Games you can play with your toddler

My son recently turned two and is all about playing games now. It’s a great change of pace from the days of “eat, sleep, poop, cry and repeat”. He, like all toddlers is a rambunctious ball of energy. It seems like each day there is a new game he would like to play. So I thought to help those of you looking for fun activities to play with your kiddo I would share a few.

1.”The tent game.”   Build a tent or fort inside your house. Then hide inside it and jump out at your kid when they are looking for you. This game ends when you jump out and your kid begins to cry.

2. “The, I got your nose game”. Pretend to snatch the nose off your child’s face. To level up with this game pretend to eat their nose. The second stage is to then throw it back up and stick it back to their face. Your child will respond by doing this back to you. This game ends when you get poked in the eye.

3. “The chase game“. Toddlers love the chase game. They enjoy very much the excitement of you yelling, “I’m gonna get you” then running  behind them as they giggle from room to room. This game ends when your child falls down on the hard wood floor and cries.

4. “The group chase game“. This is a variation of the chase game where your child instigates the chase with your dog. Much like the original chase game the child will laugh  as they run from room to room of your house. The difference being this game ends not when the child falls, but when the dog gets too excited and knocks the toddler over into an end table. The result will be louder crying than the original version.

5. “The couch game”. In this game your child will repeatedly ask to be picked up and hurled into the couch. Points get awarded for distance from couch, arch on your thrown, 360 spins, and if you can bank the child off the back of the couch before they land on the seat cushion. This game end when your child begins to cry.

6. “The bounce on daddy game”. In this game you lay on the floor and your child sits on your stomach and bounces up and down. Feel free to level up and have your child stand on your stomach before jumping. This game ends when your child bounces a little hard and hurts you.

7. “The tickle game“. In this game your child will tickle you and then expect to be tickled in return. They will then laugh until they are gasping for air. At that time they will again tickle you. Expect that the child trying to tickle you will resemble more closely hitting you in the face. This game ends when someone ends up crying.

8. “The throw my toys at Daddy’s face game”. This game is pretty self-explanatory. It ends with you having weird cuts or bruises to explain to coworkers.

9. “The ride daddy like a pony game”. In this game your child will sit on your back and ride you around the house. The object is to make it successfully from one room to the next without dropping your kid, while they hit you on top of your head. The game ends when your knees or back gives out.

10. “The O-dark-30 game”. The start time for this event is before 6 am. In this game your child does whatever the hell they want, short of setting the dog on fire. You watch from the couch with 1/2 an eye open, clutching your coffee and mumbling incoherently under your breath. This game never ends, only pauses each day then resets the next morning.

Play safe parents. 

Pat Lemieux

About Pat Lemieux

Pat has it all, family, big old house, dogs, a young son and a quarter-life crisis. He blogs about trying to be who he has always been and be who he now needs to be. He enjoys 90's grunge metal, tasty local brews and the outdoors.