Meet the German names for a frog, a gecko and a cobra

Six German words lie hidden in this grid, and the picture list says which ones to look for: a frog, a gecko, an iguana, a cobra. There is no translating to be done in the head. Your child sees the printed German word, then hunts along the rows and columns until the same run of letters appears. Finding it is what makes it stick, because the shape of the word has to be held in mind while the eye searches.

FROSCH is the one most children spot first. It runs to six letters and ends in SCH, a combination English almost never puts at the end of a word. GECKO and ALLIGATOR need no explaining at all, since they are the words your child already knows, and that is a quiet reassurance early on. LEGUAN, the iguana, is the single word here that has to be learned outright.

CHAMÄLEON is nine letters and carries an Ä, and children scanning a grid tend to slide straight past accented letters without registering them. Point at the picture list first and let your child trace that word once with a finger. This works as a five-minute settler at the start of a German session, or as something to leave out for a child who finishes early and wants a quiet job.