Giant panda Crossword Puzzle for Kids
Free printable educational crossword puzzle. Every clue is a plain-English sentence from the Simple English Wikipedia article on Giant panda, with the key word blanked out.
Giant panda Crossword
Name: ____________________ Date: ______________
| 5F | O | O | D | |||||||||||||
| 4L | I | V | E | 1L | I | V | I | 6N | G | |||||||
| 8B | E | E | A | |||||||||||||
| A | 7A | U | S | T | 11R | A | 2L | I | A | T | ||||||
| B | U | E | V | U | ||||||||||||
| I | 3B | R | O | W | N | G | E | R | ||||||||
| E | E | S | S | 9T | R | E | E | S | ||||||||
| 10S | M | A | L | L | E | R | ||||||||||
| O | ||||||||||||||||
| N | ||||||||||||||||
| G |
Across
- 1. The greatest threat to survival is the loss of _____ areas. (6 letters)
- 3. The other giant panda has dark _____ and light _____ fur. (5 letters)
- 4. Groups of pandas are forced to _____ in small areas. (4 letters)
- 5. They spend 10 to 16 hours every day looking for _____ and eating it. (4 letters)
- 7. The Adelaide Zoo in Adelaide, _____ received two giant pandas in 2009. (9 letters)
- 9. They eat the bamboo that grows under the _____. (5 letters)
- 10. Its skull is _____ than the other giant panda. (7 letters)
Down
- 1. Then, they _____ her for a life of their own. (5 letters)
- 2. The black fur is on their ears, around their eyes, on their _____, and on their shoulders. (4 letters)
- 3. Also, the zoo would have to agree that any cubs born would _____ to China. (6 letters)
- 5. They measure around 7 _____ (210 cm) in length. (4 letters)
- 6. China set up the first giant panda _____ reserve in 1963. (6 letters)
- 8. They may be able to have _____ until about age 20. (6 letters)
- 11. Melting snow high in the mountains _____ into these streams and rivers. (4 letters)
Clues are sentences from the Simple English Wikipedia article “Giant panda” (revision 10872165, CC BY-SA 4.0). crosswordprint.com/printable-crosswords/animals/giant-panda-for-kids/
Giant panda Word Search
Name: ____________________ Date: ______________
Words to Find
crosswordprint.com/printable-crosswords/animals/giant-panda-for-kids/
Pick the word that completes each sentence from the Simple English Wikipedia article.
Is the sentence correct? Some sentences have one word altered.
Click a clue, then click the word it belongs to.
Unscramble each word. The clue is the sentence it was taken from.
How to Solve & Use the Answer Key
This is a fill-in crossword. Each clue is a sentence from the Simple English Wikipedia article on Giant panda, with the key term blanked out. The number in parentheses shows the letter count. Solve interactively on screen or check Show answers to view the answer key. To print a clean student worksheet, press Print Puzzle.
Giant panda Crossword Answer Key & Definitions
Show Complete Answers & Word Definitions
- 1 Across: LIVING — Life is matter that can make more of itself. Simple English Wikipedia: Life
- 3 Across: BROWN — Brown is a color through which light cannot pass. Simple English Wikipedia: Brown
- 4 Across: LIVE — Live can be a verb. It rhymes with "give". Simple English Wikipedia: Live
- 5 Across: FOOD — Food is what people, plants and animals eat to live. Simple English Wikipedia: Food
- 7 Across: AUSTRALIA — Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is an island country and sovereign state located in the southern hemisphere, in Oceania! Simple English Wikipedia: Australia
- 9 Across: TREES — A tree is a tall plant with a trunk and branches made of wood. Simple English Wikipedia: Tree
- 10 Across: SMALLER — Smaller were an English Britpop band from Liverpool, active during the 1990s. Wikipedia: Smaller
- 1 Down: LEAVE
- 2 Down: LEGS — A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotion device. Simple English Wikipedia: Leg
- 3 Down: BELONG
- 5 Down: FEET — Land vertebrates have feet. The organization of their feet varies. Simple English Wikipedia: Foot
- 6 Down: NATURE — The words nature and natural are used for all the things that are normally not made by humans. Simple English Wikipedia: Nature
- 8 Down: BABIES — In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (literally 'unspeaking') is a formal or specialised synonym. Wikipedia: Infant
- 11 Down: RUNS
Definitions adapted from Simple English Wikipedia and Wikipedia articles (week 2026-W41), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Read about Giant panda
The giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, is a bear. It lives in south central China.
