Six things from the kitchen drawer, spelled the French way

Everything on this sheet is something a child has already handled in a kitchen: an apron, a fork, a jug, a sponge. The French names for them sit hidden in the grid, running across and down, with the pictures alongside so there is never any doubt about which word is wanted. Finding TABLIER or CRUCHE among the surrounding letters is the whole exercise. There is no spelling out, no writing; the child reads and rings.

FOURCHETTE is the awkward one. It is ten letters long, twice the length of PINCE, and its ending sounds nothing like it looks — a beginner listening for the word will not find it by ear. ÉPONGE carries an accent on its first letter, which some children scan straight over. Both are worth saying aloud before the hunt begins, so the shape on the page has a sound attached to it.

Kitchen words earn their keep because they come up again immediately — at the sink, laying the table, helping with a cake. Print this one the morning you plan to bake, and hand it over while something is in the oven. If a child stalls, name the picture in English first and let them work back to the French; BATTEUR usually falls into place that way. Six words is a small enough set to finish in one go.