More and all gone

From the house

• A box, tub or saucepan
• 5–6 things too big to swallow: blocks, rolled-up socks, plastic cups

How to play

1. Sit on the floor and drop one thing into the tub: “In!”
2. They drop the rest in while you say “more” each time.
3. Take them out one by one until the tub is empty: “All gone.”
4. Tip the tub over, peek inside together, then start again.

Fit it to your child

• Easier: Hold the tub still and let them just tip things out; filling comes later.
• Harder: Count each thing as it goes in, “one, two, three”, and ask, “One more?”

Words to use

• in
• out
• more
• all gone
• empty

Why it helps

Watching a tub fill up and empty out teaches “more” and “none”, the very first ideas about amounts.