Getting dressed in German: six clothing words in one grid

A raincoat, pyjamas, shorts, an apron, boots and a glove are pictured, and their German names lie hidden in the letters. SHORTS is identical to the English and is usually the first thing ringed. The rest are longer, and they repay a slow look down the picture list before anybody starts searching, because four of the six begin with the letter S.

Several are built from smaller words. REGENMANTEL is eleven letters, with REGEN for rain and MANTEL for a coat, and SCHLAFANZUG is a sleep-suit. HANDSCHUH is a hand-shoe, which children enjoy. SCHÜRZE carries an umlaut over the U, and STIEFEL is plain but easy to confuse with its neighbours, so trace the whole word before circling anything.

Print it when the season turns and the wardrobe is being sorted, or alongside dressing-up play. It also hands a parent a script for the morning: hold up the boots, say STIEFEL, and the word gets used before school. Six words make a single sitting. There is no timer on the sheet and nothing is scored, so a child who wants to stop after four words can stop after four and come back to the apron and the glove another day. The picture list makes it easy to pick up again.