# Playful parenting -- what are YOUR favorite games?



## Kivgaen (Dec 5, 2003)

Do you play any games with your LOs that encourage them to follow the rules without engaging in power struggles?

What games have you played?

Some situations that come to mind:

* getting ready in the morning (dressed, breakfast, making lunches, etc.)
* doing chores (make beds, clean room, fold laundry, wash dishes, etc.)
* to overcome powerful emotions (fear, anger, shyness, etc.)
* to encourage independence or to empower them
* to encourage sharing
* to be respectful of others

etc.

What games do you play?

I'll post my answers in a few minutes.


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## Kivgaen (Dec 5, 2003)

*Hungry garbage bag* -- I mentioned this before in a previous thread, which got me thinking about making this post. I get a large garbage bag at clean-up time, walk around saying "me hungry garbage bag... me want garbage... ohhh, toys not put away. Me eat toys!"... etc. I chase them around the house for a while after they grab away the toys. Eventually the toy gets put away, and I say "hmm.... toy put away... not garbage... me go find more garbage". Rinse and repeat, till house is clean.

*Good barbie / bad barbie* this game works well with DD -- take two barbies, and make them argue with each other about the job that I want DD to do (like, make her bed, for example, or get dressed by herself, etc.) Good barbie says "she's 3 already! you just watch -- she can do it all by herself"). Bad barbie says "3! bah! She can't do that at 3... I don't believe it. No way!") etc.

*Music clean-up game* play a short piece of music (I have the "clean up" song I bought from iTunes) and play it repeatedly with about a 30 second break of silence. When the silence comes, make a race to see how many toys and/or items you can pick up and put away before the music starts back up again.


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## crittersmum (Feb 26, 2008)

Adopt me! If you can make cleaning up toys fun?!

We don't have any specific games, per se, but we do have hand puppets. Literally. We make our hands into puppets and talk with them. Mine is a bit sarcastic (channeling?) but he can often talk DD into doing things, like closing her eyes and taking a nap. (DD (2) has her own hand puppets, which is hilarious. The other day she was mixing cookie dough with her hands and her puppets starting complaining about how dirty they were.) We can also get DD to follow us just about anywhere as long as her teddy bear is leading the way. He leaps off furniture and hides around posts, just to make it fun.

I'm looking forward to seeing other people's _Playful Parenting_ posts!


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## Kivgaen (Dec 5, 2003)

Come on, mamas, I know there are more good stories out there than this!

I saw that someone typed in another thread yesterday that they play a getting dressed game, where she pretends that DD's shirt is pants, and pants is a shirt. Today I tried it and it was pretty fun. I put DS's clean underware on his head and said "here's your hat", etc. we had a good time, and everyone is dressed!

Think deep, mamas! We all have our little games. Do share for the rest of us!


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## joanna0707 (Jan 2, 2009)

*Did I hear you saying NO???* which I mentioned in other thread, when DS says no I chase him around saying playfuly 'Did I hear you saying NO' , sometimes we wrestle for a while, after few minutes of this DS is usually a lot more cooperative
Yestarday DS came to me saying "NO???" in the same tone of voice I do, it was an invitation to play. I had a big laugh









*Lets do this very fast* DS loves to do things fast and he loves this word, when we need to get dressed quickly and I don't have time to wait until he is ready I say 'Let's do it very fast' and we start running like crazy "Let's get our pants fast" and we both run in crazy circles " Lets get our hat fast " again running like crazy, making funny faces. It's pretty exhausting but so much fun


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## sunnmama (Jul 3, 2003)

Not on your list of situations, but playing Red Light, Green Light is hugely helpful for my toddler/preschoolers learning to follow directions and explore at a safe distance. At that age, they both responded much better to "RED LIGHT!" than to "Stop!", even if we weren't playing the game at the moment.

I get my young dc to eat broccoli by telling them that there are little birdies in the trees, and please don't eat the birdies







Of course, they can't wait to gobble them up!









For emotions and self control, I would sometimes use stuffed animals and _switch roles_ with dd when she was small and struggling. So, my stuffed animal would hit another in anger, for example, and _hers_ would step in and help me make better choices. She liked that game, because she got to be important and wise


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## CarricksMom (Feb 15, 2007)

"It's a race" to see how fast we can get teeth brushed and ready for bed.

