New Years Word Search for Kids, From Countdown to Fresh Start

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Name Date

New Year Word Search

Find every word hidden in the grid. Words go across and down.

0 of 16 words found

KHACHEERTPARADE

IGKHNENCCPEYGAJ

HOIMXHOAOSOTHIE

QAERSNANUOOSFJM

OLYEAROGNVHNDAI

GUISREITTOAFSND

OCGOMTLHDNIRRUN

WKHLYLHSOCNNIAI

IXRUOINPWWISHRG

EAITEWEFNHAPPYH

GMGIHFIREWORKST

ONIOEUIBALLOONS

QPANUGIYIHSPUMS

HDJNCELEBRATEVE

OWSGNREFRIENDSE

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.

MidnightMIDNIGHT
CountdownCOUNTDOWN
CheerCHEER
EveEVE
FireworksFIREWORKS
BalloonsBALLOONS
ParadePARADE
CelebrateCELEBRATE
FriendsFRIENDS
HappyHAPPY
ResolutionRESOLUTION
GoalGOAL
WishWISH
JanuaryJANUARY
YearYEAR
LuckLUCK

16 of 24 words from the New Year Favorites list.

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Easy: words go across and down.

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Word list

Large print Lower-case letters Name and date line on paper

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Answer key: New Year Word Search

KHACHEERTPARADE

IGKHNENCCPEYGAJ

HOIMXHOAOSOTHIE

QAERSNANUOOSFJM

OLYEAROGNVHNDAI

GUISREITTOAFSND

OCGOMTLHDNIRRUN

WKHLYLHSOCNNIAI

IXRUOINPWWISHRG

EAITEWEFNHAPPYH

GMGIHFIREWORKST

ONIOEUIBALLOONS

QPANUGIYIHSPUMS

HDJNCELEBRATEVE

OWSGNREFRIENDSE

MIDNIGHT, COUNTDOWN, CHEER, EVE, FIREWORKS, BALLOONS, PARADE, CELEBRATE, FRIENDS, HAPPY, RESOLUTION, GOAL, WISH, JANUARY, YEAR, LUCK

Next step Build a puzzle from your class's own words Scramble the same New Year words

All 98 words

Countdown to Midnight 18

Awake Not asleep. Staying this way until twelve is the hard part of New Year's Eve.
Ball A lit one was first lowered down a flagpole in Times Square, New York, on December 31, 1907.
Bedtime The hour you usually go to sleep. On December 31 it may come much later.
Bells Rung in towers and temples when the year changes. People speak of ringing in the new year.
Cheer A happy shout. The loudest one of the night comes right at twelve.
Chime The ringing sound a clock makes to mark the hour.
Clock It tells the time. On New Year's Eve everyone keeps an eye on it.
Countdown Counting backwards to zero. Crowds shout the last ten seconds of the year out loud.
December The twelfth and last month. Its 31st day is New Year's Eve.
Eve The night or day before a holiday. For New Year's Day, that is December 31.
Hooray A shout of joy, heard a lot just after twelve.
Midnight Twelve o'clock at night, the moment one year ends and the next begins.
Minute Sixty seconds. The one that starts at 11:59 p.m. on December 31 is the last of the year.
Seconds Sixty of these make a minute. The ball in Times Square, New York, takes 60 of them to come down.
Stroke One ring of a clock's bell. The twelfth one on the night of December 31 starts the new year.
Toast Raising a glass and saying a wish out loud. Juice or sparkling cider will do.
Twelve The hour that is struck when the year changes, and the number of months in a year.
Zero Where every countdown ends.

Show all 98 words (80 more)

