes the time.
TunnelA cloth tube to crawl through on hands and knees.
WheelbarrowA race for pairs. One player walks on their hands while a partner holds their ankles.
WhistleA short blast on it starts the race or ends the game.
ZigzagA path of sharp turns, left then right then left, like the way through a row of cones.
Field Day Games 22
BeanbagA small cloth pouch to toss and catch. The ones thrown at a slanted board were once filled with kernels of corn.
BowlingRoll a ball to knock down ten pins set in a triangle. On a lawn, plastic bottles will do.
CaptureTo catch and take. In one field game the prize is the other team's flag.
CornholeToss bags at a slanted board with a 6 inch opening. A bag on the board scores 1 point and a bag through the opening scores 3.
DiscA flat plastic circle that glides a long way when you throw it with a flick of the wrist.
FlagEach team guards one at its base. Grab the other team's and carry it home to win.
GagaA kind of dodgeball played in a pit with six or eight walls. The name is Hebrew for touch touch.
HoopA big plastic ring to spin around your waist, roll along the grass or step through.
HopscotchThrow a marker, then go through the chalk squares on one foot and skip the one it landed on. Writers mention it as early as 1677.
HorseshoesPlayers pitch U-shaped pieces of metal at a stake 40 feet away.
JavelinA spear thrown for distance. It is about 2.5 meters long and was part of the ancient Greek games by 708 BC.
KickballLike baseball, but the pitcher rolls a rubber ball and you boot it. It was likely invented in the United States around 1910.
LimboBend back and pass under a bar that drops lower each round. It began on the island of Tobago in the 1800s.
ParachuteA round sheet of bright nylon, often 20 to 30 feet across. The class holds the edge and makes waves or a mushroom.
RingerA pitched shoe that lands around the stake. It scores 3 points.
RopeTwo teams pull on its two ends. In formal matches a team wins by dragging it 4 meters.
ScavengerIn this kind of hunt, teams race to find every item on a list.
TagA chasing game. One player is It until they touch somebody else.
TargetWhat you aim at. Hit the middle for the most points.
TetherballA volleyball hangs from a pole on a cord. Two players hit it opposite ways until one winds it all the way around.
TossA gentle underhand throw, the kind you use for a water balloon.
TugA hard pull. The rope contest named for it was an Olympic event from 1900 to 1920.
Water Games 19
BalloonA thin rubber bag. Filled at the tap, it bursts with a splash when a catch goes wrong.
BucketA pail with a handle. The first team to fill theirs wins the sponge relay.
CupSmall enough to hold in one hand. In one relay it has holes in the bottom.
DryWhat a towel and ten minutes of sunshine make you.
DunkTo drop into water. At a school fair, a ball that hits the target can do it to a teacher on a seat over a tank.
HoseA long bendy tube that carries water from the tap to the field.
IceFrozen water. It keeps the drinks cold.
PourTo tip water from one cup into another.
PuddleA small pool left on the ground after the water games.
SlideA long sheet of wet plastic on the grass to skim down on your belly.
SoakedWet all the way through, like a player who lost the balloon toss.
SpillTo let water slop over the side. In a cup relay, every drop lost costs your team.
SplashThe sound and the spray when something hits the water.
SpongeIt soaks up water. In one relay you carry a full one down the field and wring it out into a bucket.
SprinklerIt waters the lawn with a spinning spray. Running through one cools you off.
SqueezeTo press hard with your hand, the way you empty a sponge.
TowelPack one in your bag for after the water games.
WaterIt fills the balloons, the buckets and your bottle. Drink plenty of it on a hot day.
WetHow everyone ends up after the sponge relay.
Team Spirit 19
BandanaA square of bright cloth tied around your head or arm to show which side you are on.
CaptainThe player who leads a side and speaks for it.
CheerA shout that tells your side to keep going.
CooperateTo work with others toward one goal. Nobody wins a rope pull without doing it.
EncourageTo cheer a teammate on, above all when they are behind.
FairPlaying by the rules and giving everyone the same chance.
FunThe real point of the whole day.
HandshakeHow two sides say good game when it is over.
HuddleA tight circle where a side makes its plan in whispers.
MedalA metal disk on a ribbon. Gold, silver and bronze for the top three places began at the 1904 Olympics.
RibbonA strip of cloth given as a prize. In the United States blue means first place. In Canada and Great Britain, red does.
ScoreThe number of points each side has so far.
SpiritThe pride and energy a class shows with its colors, signs and shouts.
TeamA group that plays on the same side. On field day it may be your whole class.
TiebreakerOne extra round played when two sides end the day with the same points.
TogetherAs one group. It is the only way to pull a rope or lift a parachute.
TrophyA cup or statue for the best class to take back to its room.
VolunteerA parent or helper who gives their time to run a station.
WinnerThe person or side that comes in first.
Out on the Field 16
BlacktopThe paved part of the schoolyard, good for chalk games and hard on bare knees.
ElementaryThe kind of school, for kindergarten to about fifth grade, where field days are most often held.
FieldThe wide stretch of grass behind the school where the day happens.
GrassThe soft green ground that makes a playing area a good place to fall.
HeartbeatThe thump in your chest. It speeds up when you run.
LemonadeA cold, sweet and sour drink made from yellow citrus fruit, water and sugar.
MegaphoneA cone you talk into that makes a voice loud enough to reach the far goalposts.
PicnicLunch eaten outside on a blanket.
ShadeThe cool, dark spot under a tree or a tent.
SneakersShoes made for running. Tie them with a double knot before the race.
SpectatorSomeone who watches from the side and cheers.