Sometimes to get DS to pee we get a stuffed animal or whatever thing he is into at the moment and "show" the thing how to peepee and flush, etc. Works for getting other things accomplished as well.

To take a bath "let's pretend we're at the beach."


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## LynnS6 (Mar 30, 2005)

Lately one of my games with dd has been 'jump starting' her. She's been going through a whiny phase and it drives me crazy. Not only will she whine when talking, but she'll sit there and kind of whine/moan over and over again. One day I said, "uh oh, it sounds like your engine isn't starting. What are we going to do? Maybe we'll have to jump start you." Then I lifted her up in the air and back down. She kept up the whine, so I did it again. By the 3rd or 4th jump, she was laughing.

When I was getting my kids dressed, one of our favorite games would be 'finding' their body parts. So, i'd start to put their pants on and 'lose' their feet. Then I'd act very surprised when they came out of the clothes.

"See if you can do it before I count to 10" is another favorite game. It eases transitions. So, when we go from reading and the kids then have to get into bed, I'll say "see if you can get into bed before I count to 10" (or 'before your old mom can get up off the floor'). The beauty of this game is that I can slow down or speed up the counting as need be.

I've got others but it's late and I can't think of them now.


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## Kivgaen (Dec 5, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *LynnS6* 
Lately one of my games with dd has been 'jump starting' her. She's been going through a whiny phase and it drives me crazy. Not only will she whine when talking, but she'll sit there and kind of whine/moan over and over again. One day I said, "uh oh, it sounds like your engine isn't starting. What are we going to do? Maybe we'll have to jump start you." Then I lifted her up in the air and back down. She kept up the whine, so I did it again. By the 3rd or 4th jump, she was laughing.

Brilliant! I'll have to do that next time my DD is in a whiny phase -- it drives me crazy too!

thanks for the great ideas! post more when you think of them, I love the suggestions!


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## butterfly_mommy (Oct 22, 2007)

Some that come to mind are

*Don't eat that* I will but DS vitamin beside his plate and say "I'm just putting this here but don't eat it" with a twinkle in my eye. He graps it and gobbles it up. Other variants is DH will hand the vitamin to DS and say "Can you give this to Mama, but don't eat it" The other day as I was getting him into his car seat he was finishing his last bite of granola bar and he said "Don't you eat that, don't you eat that" then he ate it









*Let's show _______ how you take your medicine* This works great for getting him to take any kind of medicine or supplements. I just pick anything near us, the dog, a car, the fridge magnet, a toy, etc and tell DS that the item would be really impressed with his medicine taking skills and lets show them.


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## GoGoGirl (Oct 13, 2008)

My SIL plays *health inspector*.

I saw it a few weeks ago, when she was at my mom's house with my nieces. It was time to go home, but they didn't want to stop playing with the play kitchen. So my SIL called them on the kitchen's phone and announced that she was the health inspector, and that she was on the way to see if their kitchen was clean. If not, she would have to shut it down. They ran around like crazy to put everything away before the health inspector came.

She said she plays it with other cleaning up situations too. She's so much fun







.


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## Kivgaen (Dec 5, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GoGoGirl* 
So my SIL called them on the kitchen's phone and announced that she was the health inspector, and that she was on the way to see if their kitchen was clean. If not, she would have to shut it down.

I can just see how this would totally work with my DD -- shes at that exact age where she loves playing pretend with any kind of phone!


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## simplycrunchy (Jan 12, 2010)

Love all these ideas! Getting dressed has been a battle at our house so we started giving dd (2 1/2) choices- she gets three diapers, three pairs of pants, three shirts, and three pairs of socks to choose from each day. I lay the three diapers on the floor and she will hop on one and say "Not this one," so I put it away. Then she'll hop to another and say "Not this one," and I'll put it away. She'll hop to the one that's left and say "So, this one!" and we'll put it on her. We go through the same process for each piece of clothing. She giggles and gets dressed without a fight.


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## vrclay (Jun 12, 2007)

Nose wiping/blowing - we use the tissue as the "Mocos(mucus in spanish) Monster". The mocos monster is hungry, he needs you to give him your mocos. It sounds silly, but it works every time.


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## AmyKT (Aug 20, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Kivgaen* 
Come on, mamas, I know there are more good stories out there than this!