New Year Party 21

Balloons Filled with air or helium and tied in bunches, or dropped from a net at twelve.
Banner A long sign hung on the wall. This one reads Happy New Year.
Celebrate To mark a happy day by doing something special.
Confetti Small bits of colored paper thrown in the air. The word comes from the Italian for small sweets.
Dance To move in time to a tune. A good way to stay awake until twelve.
Family The people you live with and the relatives who visit for the holidays.
Fireworks Rockets that burst into colored light in the sky. The earliest were made in Song dynasty China.
Friends People you like and choose to spend time with.
Games Board and card ones fill the long wait until twelve.
Glitter Tiny shiny flakes that catch the light and turn up for weeks afterwards.
Happy Glad. It is the first word of the greeting everyone says on January 1.
Hats Cone-shaped and shiny, held on with a thin elastic string.
Horn A paper one toots and unrolls when you blow into it.
Music Tunes to move to while the clock runs down.
Noisemaker A horn, rattle or clapper for making a racket when the clock strikes.
Parade Bands and floats moving down a street. Philadelphia and London each hold a big one on January 1.
Party A get-together to celebrate. On December 31 many run until after twelve.
Snacks Small bites to eat between meals, or all evening on December 31.
Song Auld Lang Syne, sung as the year changes, is a Scots poem that Robert Burns wrote down in 1788.
Sparkler A hand-held wire that throws off bright sparks as it burns. For outdoors, with an adult.
Streamers Long strips of colored paper, thrown across the room or hung as decoration.

Fresh Start 21

Begin To get going. A year does it on January 1.
Change To become different, or to make something different.
Dream A big hope for the years ahead, or the pictures in your mind while you sleep.
Forward The direction of the future. Looking this way means thinking about what comes next.
Fresh New and clean, like the first page of a notebook.
Future The time that has not happened yet.
Goal Something you aim to reach. A good one is small enough to check off.
Grateful Thankful for what you have and for what others have done.
Habit Something you do so often that you stop thinking about it.
Hope The feeling that good things can happen.
Improve To get better at something, a little at a time.
Kindness Being friendly and generous. It makes a fine aim for any year.
Learn To come to know something new. A common aim for the year: a skill, a sport, a language.
Memories Things you remember. The end of December is a good time to list the best ones of the year.
Plan The steps you decide on before you begin.
Practice Doing a thing again and again until it gets easier. It is how a resolution is kept.
Promise Saying you will do something and meaning it. Ancient Romans made theirs to the god Janus each new year.
Resolution A promise you make to yourself for the year ahead, such as reading every night.
Start The beginning. A new year gives everyone another one.
Try To make an effort. The short word at the heart of every resolution.
Wish Something you want to come true in the months ahead.

Calendar 19

Annual Happening once every year.
Calendar A chart of days, weeks and months. Julius Caesar's new one for Rome took effect on January 1, 45 BC.
Century One hundred years.
Date The day, month and year written together. In January the last number is easy to get wrong.
Decade Ten years.
February The second month: 28 days long, or 29 in a leap year.
First Coming before all the others, as January 1 does in the year.
Holiday A day off from school and work. January 1 is one.
January The first month, 31 days long, named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, who is shown with two faces.
Leap This kind of year has 366 days. The extra one is February 29.
March Until 1752, England and its American colonies began the year on the 25th of this month.
Month One of the twelve parts of a year.
Season Winter, spring, summer or fall.
Today This day. On January 1 it is the first of 365 or 366.
Tomorrow The day after this one. On December 31 it is also next year.
Week Seven days. A year holds 52 of them plus a day or two.
Winter The cold season. The year begins in it north of the equator, and in summer south of it.
Year The time Earth takes to travel once around the Sun: 365 days, or 366 when a leap day is added.
Yesterday The day before this one. On January 1 it is also last year.

New Year Around the World 19

Babylon An ancient city. About 4,000 years ago its people made new-year promises to return borrowed farm tools and pay debts.
Chair In Denmark people stand on one and jump off as the clock strikes, to leap into the new year.
Coal In Scotland the first visitor of the year may carry a lump of it as a gift, to bring luck to the house.
Coins In the Philippines people scatter them at the turn of the year. Round shapes are said to draw money.
Cornbread Served beside black-eyed peas in the southern United States, where its color stands for gold.
Farewell A goodbye. On December 31 people say one to the old year.
Grapes In Spain people eat twelve as the year changes, one with each strike of the clock, for good luck.
Greens Collards, cabbage or other leaves on the New Year's table in the US South. They stand for money.
Hogmanay Scots for the final day of the year and the party that goes with it.
Island Baker and Howland, two Pacific ones where nobody lives, are the last land to reach the new year.
Kiribati A Pacific country. Its Line Islands are among the first places on Earth to reach the new year.
Lentils Small, flat, round seeds cooked like beans. In Italy they are typical New Year's Eve food.
Luck Good fortune. Many New Year customs are meant to bring some.
Peas The black-eyed kind are a New Year's Day good-luck dish in the southern United States.
Plunge A polar bear one is a January 1 run into cold water, often to raise money for charity.
Shortbread A buttery Scottish cookie. The first visitor after twelve may bring some for luck.
Sunrise Dawn. Getting up to watch the first one of the year is a New Year's Day custom.
Temple In Japan, Buddhist ones ring their bells 108 times as the old year ends.
Tradition Something a family or a country does the same way year after year.

