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What's gone missing?

This is a great game to develop memory and concentration skills and introduce your toddler to lots of new words.

Gather a small collection of items (around three or four) that you can chat about together.

Give your toddler time to look at each of them and describe them before secretly taking one away. Can your child recognise what's gone missing?

Check out the video below to find out why this game is great for brain development and also for your toddler's language and sentence-building skills.

What are the benefits of playing What's Gone Missing?

  • Describing the different items in the game introduces your toddler to lots of new words.
  • Asking your toddler questions about the objects encourages them to string words together to form short sentences.
  • Expanding on what your toddler says provides them with lots of examples to help their language development.
  • Trying to remember the item develops problem-solving skills and refines your child鈥檚 memory.
  • Playing this game teaches children how to pay attention, which is an important skill when learning to listen in a conversation.
A mum and her daughter sit on a sofa and play the What's Missing game. Her daughter is covering her eyes.
Your child will want to play this game again and again. Keep mixing it up by using new groups of items.

Top tips for playing What's Gone Missing? with a toddler

Using small groups of items in this game makes it more manageable for your child. Start with fewer items and build up as they improve and gain confidence.

Make sure to talk about each item before covering your child's eyes. This will help them remember what the options are and hear more words.

Try to be as clear as possible when setting instructions too. Follow the same pattern each time, as this is a great way to build your child's understanding and confidence throughout play.

Once your little one is used to the pattern of the game. Why not try mixing it up? Ask them to take an item away for you to guess. Children love the chance to take control, and they鈥檒l enjoy putting you to the test!

There are loads of opportunities for naming objects and building sentences in this game. Listen to the words and sentences your child says and repeat what they say back to them. You might need to fill in some gaps.

If your child says something that's not quite right, repeat their sentence correctly. This is called 'recasting' and helps them understand sentence structure.

Find out more about why recasting is important in language learning.

A mum and her daughter sit on a sofa and play the What's Missing game. Her daughter is covering her eyes.
Your child will want to play this game again and again. Keep mixing it up by using new groups of items.

Fun variations of What's Gone Missing?

You can play this game with any items that you find around your house or even out and about.

By grouping your items into themes, you can help your little one build their vocabulary around certain topics. This is also a great way to keep to game feeling fun and exciting for younger kids with shorter attention spans.

We've listed some fun variations below:

  • Colours: Use some crayons or coloured pencils to help children learn about colours. Or you could try making a rainbow and taking objects away from it.
  • Kitchen items: A bowl, a fork, a spoon and a cup are great way to get chatting about mealtimes.
  • Bedtime items: Use objects that link to your child's bedtime routine to help reinforce what happens at bedtime.
  • Clothes: Talk about different types of clothes and where you put them on your body.
  • Faces and emotions: Try drawing faces with your child and use this memory game as a way to create a conversation around feelings and emotions.

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