I saw that someone typed in another thread yesterday that they play a getting dressed game, where she pretends that DD's shirt is pants, and pants is a shirt. Today I tried it and it was pretty fun. I put DS's clean underware on his head and said "here's your hat", etc. we had a good time, and everyone is dressed!

Think deep, mamas! We all have our little games. Do share for the rest of us!

We do this. An example from this morning: DD didn't want to put on her second sock, so I start trying to put it on her hand. --Does it go here? _Noooo_, she'll say with a grin. --How about your nose? Giggle, giggle, _noooo_. --so where does it go? _Foot_! and she offers up the foot.

Sometimes works with teeth brushing, too. I brush all the wrong parts first.

DD goes through phases where she hates baths, and what usually works is to toss in some previously non-bath toys. Like her animal figurines. The kitties are bathing! oh, my! and kitties don't even like water! oh, no, and there go the crocodiles! We must save the kitties from the crocodiles!

Whew! I needed this boost today. Just remembering that I manage to do a few things well has made me feel better. I'm going to try some of the other ideas, too. I really like Good Barbie/Bad Barbie and the sock puppets.


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## mckennasmomma (Sep 29, 2008)

If I need my daughter to follow me somewhere, I will take a few steps in that direction, stop and hide behind a corner, piece of furniture, etc, and pop out and say peekaboo. She'll follow me a few steps, then I run to the next hiding spot and pop out again. She loves peekaboo and thinks it is so fun to follow me when we play it.

Fun thread!


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## MtBikeLover (Jun 30, 2005)

One day, I was sick of the sibling fighting and I said "Whatever you do, do not hug or kiss each other." And then of course they do. Then I kept it up and said "Oh no, I told you not to hug and kiss. What am I going to do with you. You stop it right now." This led to more hugging and kissing and laughing. Then I said "All right, I am going to call the police and have them come and talk to you." I pretend to call and then I pretend to be the police so in a man's voice I say "I thought your mommy told you to stop hugging. Ok, here is your ticket." At this point, they are cracking up laughing and begging me to call the police again because they find it hilarious.

They get out of whatever funk they were in while they were fighting and get along great after.

Just a note so everyone knows I am not using police to scare them - my kids are not afraid of police and this isn't done to make them fear police. They find it hilarious and love the tone and getting the pretend ticket. They frequently play this way with each other and run around giving tickets so this is just an extension of their play.


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## MtBikeLover (Jun 30, 2005)

Another one I do when they aren't listening to me and I have asked 500 times for something...

I say "Oh, I guess you must not be speaking English today. I guess I need to ask in another language. GJKGJ ajdkjakl iwejfij jsdjjwo (I say just a bunch of sounds together)."

I keep this up for a bit until they are laughing and paying attention to me then I say "Ok seriously now, I need you to ________."


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## K-Mom3 (Apr 27, 2009)

I LOVE this thread! What great ideas!









It made me remember Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. Those books have lots of great ideas. So today, in the spirit of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, I told my kids that they had 10 minutes to pick up the living room and the cleaning fairy would come check and if they did a good job, she would shake some fairy dust on them. They were so excited! They cleaned up a storm and then my three year old went right into the kitchen, picked up the floor and told me that she was ready for the cleaning fairy!







I think it is partly the novelty of a new game, but....what great results! I love it!


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## nd_deadhead (Sep 22, 2005)

In our family, tantrums don't work. I might change my mind following negotiation, but NEVER because someone threw a fit! My kids knew this very well.

So if I said no to something, but they kept asking to do it, I would say "Do you think if you make a big enough fuss I will change my mind? Give it a try!" It became a game - they got to whine, scream, beg or whatever for a minute or two, then I would screw up my face in concentration, then say "Nope, it didn't work". Usually it would get them laughing - though I had to pick the times I thought it might make things better instead of worse.


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## Shannie77 (Jan 16, 2007)

My DD is obsessed with "best friends", which means both her real-life friends, and anything that looks the same. When we are cleaning up we put all the "best friends" together. If I forget to mention "best friends" she usually doesn't want to tidy up but as soon as we start trying to put all the best friends together she happily helps.

