Raised by wolves
Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book is a classic of the wild, and this word search gathers it. You'll be finding the MAN CUB MOWGLI, raised by a WOLF PACK led by AKELA, and his animal teachers — the laid-back BEAR BALOO and the watchful black PANTHER BAGHEERA.
Each puzzle pulls a fresh selection from the list, so the jungle changes every time you play — gentle on Easy, and a Hard-mode prowl once the diagonals and backwards words appear.
Friends and foes of the wild
The JUNGLE is full of memorable characters, and they're here. Beware the TIGER SHERE KHAN and the hypnotic PYTHON KAA, swing by the MONKEY kingdom of KING LOUIE, and respect the LAW of the jungle. There's the wise ELEPHANT, the search for HONEY, the tangle of VINES, and Mowgli growing up as a CUB far away in INDIA.
A jungle Kipling knew first-hand
Rudyard Kipling wrote The Jungle Book in 1894, and the wild world of MOWGLI grew straight out of his own life. He was born in India and spent his early childhood there, surrounded by the animals, forests and folk tales he later wove into the stories — which is why the JUNGLE feels so real, right down to the 'Law of the Jungle', a code of rules Kipling invented for how the WOLF PACK lives and survives.
The book is really a set of linked short stories, and it gave the world more than just MOWGLI. The famous mongoose tale 'Rikki-Tikki-Tavi' comes from the same collection, and the whole book later inspired the Cub Scouts — Scout leaders still borrow names like AKELA and BALOO from these pages. Kipling also threaded gentle lessons through the adventure: loyalty to your PACK, respect for the LAW, and learning who your true friends are, which makes the man-cub's story a natural fit for a class topic on animals, India, or growing up.
Great for a reading or animals topic
It spans reading and wild-animal themes, so it slots into a class novel or a jungle-animals lesson alike — Easy mode keeps the grid small with no diagonals or reverse words. Play online, print a PDF pack, or use our Make Your Own tool to build a grid from your own jungle favourites.