Where GUMMISTIEFEL splits neatly into two smaller words

German builds long words by gluing short ones together, and this sheet is a good first look at the habit. Six words hide in the grid and three of them are compounds. GUMMISTIEFEL, twelve letters for a pair of rain boots, is GUMMI meaning rubber plus STIEFEL meaning boots. BRIEFTASCHE, the wallet, is a letter-bag. Once your child sees the seam, long words stop looking frightening.

RUCKSACK is the free gift, since English borrowed it whole and the backpack is found in seconds. GELDBÖRSE, the purse, carries an o with two dots above it and should be circled exactly as printed. BRIEFTASCHE runs to eleven letters and keeps its seam in the middle, between the letter part and the bag part. FLIEGE sits beside the bow tie and is worth a mention, because the same German word also names a fly. GELDBÖRSE and BRIEFTASCHE are near neighbours in meaning, which trips a few children up.

Useful alongside getting-dressed vocabulary, or in the week you teach clothes. Talk through the six pictures before your child starts, then let them take the short words first to build a little momentum. WESTE is quickest at five letters. Children who have traced GUMMISTIEFEL once rarely flinch at a long German word again, which makes this a lesson in structure as much as in vocabulary.