Penguin Word Search Free Printable for an Antarctica Unit

All 18 penguin species, their bodies, chicks, food chain and Antarctica: press New puzzle, then print with the answer key.

Name Date

Penguin Word Search

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

0 of 16 words found

FRLAECOLONYKMAM

ASHNQLEHOORCAQD

IIFOBSETNSRWCLX

CURSFEATHERAAAR

HUHFKAFLAGODRIT

IWBLIZZARDCDOVY

CEYDKRILLUKLNMF

KGBDPLEERSHEITN

FLNHMRPFINOCCBC

ZXFHUDDLEHPENTN

SKINGSLIDEPASJW

DUSSLNTPICEBERG

RDSSSYOPLCRABWS

TNENDYPENGUINSI

MEMPERORRKGRDNA

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.

PenguinPENGUIN
EmperorEMPEROR
KingKING
MacaroniMACARONI
RockhopperROCKHOPPER
FlipperFLIPPER
FeatherFEATHER
WaddleWADDLE
SlideSLIDE
HuddleHUDDLE
ChickCHICK
ColonyCOLONY
KrillKRILL
OrcaORCA
IcebergICEBERG
BlizzardBLIZZARD

16 of 24 words from the Penguin Favorites list.

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Answer key: Penguin Word Search

FRLAECOLONYKMAM

ASHNQLEHOORCAQD

IIFOBSETNSRWCLX

CURSFEATHERAAAR

HUHFKAFLAGODRIT

IWBLIZZARDCDOVY

CEYDKRILLUKLNMF

KGBDPLEERSHEITN

FLNHMRPFINOCCBC

ZXFHUDDLEHPENTN

SKINGSLIDEPASJW

DUSSLNTPICEBERG

RDSSSYOPLCRABWS

TNENDYPENGUINSI

MEMPERORRKGRDNA

PENGUIN, EMPEROR, KING, MACARONI, ROCKHOPPER, FLIPPER, FEATHER, WADDLE, SLIDE, HUDDLE, CHICK, COLONY, KRILL, ORCA, ICEBERG, BLIZZARD

Next step Mix penguin words with your own in the word search maker Scramble the same penguin words

All 124 penguin words

Penguin Species 22

Adelie Named for the wife of the French explorer who found it in 1840. A white ring circles each eye.
African The only kind in the Old World. It brays like a donkey, and the spots on its chest are unique to each bird.
Chinstrap A thin black band under its head makes it seem to wear a black helmet. About 8 million exist.
Emperor The tallest and heaviest kind, about 1.1 meters tall. It is the only one that breeds through the Antarctic winter.
Erect-crested The largest of the kinds with yellow head plumes, and one of the least studied. It breeds only on the Antipodes and Bounty Islands.
Fairy A second name for the smallest kind, which lives in New Zealand and along the south of Australia.
Fiordland It nests in the coastal rainforest of southwest New Zealand, among rocks and tree roots, and eats mostly arrow squid.
Galapagos The only kind found north of the equator. It pants and shades its feet to stay cool on its islands.
Gentoo The fastest swimming bird, reaching 36 kilometers an hour. A white stripe crosses the top of its head like a bonnet.

Show all 124 penguin words (115 more)

Penguin Species, continued

Hoiho The Maori name for a rare kind with a band of pale yellow feathers. It is pictured on the 5-dollar note of New Zealand.
Humboldt It lives in Peru and Chile, along the Pacific coast. It and a cold ocean current are named after the same man.
King The second largest kind. It builds no nest, and its breeding cycle lasts 14 to 16 months.
Korora The Maori name for the smallest kind, a bird that comes ashore in small groups at dusk.
Little Blue The smallest kind, only 30 to 33 centimeters tall. It hunts at sea all day and returns to its burrow at dusk.
Macaroni Sailors named it after a showy fashion because of its yellow crest. At about 18 million birds it is the most numerous kind.
Magellanic Named after the explorer who spotted it in 1520. Two black bands cross its chest, and pairs reuse the same burrow.
Penguin A flightless seabird found in about 18 living kinds. Roughly half of its life is spent ashore and half out at sea.
Rockhopper It jumps over boulders and across cracks instead of sliding. Straight yellow eyebrows sit above its red eyes.
Royal It looks like a macaroni with a white face. The whole population nests on Macquarie Island and islets nearby.
Snares It breeds only on one small island group off southern New Zealand, under forest. About 25,000 pairs exist.
Tawaki The Maori name for the crested kind that nests in coastal rainforest in the southwest of New Zealand.
Yellow-eyed One of the rarest kinds. Pairs nest in forest or scrub in southern New Zealand, out of sight of their neighbors.

