The Finnish for a cake called a wind hat

TUULIHATTU is the word children remember from this sheet, because of what it says: tuuli is wind, hattu is a hat, and the pastry is named a wind hat for the puff of air inside it. That is the kind of thing that lodges. Tell a child the meaning before they start hunting and they will find those ten letters faster than any of the shorter words on the list.

The rest reward a slower eye. KAKKU and TORTTU both end in a doubled consonant, so they look alike at a glance and a child has to read all the way through rather than pouncing on the shape. PATONKI, DONITSI and RINKELI are the three loanwords, close enough to a baguette, a doughnut and a ring-shaped bun that most children work out the meanings themselves.

Food vocabulary is the easiest kind to use straight away, which is why it belongs early in a Finnish course. Print this before a baking afternoon, or hand it out while something is in the oven and there is nothing to do but wait. Say each word once before the hunt starts; TORTTU and KAKKU are far easier to spot after you have heard them. It also suits the tail end of a lesson, when nobody has the energy for anything new. Nobody scores it.