Alligator to Frog: Reptile Words in Danish

The picture strip on this sheet is the draw: an alligator, a chameleon, an iguana, a turtle, a salamander and a frog. Under each sits its Danish name — ALLIGATOR, KAMÆLEONT, LEGUAN, SKILDPADDE, SALAMANDER and FRØ — and those six words are the ones buried in the letter grid. Children read along the rows, pick each word out from among the decoy letters, and draw a ring round it.

Three of the six are near-twins of the English, which is a gift for a beginner: ALLIGATOR is spelled just as we spell it, SALAMANDER likewise, and KAMÆLEONT is close enough to guess at. That leaves LEGUAN, SKILDPADDE and FRØ as the genuinely new ones. Point out the three free gifts early and a child spends their attention where the learning actually is.

This one suits a child already fond of reptiles — the sort who can name a komodo dragon at four. Print it after a zoo visit or beside a nature book and let them take as long as they like. FRØ is worth saying aloud together; the ø is the sound English speakers find hardest, and a three-letter word is a kind place to meet it for the first time.