Penguin Body 17

Beak The hard mouth of a bird, also called a bill. A gentoo has a bright orange-red one.
Belly The white front of a penguin. Seen from below, it is hard to tell apart from the shiny surface of the sea.
Camouflage Coloring that hides an animal. A penguin's dark back blends with the deep water when seen from above.
Crest A tuft of showy head feathers. The macaroni penguin was named for its yellow one.
Down The soft, fluffy first coat of a chick. On a king chick it is heavy and dark brown.
Eyes A penguin's are adapted for seeing underwater. They are its main way to find prey and avoid predators.
Feather Penguins preen each one with care. A layer of air held among them helps the bird float and stay warm.
Feet King and emperor parents balance their single egg on top of theirs and never build a nest.
Flipper A wing shaped for swimming and useless for flight. Its bones are shorter and stouter than a flying bird's.
Gland A penguin has one above each eye that filters extra salt from its blood, so the bird can drink seawater.
Heart During a deep dive an emperor's slows to as few as 15 to 20 beats a minute.
Plumage A bird's whole covering of feathers. About 1 penguin in 50,000 is born with brown in place of black.
Pouch A fold of skin low on the body. A king parent covers the egg on its feet with it to keep the egg warm.
Tail The gentoo has the most prominent one of any penguin. It sweeps from side to side as the bird walks.
Tongue A penguin has a spiny one. Together with powerful jaws, it grips slippery prey.
Webbed Describes feet with skin stretched between the toes. A gentoo has pale pink ones like this.
Wing A penguin's cannot lift it into the air. Underwater it beats much as a flying bird's does.

Penguin Behavior 18

Bray The loud, donkey-like sound made by the African penguin.
Dive Emperors do it deeper than any other bird, to about 550 meters. One record plunge lasted 21.8 minutes.
Fast To go without food. An emperor father does it for about 120 days in the coldest part of the year.
Flightless Unable to fly. It describes every penguin, because the wings have become flippers.
Hatch To break out of the egg. A chinstrap chick does it after about 37 days, an emperor chick after 65 to 75.
Huddle A tight crowd of emperors keeping warm in winter. The birds take turns in the middle and on the windy edge.
Incubate To keep an egg warm until the chick comes out. In most kinds both parents take turns; among emperors only the male does.
Jump Penguins do this with both feet together. Rockhoppers cross boulders and cracks this way.
Migrate To travel with the seasons. Adelies from the Ross Sea cover about 13,000 kilometers a year.
Molt To shed old feathers and grow new ones. An adult emperor gets it done in about 34 days each summer.
Nap A very short sleep. A chinstrap takes more than 10,000 a day, each lasting only about 4 seconds.
Parade At Phillip Island in Australia, visitors watch little blues cross the beach every night in a famous one.
Preen To clean and smooth the feathers with the bill. Penguins spend a great deal of time doing it.
Slide To travel over snow on the belly. It lets a penguin move quickly while saving energy.
Swim A penguin does it by beating its flippers, in a motion much like a bird flying through the air.
Toboggan A simple sled with no runners. Its name is also the word for a penguin's belly ride over snow.
Trumpet A gentoo throws back its head and gives a loud call named after this brass instrument.
Waddle To walk with short steps, swaying from side to side. It is how a penguin gets around on its feet.