We race to the carseat. This works really well when DH is around because I will say "hurry hurry lets surprise Daddy with how fast you get into your seat". Then I encourage DH to act floored when he sees her in there. To get her out we pretend there is a monster in the garage and race into the house - she likes playing games with monsters.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

DD's not quite old enough yet to "get" games, but we do play "where's the baby?" to get her to join us in a room or stop what she's getting in to.

Mama and Daddy look everywhere (under couch cusions, etc.) looking for the baby saying "Where's the baby!?" "Monkey, where are you?!" in silly voices.


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## AFWife (Aug 30, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnmama* 
Not on your list of situations, but playing Red Light, Green Light is hugely helpful for my toddler/preschoolers learning to follow directions and explore at a safe distance. At that age, they both responded much better to "RED LIGHT!" than to "Stop!", even if we weren't playing the game at the moment.

For emotions and self control, I would sometimes use stuffed animals and _switch roles_ with dd when she was small and struggling. So, my stuffed animal would hit another in anger, for example, and _hers_ would step in and help me make better choices. She liked that game, because she got to be important and wise









I LOVE these ideas. When we did Combat Training in theatre we used "Red" as our "stop" word because it gets your attention sooner than "stop" and it's short and to the point.

I also love the idea of role changing!

Someone mentioned Piggle Wiggle and it made me laugh. I loved those books!


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## columbusmomma (Oct 31, 2006)

Subbing


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## laangel (Jun 16, 2009)

Hi, I normally just browse, but I wanted to contribute to this thread.. and a fabulous thread it is!!
A few things that have worked for us:

When getting dressed putting clothes onto wrong body parts then looking confused 'hmmm that doesn't look right' and letting dd tell me what we've done wrong.

Putting away toys: DD (4) is convinced that her toys 'get real' at night and we talked about that if they weren't put away in the right place that they would be really scared and upset when they 'woke up'.

We have also been workmen and cranes that put away toys in that way, worked well too.. might try being a poor old cleaning up fairy that needs help, could be fun.

Eating dinner: whe she is eating really well I look at her plate and say in a very cross voice 'what have you done with that ... (sausage, those peas...)? Have you thrown them on the floor? (look on floor) are they in your pocket?... Carry on with this til she shows me that she's put it in her tummy.

Manners: When a please or thank you has been forgotten, I look around on the floor for something lost and say 'oh whoops you've lost your manners..' This ususally gets a giggle and the right word.

If I think of any more I'll put them up.
Loving this thread


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## butterflyblue (Nov 9, 2008)

Butterfly Mommy - thanks for the "don't eat that" game, I used it yesterday to get my kids to drink their milk. Milk is so much more fun when Mommy doesn't want you to drink it.


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## henny penny (Mar 26, 2008)

These are great!! Taking notes.....


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## crowcaw (Jan 16, 2009)

For getting shoes on there is a shoe eating goat that lives in the house and it always seems to show up at shoe time so dds race it to get their shoes on; this game lasted at least a year. For coats and hats, I've seen mice and other small animals crawl into them and they need to reach in to get them out. For many tasks that they are able to do themselves, I tell dds not to do them because it's my job and then I become idignant that they're taking my jobs away and complain that I'm going to have nothing left to do other than sit around and eat bonbons. There's a monster that follows our car around everywhere and is tired of walking so it's always trying to get in dds carseats. Toothbrushing is either repeated checks for the cavity monster then they need to chase around their mouths or, if they're not feeling willing about brushing, I become the dentist and chat with them like the dentist does while I'm brushing their teeth. Then they get a big imaginary balloon. When it's time for hairbrushing, dds are princesses and I am awaiting their instructions as to the do they want. Giving instructions by talking gibberish and gesturing. When we're out and a dd is tired and barely holding it together, the adult becomes a lost kitten/puppy that needs help finding their way. Lots of pretending we're different people/animals to get through things. Those are the persistent ones that I can think of. It's surprising to me how long some of these games have been going on and they're still effective. And there's variable little things most days too.


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## HeatherAtHome (Apr 4, 2009)

This have worked well with my niece. I lived with her the year she was 2. She was a late talker but loved to play imaginary games.

*Get on the chair before the alligator gets you!* When it's time to eat and she's slow getting to the table. "Quick! There's an alligator behind you! He's coming! Hop up on your chair!" She would get a twinkle in her eye and run for the chair. Usually I added in a "Lift you feet up! He's going to bite your toes!" just for the fun of it.









