Carnival Crossword Puzzle for Kids
Free printable educational crossword puzzle. Every clue is a plain-English sentence from the Simple English Wikipedia article on Carnival, with the key word blanked out.
Carnival Crossword
Name: ____________________ Date: ______________
| 4D | 9S | 11T | R | E | E | T | S | |||||||||
| 3A | A | O | ||||||||||||||
| R | Y | 1G | 12W | E | E | K | ||||||||||
| 10P | R | O | F | E | S | S | I | O | N | 5W | ||||||
| U | V | 2S | U | M | M | E | R | |||||||||
| 7D | N | 13T | A | K | E | E | ||||||||||
| 14P | A | R | A | D | E | K | ||||||||||
| N | 6P | R | A | C | 8T | I | C | E | S | |||||||
| C | R | N | ||||||||||||||
| I | A | D | ||||||||||||||
| N | D | |||||||||||||||
| G | I | |||||||||||||||
| T | ||||||||||||||||
| I | ||||||||||||||||
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| N |
Across
- 2. During February and March, it is _____ in Uruguay. (6 letters)
- 6. Each group prepares and _____ their own dance and songs for months. (9 letters)
- 9. Everybody goes into the _____, from old people to children. (7 letters)
- 10. The members of the groups are not _____ singers or dancers. (10 letters)
- 12. People still work during that time, but in the evenings and on _____, they enjoy the festival. (4 letters)
- 13. In every city, the characters that _____ part are different. (4 letters)
- 14. There is usually a street _____ of people and musicians. (6 letters)
Down
- 1. It is usual for people to "_____ up" something for Lent. (4 letters)
- 3. Carnival is celebrated differently _____ the world, but there are some things that are similar: (6 letters)
- 4. It is the world's longest and is about 40 _____ long. (4 letters)
- 5. People still work during that time, but in the evenings and on _____, they enjoy the festival. (7 letters)
- 7. There are people _____, singing, and playing a special kind of music. (7 letters)
- 8. These characters are _____ to Brussels. (9 letters)
- 11. In many _____ this developed into a big public party, with entertainment in the town square. (5 letters)
Clues are sentences from the Simple English Wikipedia article “Carnival” (revision 9507603, CC BY-SA 4.0). crosswordprint.com/printable-crosswords/holidays/carnival-for-kids/
Carnival Word Search
Name: ____________________ Date: ______________
Words to Find
crosswordprint.com/printable-crosswords/holidays/carnival-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 Carnival, 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.
Carnival Crossword Answer Key & Definitions
Show Complete Answers & Word Definitions
- 2 Across: SUMMER — Summer is one of the four seasons. It is the hottest season of the year. Simple English Wikipedia: Summer
- 6 Across: PRACTICES
- 9 Across: STREETS — A street is a piece of land, made flat and often with pavement, so that people can travel on it better. Simple English Wikipedia: Street
- 10 Across: PROFESSION — The profession is a job at which someone works and for which they have had training. Simple English Wikipedia: Profession
- 12 Across: WEEK — A week is 7 days in connecting order. There are usually 52 weeks in a year. Simple English Wikipedia: Week
- 13 Across: TAKE — A take is a performance which is continuously recorded. Simple English Wikipedia: Take
- 14 Across: PARADE — A parade is a large or small group of people who all walk together, usually down a street or road. Simple English Wikipedia: Parade
- 1 Down: GIVE
- 3 Down: AROUND
- 4 Down: DAYS — A day is the time it takes the Earth to spin around once. Simple English Wikipedia: Day
- 5 Down: WEEKEND — The weekend is a time when fewer people go to work or school. Simple English Wikipedia: Weekend
- 7 Down: DANCING — Dance is an art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Wikipedia: Dance
- 8 Down: TRADITION — A custom (also called a tradition) is a common way of doing things. Simple English Wikipedia: Custom
- 11 Down: TOWNS — A town is usually a place with a lot of houses, but not a city. Simple English Wikipedia: Town
Definitions adapted from Simple English Wikipedia and Wikipedia articles (week 2026-W41), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Read about Carnival
Carnival is a public festival which takes place in many cities and towns in many countries around the world. It was traditionally in February or March each year. Carnival can sometimes last for several weeks. In some places there is only one day of celebration. There are often street parades, bands, costumes and many people wear masks. Carnival is linked to religious traditions in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and it is also linked to local customs.
Background
Many Christian churches have a 40-day "season" of fasting called Lent, in which Christians prepare for Easter which is one of the two most important feasts in the Christian year (the other being Christmas). Easter is in late March or April. Lent always begins on a Wednesday, which is called Ash Wednesday in February or March. On that day, many people go to church and have some ash smeared on their forehead as a sign of sorrow for their sins. Then for 40 days, they try to work hard on improving themselves and thinking about the teachings of Jesus. It is usual for people to "give up" something for Lent. They might stop smoking or stop watching TV so they can spend more time reading the Bible or talking with the family. Many people give up all their favourite foods and have no cake, wine, beer, chocolate, ice cream or other luxury foods.
The name "carnivale" comes from Italian and means "putting aside the flesh". This means that during Lent people were not to think about their "flesh" (their bodies) but do things that were good for their souls. The word "flesh"" also means "meat" so many people would eat no meat during Lent.
Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday". This was the day just before Lent. The first day of Lent was called Mecredi Meagre meaning "Mean Wednesday". ("Mean" used to mean "poor" and "thin" rather than "nasty".)
During the Middle Ages in Europe, it was normal for people to have a big feast on the Tuesday before the Lenten fast started. In many towns this developed into a big public party, with entertainment in the town square. There is a famous painting by Pieter Bruegel dating from the 1550s and showing the "Battle of Carnival and Lent". (See top of page)
In this picture by Pieter Bruegel, a man representing Carnival is pushed on a barrel by people in costumes and masks. He is about to do battle with Lent. His weapon is a skewer covered with pieces of roast meat. He balances a blackbird pie on his head. Lent, who is very skinny, fights him with two little fish on a bread-board. The person at the front wears a mask and plays a very noisy instrument called a rummelpott.
Modern celebrations of Carnival
Nowadays many cities and towns around the world celebrate Carnival for a week or more. The final day of the celebration was traditionally Mardi Gras, when there is often a parade. In some cities the Mardi Gras parade is held on the weekend before Lent begins, rather than on the Tuesday, so as not to disturb the business and traffic of the town.
In some towns such as the Belgian town of Binche the preparations for the Carnival are complex and start many weeks before Carnival takes place, with most of the town's people taking part in some way. The Carnival of Binche is listed with UNESCO as an event of great historic importance because it has been held there in almost the same way for more than 500 years.
Carnival is celebrated differently around the world, but there are some things that are similar:
There is often dressing-up in fancy costumes, which often include masks.
There is usually a street parade of people and musicians. There may also be floats which are decorated vehicles.
Different uses of the word "carnival"
Although the word "carnival" still has its old meaning, it is often used to mean public entertainments of different kinds. Some towns have carnivals that have nothing to do with Lent and are at different times of year. Nowadays there are all sorts of different carnivals. Some of these carnivals, like the Notting Hill Carnival in London and the Melbourne Cup Racing Carnival in Australia are very famous.
The word "carnival" is now used for festivals, parades and competitions of all sorts. There are school sports carnivals, folk carnivals, multi-cultural carnivals, horse racing carnivals, wine and food carnivals and boating carnivals.
Text adapted from the Simple English Wikipedia article “Carnival” (revision 9507603, 2024-04-26), authors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.