Penguin Life Cycle 16

Brood The young raised from one nesting. Most penguins manage one a year, but little blues can raise 2 or 3.
Burrow A hole dug for a nest. Little blue, African, Humboldt and Magellanic penguins all raise chicks in one.
Chick A baby bird. A gentoo one first goes to sea when it is 80 to 100 days old.
Clutch The set of eggs laid at one time: 2 for most penguins, but only 1 for kings and emperors.
Colony A large group of nesting birds. A gentoo one may hold just 100 pairs; a king one can hold several hundred thousand.
Creche A crowd of chicks huddling together for warmth and safety. Emperor chicks form one at about 45 to 50 days old.
Egg An emperor lays one of about 450 grams, which is only 2.3 percent of her own weight.
Father Among emperors he alone warms the egg, for 65 to 75 days, while the mother feeds at sea.
Fledgling A young bird that has just grown its first full coat of feathers. Skuas snatch penguin ones.
Guano Built-up seabird droppings. African and Humboldt penguins dig nest holes in it, but people mined it for fertilizer.
Mate A breeding partner. A Magellanic penguin returns to the same one year after year, at the same burrow.
Nest Penguin ones range from a pile of stones to a burrow. King and emperor pairs do without one altogether.
Raft The name sometimes given to a group of penguins together in the water.
Rookery Another word for a breeding colony. Cape Adare in Antarctica has the largest Adelie one.
Stone A gentoo builds its nest from a round pile of these. A male may win a female's favor by offering her a choice one.
Yolk The food store inside an egg. Any left over can keep a new chick going if its parents are late with a meal.

Penguin Food Chain 19

Anchovy A small fish eaten by African, Humboldt and little blue penguins.
Cuttlefish A relative of the squid and the octopus with 8 arms and 2 tentacles. Rockhopper and Magellanic penguins eat it.
Fox Brought to Australia by people. On Middle Island it cut a colony of little blues from about 600 birds to fewer than 10.
Krill A swimming crustacean up to 6 centimeters long that gathers in vast swarms. Most penguins eat it.
Lanternfish King penguins eat mainly this small fish, and can go deeper than 300 meters to find food.
Leopard Seal The second largest of its kind in Antarctica, with a spotted coat. It patrols the water near the ice edge, waiting for penguins.
Octopus A soft-bodied sea animal with eight limbs. Southern rockhoppers eat it along with krill and squid.
Orca A black and white toothed whale, the largest member of the dolphin family. It hunts adult penguins at sea.
Petrel The giant kind of this seabird causes over a third of emperor chick deaths in some colonies.
Plankton Tiny drifting living things of the sea. Krill eat the plant-like kind, and rockhoppers swallow some too.
Predator An animal that hunts others. In Antarctica none hunts penguins on land; the danger comes from the sea and the sky.
Prey An animal hunted for food. A penguin swallows its own whole.
Sea Lion A large eared seal that hunts gentoo and Magellanic penguins in the water.
Shark Adult penguins at sea are at risk from this fish, as well as from the orca and the leopard seal.
Sheathbill A bird that eats penguin chicks, as petrels and gulls also do. Its name joins a knife cover and a word for beak.
Silverfish The Antarctic kind of this fish makes up the bulk of what an emperor eats.
Skua A seabird that steals other birds' catches and takes penguin eggs and chicks. It has even been seen at the South Pole.
Squid The arrow kind of this sea animal makes up most of what a Fiordland penguin eats.
Stoat A small hunter brought to New Zealand by people. Of all the new predators, it troubles Fiordland penguins most.

Antarctica 17

Antarctica The coldest, driest and windiest continent, and the fifth largest. Its ice is 1.9 kilometers thick on average.
Aurora Glowing lights in the polar night sky, named after the Roman goddess of dawn. Green is the most common color.
Blizzard A long, severe snowstorm with strong wind and very low visibility. It earns the name by its wind, not by how much snow falls.
Continent One of Earth's main land masses. The one around the South Pole has the highest average elevation of them all.
Desert A place with very little rain or snowfall. Antarctica counts as a polar one.
Erebus The name of the most southern active volcano on Earth, a mountain in Antarctica.
Explorer Amundsen and Scott were each this kind of traveler. Their parties reached the South Pole about 5 weeks apart.
Floe A single flat piece of floating frozen seawater, 20 meters or more across.
Glacier A lasting body of ice that moves slowly under its own weight. It forms from snow packed down over many years.
Ice Shelf A thick floating platform where a glacier flows out over the ocean. The largest, named Ross, is about the size of France.
Iceberg A floating piece of frozen fresh water broken from a glacier. Only about a tenth of it shows above the sea.
Katabatic The name for a cold, heavy wind that pours downhill off the ice under gravity. It comes from the Greek for descent.
Sea Ice Frozen ocean water. Around Antarctica it shrinks to its smallest in February and spreads widest in September or October.
Snow A glacier forms when this falls and packs down over many years. A penguin can slide across it on its belly.
South Pole The very bottom of the globe, where every direction is north. People first reached it on December 14, 1911.
Wind Emperors in a winter huddle may face this at 144 kilometers an hour, in air as cold as minus 40 degrees.
Winter The season when emperors raise their eggs, unlike every other penguin. About 1,000 people stay in Antarctica through it.

