Find the French names for six things a child plays with

The pictures here come out of a toy box: a boat, a truck, an aeroplane, a slide, a chess set, a skateboard. Six French words for them lie hidden in the grid, across and down, and your child finds and rings each one. Most are short enough for a beginner to spot without any help at all. The picture beside each word says what to hunt for, so no translating is needed first.

SKATEBOARD is a free gift — French borrowed it whole from English, so it reads exactly as your child expects it to. TOBOGGAN is the opposite sort of surprise: in French it is a playground slide, not a sledge. Worth saying out loud, because a child who assumes sledge will carry that mistake around for years. AVION and BATEAU, by contrast, hold no surprises and go quickly.

Good for a rainy indoor stretch, or for something quiet to do while the toys themselves are being put away. There is nothing to score and nothing to hand in. When the last word is ringed, walk round the room pointing: BATEAU, CAMION and AVION are all likely to be within arm's reach. The pictures work as the answer key, so a child can check the page alone, without an adult reading over their shoulder.