StationOne stop on the field with its own game. Classes move from one to the next.
SummerThe season that starts in June. In the United States, field days are often held as it begins.
SunscreenLotion that guards skin from sunburn. SPF on the bottle stands for sun protection factor. Put more on every two hours.
SunshineBright light from a clear sky. Everyone planning a day outside hopes for it.
SweatMostly water, with a little salt. It comes out of your skin when you are hot and cools you as it dries.
How this list was compiled: 100 field day words chosen and defined for this site, in five themed lists (races, games, water games, team spirit, out on the field) plus three cross-cutting lists: 24 favorites that open the page, the 39 short words of 3 to 5 letters and the 28 long words of 8 to 11 letters. Every entry is a single word of 3 to 12 letters with no spaces, hyphens or apostrophes, so every list fits a 12 by 12 grid or larger. No clue contains its own word, because the clue replaces the word in clue mode. No listed word sits whole inside another listed word, forwards or backwards, so no word can turn up twice inside a longer one. No brand, team, character or product name is included: the flying disc, the plastic hoop and the wet plastic slide go by their plain names. Definitions are our own wording for readers of about 7 to 12. Facts with a date, a place or a number in them were checked on 2026-09-18 against these English Wikipedia articles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_day (field day is the American English name, sports day the British and Canadian one, play day a second Canadian one; often held at the beginning of summer; usually held in elementary schools; egg and spoon, three-legged, sack and wheelbarrow races, long and high jumps), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay_race (the baton; dropping it does not disqualify a team; the fastest runner usually runs last as the anchor), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprint_(running) (100, 200 and 400 meters at the Olympics; the standard outdoor track is 400 meters), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_race (both legs in a sack, usually a potato sack, hopping to the line), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg-and-spoon_race (first recorded use of the name in 1894; holding the egg with a finger is cheating), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-legged_race (one runner's left leg tied to the right leg of the other), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelbarrow_race (one player walks on the hands while the other holds the ankles), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leapfrog (vaulting over stooped backs; the name is recorded from the late sixteenth century), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tug_of_war (Olympic event from 1900 to 1920; the rope is marked 4 meters either side of its center), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playground_parachute (round nylon sheet in many colors, usually 20 to 30 feet across; waves and the mushroom), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickball (probably invented in the United States about 1910; the pitcher rolls an inflated rubber ball), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornhole (6 inch hole; 1 point on the board and 3 in the hole; bags once filled with corn kernels or dried beans), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbo_(dance) (mid to late 1800s in Tobago; the bar is lowered each round), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopscotch (tossing a marker and skipping its square; a 1677 mention), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoes_(game) (stakes 40 feet apart; a ringer scores 3 points), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-pin_bowling (ten pins in four rows that form a triangle), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_the_flag (each team has a flag at its base), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javelin_throw (about 2.5 meters; part of the ancient pentathlon from 708 BC), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetherball (a volleyball on a rope from a pole, wound all the way around to win), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaga_(game) (Hebrew for touch touch; a dodgeball variant in a pit that is usually an octagon or a hexagon), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_balloon (often made of latex rubber), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunk_tank (a seat over a tank of water that drops when a ball hits the target; teachers take a turn at school fairs), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_ribbon (blue for first place in the United States; red for first in Canada and Great Britain), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_medal (gold, silver and bronze for first, second and third date from the 1904 Games), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunscreen (SPF means sun protection factor; reapply about every two hours) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspiration (sweat is mostly water with traces of minerals and cools the skin as it evaporates). The one-word spellings Beanbag, Blacktop, Tiebreaker, Stopwatch, Leapfrog, Tetherball, Kickball, Cornhole, Hopscotch, Sunscreen, Heartbeat, Megaphone, Bandana, Wheelbarrow, Zigzag, Backwards, Horseshoes, Sprinkler, Lemonade, Spectator, Handshake, Cooperate, Sneakers, Gaga and Scavenger were checked on Wiktionary the same day. Licence: own work
How it works
A field day word search free to print or to solve on the board. Parachute, Hopscotch and Whistle are in the first grid of 16, and the bank behind it holds 100 words, from Tug to Tiebreaker.
Read the full guide
Races, games and water games
In the Start from a list row, Field Day Races has 24 words, Field Day Games 22, and Water Games and Team Spirit 19 each. Out on the Field has 16, and one puzzle holds them all. For first grade, Easy Field Day keeps the 39 words of 3 to 5 letters, such as Tug, Sack and Lap. Hard Field Day has 28 of 8 to 11, Wheelbarrow among them.
Rest station or rain plan
Leave a stack on clipboards in the shade for a class that ends a station early. If rain sends everyone indoors, put the grid on the board: pupils tap a word's two ends or drag across it, and each find is struck off the list.
Horseshoes on the schedule? The Ringer clue has the score: a pitched shoe around the stake earns 3 points.
Teams not picked? The random group generator splits a class into even sides, and the round robin generator schedules kickball.
Questions and answers
Is this field day word search free to print?
Yes. Print or save as PDF gives the puzzle page and its answer key, and a saved file keeps for next June. Press New puzzle between print runs and each team gets a different grid, so answers cannot travel between tables.
Why do some schools call it sports day?
Field day is the American English name. In Britain and Canada the same event is sports day, and Canadians also say play day. The classic races are the same under any name: egg and spoon, sack and wheelbarrow.
Was tug of war ever an Olympic sport?
Yes, from 1900 to 1920. In formal matches a team wins by dragging the rope 4 meters. The Ribbon clue holds another surprise: blue means first place in the United States, but red does in Canada and Great Britain.