*Is that Binoo?!* She went through a phase where she _loved_ toupie and binoo. (Who wouldn't love binoo, he's so cute!) I usually did this when we were in the car going somewhere and she started to fuss or if we were waiting in a parking lot for someone making a quick run into a store. "Is that Binoo?! Up there! On that building! No, over there, in that car! Look! Now he's sliding down the lamppost!" She would even get into it and tilt her head to one side with hand to ear like "Did you hear that? He's on the roof of our car!" (She was non verbal at this point, but great at charades!







)

*A Ferocious Beast!* Sometimes we would pretend that the little fluffy harmless dog was a "ferocious beast". (Wording from Maggie and the ferocious beast) "no, we can't go in the living room to play with toys, the ferocious beast is in there!" Useful when it's time to go to bed etc.None of this was used to scare her, but to make everything fun. She loved it. "Quick, pick up your toys before the Ferocious Beast eats them!" Seriously, sometimes the dog would chew on them so it was a legitimate fear.


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## Cheshire (Dec 14, 2004)

When my son was smaller he always had a hard time settling down to sleep. He liked it when we would sing to him but sometimes even the singing wasn't enough. I learned that if I sang one of his favorite songs but added something silly in the place of the regular lyrics he would notice and tell me to sing it right. So, I'd start over and sing the first verse right and then change up something in the second verse. Again, he'd notice and tell me to sing it right. Many times he'd giggle about it and I'd say "oh, that's not right, what should it be" and he'd tell me. After a couple of times through the song he was fast asleep. It was just enough to get him to focus on the song, listen to the words and turn off whatever was racing away in his head.


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## jewelsJZ (Jan 10, 2008)

When dd was two she hated for me to brush her teeth so I would say the teeth were different colors, "Oh, look I found a purple one! Oh my goodness, theres an orange one in there!!!" She thought this was hilarious. With my son, for the same issue, I'd make a big deal out of how white and shiny his teeth were, "WOW, look at those TEETH! The dentist is going to be SOOOO happy when she sees how SHINY your teeth are!!" I did this every single time I brushed their teeth for many, many months. They laughed every time.

My sister sings rap songs in an opera voice when her kids won't get up in the morning for school so I tried this with just some little songs from a kids c.d. that my kids like and they thought it was hilarious.

My dd totally loves the "Don't you get on the potty/put on your shoes/etc." Then feign surprise, "I can't believe you did that! I'm shocked!" Got that idea from Lynne right here in MDC. Thanks Lynne!

We sing a lot, put words to the tune of some other song that they like. I can't think of any right now but one song that works well with it's own words is, "I like to move it, move it" from Madagascar. I sing that a lot when I am trying to get them into shoes and coats and then out the door.

Oh, one more. When they won't get out of the tub, I take their towels and put them on my head and then run away. They shriek, "THat's MY towel, come back here, Mommy!"


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## wrappedupmama (Dec 4, 2007)

Today my 4 year old DD was starting to feel overwhelmed and throw a fit. I said "wait a minute come here" then proceeded to "erase" her face. "Let me see, those eyes aren't right, let me wipe those off. And that mouth, cheeks, forehead, etc." Then I proceeded to put on "new eyes, etc." until I said "okay here look" and took her to the mirror to show her the "new better and happy" face I put on her. It was much better than having a time out for the screaming fit that was going to ensue if I didn't diffuse the situation somehow.


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## maeby (Nov 4, 2007)

ds always protests putting on a diaper after naked time or bath time. so i say "can you somersault onto the diaper and land your butt right on it?" and he will do that and then hold still while i strap it on!


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## readytobedone (Apr 6, 2007)

i think i am badly in need of this thread! i've gotten so boring and just order DD around all the time...this playful parenting thing seems like a nice way to keep us both in a better mood!


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## April K (Sep 20, 2006)

I love all of these ideas! Im not nearly as creative as all of you! Thank you so much!

subbing!


