Six Finnish colours to spot among the letters

Two of these words rhyme, and for a reason. PUNAINEN, red, and SININEN, blue, share the ending -nen, which turns up on a great many Finnish adjectives. Mention that before the search begins and your child has something to look for besides a first letter, which is a useful trick when the grid is crowded. Colours also attach to anything, so a word learned here gets used the same day.

The other four go their own way. VIHREÄ is green and ends on a dotted ä; HARMAA is grey and doubles its final a; RUSKEA is brown; BEESI is beige, borrowed from French by way of half of Europe and handed the Finnish vowel that every loanword seems to acquire. Not one of the six runs past eight letters, so every hidden answer stays inside a beginner's reach.

Colour words are worth taking early because a child can use them straight away, attached to whatever is to hand. Do the search, then walk round the room looking for something HARMAA and something RUSKEA. Printed in colour, the patches do the explaining; in black and white you will want to read the list through together first. It also pairs well with a drawing task: give the six words as instructions and let your child colour a picture from them.