Words a child can point to on themselves, hidden in letters

Six French words for parts of the body are tucked into this grid: VISAGE for the face, BOUCHE for the mouth, DENT for a tooth, COU for the neck, TALON for the heel, and MUSCLES. Pictures label each one, so a child works out which word belongs to which part of the body before hunting for its letters across and down. The picture settles the meaning first, so the search itself is pure recognition.

This is the vocabulary set a child can rehearse without any props, which is why it stays learnt. Once a word is circled, ask them to point to it on themselves. COU is only three letters and hides easily; TALON is the one children usually have not met before, since heel is not a word that comes up early in either language. VISAGE and BOUCHE are the two that come up most in early French, so they are worth the most attention.

Print it early in a course of French, when a child is learning to name the things nearest to them, or before a doctor-and-nurse sort of pretend game. Ten minutes is plenty. Afterwards the six circled words make a quick spoken round — you touch a part, they say the French — which costs nothing and needs no more paper. Keep the sheet somewhere visible for a few days.