Words & stories
What’s missing?
- Builds: Naming and remembering
- 10 min
- Ages 2–5
- Calm
- No mess
From the house
- A tray
- 3–4 toys
- A towel
How to play
- Put 3 toys on the tray and name them together.
- Cover them with the towel and secretly take one away.
- Lift the towel: “What’s missing?”
- Add a fourth toy once they get good at it.
Fit it to your child
- Easier: Use just two toys, and name them again right before you cover them.
- Harder: Use six things, take away two, or swap one for something new and ask what changed.
Words to use
- gone
- missing
- where
- under
Why it helps
To say what’s gone they have to hold the names in mind and pull one back out, which trains listening and word memory together.