Where Penguins Live 15

Arctic The region around the North Pole. No wild penguins live there.
Argentina Magellanic penguins nest in big colonies along its coast. Punta Tombo, in Chubut Province, has the country's largest.
Australia A country and continent. Little blues nest on its southern coasts and parade past visitors at Phillip Island.
Chile Humboldt and Magellanic penguins both breed on the coast of this South American country.
Equator The line around the middle of Earth. Only the Galapagos penguin lives on it, and slightly north of it.
Falklands Atlantic islands about 500 kilometers east of Patagonia. Five kinds of penguin breed there.
Hemisphere Half of the globe. Penguins live almost entirely in the southern one.
Macquarie An island roughly midway from Tasmania to Antarctica. Every royal penguin nests there.
Namibia African penguins breed on the coast of this country as well as in South Africa.
New Zealand Fiordland and Snares penguins breed only in this country, and the yellow-eyed penguin is on its 5-dollar note.
Patagonia South America's far south. Magellanic penguins breed along its coasts.
Peru Humboldt penguins live along the Pacific coast of this country and of Chile.
South Africa Boulders Beach near Simon's Town in this country is a place to see the only penguins of the Old World.
South Georgia An Atlantic island with over 100,000 pairs of king penguins. It was declared free of rodents in 2018.
Tasmania An island state of Australia. Between 110,000 and 190,000 pairs of little blues breed there.

How this list was compiled: The species list follows the 18 species that the English Wikipedia article Penguin gives from the International Ornithologists' Union list, with both rockhoppers under one word and four other names added (Fairy, Korora, Tawaki, Hoiho). Adelie, Korora and Creche are spelled without their marks. Facts were checked on 2026-09-18 and 2026-09-19; Argentina was corrected on 2026-09-20 against the article Punta_Tombo. Licence: own work

How it works

This penguin word search free printable opens on 16 words, Rockhopper, Waddle and Krill among them, hidden across and down on a 15 by 15 grid. New puzzle deals again from any of 10 lists, 124 penguin words in all.

Read the full guide

Seven themed lists, plus easy and hard

Penguin Species holds 22 words: Penguin itself, all 18 living species with both rockhoppers under one word, and four other names such as Hoiho and Korora. Penguin Body, Penguin Behavior, Penguin Life Cycle, Penguin Food Chain, Antarctica and Where Penguins Live follow. Easy Penguins has 47 words of 3 to 5 letters, such as Egg and Nest. Hard Penguins has 39 of 8 to 12.

A food chain on paper

Print the Penguin Food Chain list, then have pupils draw arrows from Plankton to Krill, on to a penguin, and up to Leopard Seal or Orca.

Arctic sits in Where Penguins Live on purpose. Its clue ends "No wild penguins live there".
The Nap clue surprises: "A chinstrap takes more than 10,000 a day, each lasting only about 4 seconds."
Pupils mark each species on a world map. Galapagos is "The only kind found north of the equator".

Questions and answers

Does the puzzle cover Antarctica as well as penguins?

Yes. Antarctica has 17 words, from Iceberg and Glacier to Katabatic and Erebus. The clues carry numbers for the unit: ice 1.9 kilometers thick on average, huddles facing wind of 144 kilometers an hour, the South Pole first reached on December 14, 1911.

Which penguin species are in the puzzle?

The 18 species that the Wikipedia article Penguin gives from the International Ornithologists' Union list, read in September 2026. Northern and Southern Rockhopper share the word Rockhopper. Fairy, Korora, Tawaki and Hoiho are other names in use.

Which list suits first grade?

Easy Penguins, 47 words of 3 to 5 letters. Four name a penguin: King, Royal, Fairy and Hoiho, the Maori name of the yellow-eyed kind. Eight come from the food chain, Krill and Skua among them.

All 124 penguin words

Penguin Species 22

Penguin Species, continued

Penguin Body 17

Penguin Behavior 18

Penguin Life Cycle 16

Penguin Food Chain 19

Antarctica 17

Where Penguins Live 15

How it works

Seven themed lists, plus easy and hard

A food chain on paper

Questions and answers

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