Danish bug names that translate strangely, hidden in a grid

Danish names its small creatures with a straight face and an odd logic. A cricket is a FÅREKYLLING, a sheep-chicken. A millipede is a TUSINDBEN, a thousand-legs. A ladybird is a MARIEHØNE, Mary's hen. Those three, together with LARVE for the caterpillar and HVEPS for the wasp, are the five words hidden in this grid. Each has its picture alongside, so the meaning is settled before the searching begins.

Five words rather than six makes for a shorter sheet, though not an easier one: FÅREKYLLING runs to eleven letters and TUSINDBEN to nine, so both take real scanning. HVEPS and LARVE are the ones to begin on. Tell your child what the compound words literally mean before they start — a thousand-legs is a picture in itself, and a word a child can picture is a word they keep.

This earns its place in a minibeast topic, or on the day someone arrives with a woodlouse in a jam jar. It works at home in the garden season too: find the ladybird outside, then find MARIEHØNE among the letters. Print it free, or play it on a screen. Nothing is timed, so a child who wants to sit with it for half an hour is welcome to.