Parts of the Body: What Is Missing?

Four small figures share this kindergarten page, two to a row, and each one has been drawn with a single part left off. Three picture chips stand beside every figure and only one of them shows the part that is gone. The sheet shown drops an arm, a leg, the hair and one foot, and offers chips such as a nose, a knee and an arm to choose between. The child circles the right chip and then draws the missing part straight on to the figure.

Spotting an absence is harder than naming a presence, and it asks a five-year-old to hold a picture of a whole body in mind while looking at an incomplete one. The chips keep the answer to a choice of three rather than an open search, and the drawing step turns the answer into something the child has to place: an arm has to come out of a shoulder and a foot has to sit under a leg, which is a second, quieter question about where parts belong.

One sheet, four figures, four missing parts. Two answers to each card, one circled and one drawn, so it takes longer than its size suggests. Note that the chip for hair is a picture of a whole head with long hair rather than hair alone, so it is worth naming aloud when you hand the sheet out. Pair it with the labelling page once the words are secure.