Although it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is almost 99% bamboo. Pandas in the wild occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents or carrion. In captivity, they may get honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food.
The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but also in the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.
As a result of farming, deforestation and other development, the panda has been forced out of the lowland areas where it once lived.
Appearance
Giant pandas are bears. They have black and white fur all around them. The black fur is on their ears, around their eyes, on their legs, and on their shoulders.
Giant pandas are approximately the size of an American black bear, standing at about 3 feet (91 cm) tall at the shoulder when on all four legs. They measure around 7 feet (210 cm) in length. In the wild, males can weigh up to 251 pounds (114 kg), while females typically weigh less, generally staying below 220 pounds (100 kg).
Living areas
Wild giant pandas have lived in the mountains of central China. They live in forests of tall trees. They eat the bamboo that grows under the trees. The weather is rainy and misty in the mountain forests. There are thick clouds almost all the time.
Food and water
Bamboo is the main diet of pandas. Ninety-nine percent of the food they eat is bamboo. They eat as much as 120 lb of bamboo every day. They spend 10 to 16 hours every day looking for food and eating it.
Bamboo is a grass. Sometimes, giant pandas eat other grasses. They also eat little rodents or musk deer babies (fawns). In zoos, giant pandas eat bamboo, sugar cane, vegetables, and fruit.
Giant pandas get a lot of water from the bamboo they eat. They need more water though. They drink from the freshwater streams and rivers in the mountains. Melting snow high in the mountains runs into these streams and rivers.
Kinds of giant pandas
There are two subspecies of giant pandas. They both live in China. The best known is the black and white panda. Its scientific name is Ailuropoda melanoleuca melanoleuca.
The other giant panda has dark brown and light brown fur. Its skull is smaller than the other giant panda. It has larger molars. This panda lives only in the Qinling Mountains. Though often called the Qinling Panda, Its scientific name is Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis.
Baby pandas
Giant pandas are ready to have babies (cubs) when they are between the ages of four and eight. They may be able to have babies until about age 20. Female pandas are ready to have a baby only once a year in the springtime. There are only two or three days during which a baby panda can form in the mother's belly. Calls and scents bring the males and female pandas to each other.
Female pandas may give birth to two young. Usually only one lives. Giant panda cubs may stay with their mothers for up to three years. Then, they leave her for a life of their own.
Giant pandas and their "pseudo-thumbs"
There has been discovery that giant pandas have "pseudo-thumbs" which is their modified wrist bone that acts like a thumb, allowing them to grip the bamboo quicker and easier.
Giant pandas and people
Today, the giant panda is a symbol for China. It is protected by the Chinese government. Killing a giant panda is a crime. The giant panda may become extinct or die out if the forests of bamboo continue to disappear.
People outside of eastern Asia did not know about the giant panda until 1869. The first „Westerner“ to see a live panda was a German zoologist in 1916. In 1936, Ruth Harkness became the first Westerner to bring a live giant panda out of China. It was a cub (baby panda) named Su-Lin. The cub was taken to live at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.
In the 1970s, China began showing giant pandas in zoos in the United States and Japan as a type of diplomacy. This happened until 1984 when China changed how this was done. Starting in 1984, China would allow zoos to keep the giant pandas for 10 years, but the zoo would have to pay China up to $1,000,000 each year. Also, the zoo would have to agree that any cubs born would belong to China.
13 cities outside China currently have zoos with giant pandas.
In addition, the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., United States, the San Diego Zoo in San Diego, California, United States, the Memphis Zoo in Memphis, Tennessee, United States and the Zoo Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia, United States once hosted giant pandas, but their pandas have since been returned to China.
Text adapted from the Simple English Wikipedia article “Giant panda” (revision 10872165, 2026-05-28), authors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.