How this list was compiled: 98 New Year words chosen and defined for this site, in five themed lists (the countdown to midnight, the party, a fresh start, the calendar, New Year around the world) plus three cross-cutting lists: 24 favorites that open the page, the 41 short words of 3 to 5 letters and the 25 long words of 8 to 10 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 brand, team, character or product name is included. 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/Times_Square_Ball (first lowered December 31, 1907, from a flagpole; the descent lasts 60 seconds), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Lang_Syne (Scots poem, Robert Burns, 1788), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confetti (from the Italian for a small sweet), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireworks (earliest in China in the Song dynasty), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus (31 days, named for Janus, god of beginnings, shown with two faces), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_resolution (Babylonian promises around 2000 BC to return borrowed farm equipment and pay debts; Roman promises to Janus), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Day (Julian calendar in effect January 1, 45 BC; England and its American colonies used March 25 until 1752; parades in Philadelphia and London; polar bear plunges; watching the first sunrise; first and last places to reach the new year), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Eve (Japan's 108 temple bell strokes, Denmark's jump from a chair, coins and round shapes in the Philippines, lentils in Italy), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Grapes (Spain), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogmanay (the Scots word; first-foot gifts of coal and shortbread), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTC%2B14:00 (Line Islands of Kiribati), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTC%E2%88%9212:00 (Baker Island and Howland Island, uninhabited, last to enter a new year), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-eyed_pea (black-eyed peas, greens for money and cornbread for gold in the southern United States) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year (366 days, February 29). The one-word spellings Noisemaker and Cornbread were checked on Wiktionary the same day. Review fix 2026-09-20 (round 3): in the favorites list Family gave its place to Eve, because family sat in seven opening puzzles of this family. Licence: own work

How it works

Midnight, Countdown and Balloons lead the first 16 words of this New Year's word search for kids, words most children know. New puzzle swaps in another 16 of the 24 favorites. Seven more lists under the puzzle reach all 98.

Read the full guide

From the countdown to customs around the world

Five lists sort the bank by theme: Countdown to Midnight (18 words), New Year Party (21), Fresh Start (21), Calendar (19) and New Year Around the World (19). By reading level, Easy New Year has the 41 words of 3 to 5 letters, such as Eve, Goal and Luck. Hard New Year has 25 of 8 to 10, Noisemaker and Shortbread among them.

The first day back in January

On the first day back, print Fresh Start. Have each pupil circle one word, Practice or Kindness, to write a resolution around. As a New Year word search free printable it also fills the last December afternoon. Hold a countdown at noon, then hand out the sheet. The Christmas word search covers the weeks before.

Tick Show clues, not words: Happy shows as the first word of the greeting everyone says on January 1.
New Year Around the World has luck customs to compare: Grapes in Spain, Coins in the Philippines, Lentils in Italy.
January is named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, shown with two faces. The clue is in Calendar.

Questions and answers

How do I make the New Year word search printable harder for older students?

Choose Hard New Year and press Hard. Resolution and Yesterday may then read backwards or on a diagonal. Next, open More options. A 20 by 20 grid adds far more filler letters. Setting Word list to Hide the words (letter counts only) goes further.

When did the Times Square ball first drop?

On December 31, 1907, when a lit ball was first lowered down a flagpole in Times Square, New York. Ball and Zero are both in Countdown to Midnight.

Where does the new year arrive first?

The Line Islands of Kiribati, a Pacific country, are among the first places on Earth to reach the new year. Kiribati is one of the 19 words in New Year Around the World, beside Hogmanay, Scots for the final day of the year.

All 98 words

Countdown to Midnight 18

New Year Party 21

Fresh Start 21

Calendar 19

New Year Around the World 19

How it works

From the countdown to customs around the world

The first day back in January

Questions and answers

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