Two words you already know, four you don't — in Danish

Half of this sheet reads itself. BROWNIE and CUPCAKE are spelled in Danish exactly as they are in English, so a beginner circles two words in the first minute and settles into the page. Then come the four that teach: SMÅKAGE for a biscuit, PANDEKAGE for a pancake, BUDDING for pudding and ÆBLETÆRTE for apple tart. A picture sits beside every word on the list.

KAGE appears twice, in SMÅKAGE and PANDEKAGE, and children usually notice it themselves around the fourth circle. That is the Danish word for cake, arrived at by pattern rather than instruction, and it will reappear in dozens of words later on. ÆBLETÆRTE is the toughest find at ten letters — though its opening Æ is also the easiest thing on the whole page to spot in a grid.

It makes a good sheet for a baking afternoon. Make pancakes or biscuits, then read the Danish name off the page while they cook — pandekage, småkage — so the word turns up together with the smell. For teachers it fits a food topic or an end-of-term session, and it asks for nothing beyond a printer and six coloured pencils. If the baking never happens, the sheet still stands on its own: BUDDING and ÆBLETÆRTE are worth knowing whether or not anyone gets the oven on.