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## jewelsJZ (Jan 10, 2008)

The whining and screaming in frustration here at our house has reached an all time high with my 3 and 5 year olds. I can't take it anymore. Here's what I came up with:
I told them today that from now on Mommy does not respond to screaming or whining. If you need help you ask in a nice voice, a pirate voice, a Southern accent, a British accent, like Scooby Doo, Dr. Doofenshmirtz the evil scientist, or whatever, I will respond. But if you scream or whine, I will not.
Have repeated this several times today and it has stopped whining/screaming on the spot. I've ignored all screaming and whining unless there was a safety issue, like the baby was going to climb up the stairs or something.

I am also totally using that shoe-eating goat thing that one of you suggested the next time they won't put their shoes on. That's hilarious.


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## April K (Sep 20, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jewelsJZ* 
If you need help you ask in a nice voice, a pirate voice, a Southern accent, a British accent, like Scooby Doo, Dr. Doofenshmirtz the evil scientist, or whatever, I will respond. But if you scream or whine, I will not.

I love this... made me laugh, but Im sure it works well! I love getting ideas from all of you creative mommas!


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## Paeta16 (Jul 24, 2007)

LOVE LOVE LOVE this post









Quote:

When dd was two she hated for me to brush her teeth so I would say the teeth were different colors, "Oh, look I found a purple one! Oh my goodness, theres an orange one in there!!!" She thought this was hilarious. With my son, for the same issue, I'd make a big deal out of how white and shiny his teeth were, "WOW, look at those TEETH! The dentist is going to be SOOOO happy when she sees how SHINY your teeth are!!" I did this every single time I brushed their teeth for many, many months. They laughed every time.
I am totally going to use this tomorrow with DD!

Some of the games we play have been mentioned but here goes:

1. Clothes on different body parts of hers or mine. Sometimes I'll put her sock on my head or even her sock on my foot. She'll giggle and say that is MY sock or that doesn't go there and then let me put it on her.

2. The tickle monster. Oh no...you don't want to do XYZ? I think that means the tickle monster is going to get you now! Gets her laughing and then usually she'll at least help me do what it is I want her to do.

3. If she wants a toy in bed that I feel is too hard or too small or whatever. I put the toy on her dresser across from her crib and tell her that he will wait for her there until morning. She starts pretending to tuck him into his new bed and kisses him goodnight, etc.

4.She has about ten stuffed animals that she likes to sleep with and to get her to actually go to bed, each one of them "kisses" her good night in its own way...the dog gives her a slurpy sounding lick, the bunny hops onto her head, Pooh bear gives her sticky honey kisses, etc.


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## BigC (Oct 16, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Kivgaen* 
*Good barbie / bad barbie* this game works well with DD -- take two barbies, and make them argue with each other about the job that I want DD to do (like, make her bed, for example, or get dressed by herself, etc.) Good barbie says "she's 3 already! you just watch -- she can do it all by herself"). Bad barbie says "3! bah! She can't do that at 3... I don't believe it. No way!") etc.

I've been using this on my 4 year old son. Instead of using barbies I use my hands as puppets. It works like a charm. Great idea, thanks.


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## blizzard_babe (Feb 14, 2007)

A younger age target, but we play a game with DS (almost 21mos) when he's kicking and wiggling during a diaper change. We'll tell him to "KICK KICK KICK KICK KICK!" and he'll kick like crazy, and then we say, "STOP!" and he stops. Later rinse repeat a few times, then say "STOP!" and change the diaper.


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## bright_eyes (Dec 7, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *butterflyblue* 
Butterfly Mommy - thanks for the "don't eat that" game, I used it yesterday to get my kids to drink their milk. Milk is so much more fun when Mommy doesn't want you to drink it.

We do this game A LOT. It works really well. Or I'll pretend to feed his food to the pretend troll that lives in our house. I'll say "troll, here's a bite of food for you. Come quick and eat it up before C changes his mind and eats it".


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## bright_eyes (Dec 7, 2007)

To get him in his car seat, we used to pretend we are fire fighters going to put out a fire. Now he's pretty good at getting in his seat.

We have races a lot. I'll say, "I'm going to get to the kitchen, FIRST", or "go pee", or whatever it is.

He loves construction vehicles, so we pretend to be cranes, dump trucks, ect. when cleaning up. I often say, "I need a crane to come pick up these cranes, is there a crane any where?"

When I need him to leave the bedroom because I am putting baby to sleep I ask him to play hide and go seek and tell him to go hide in his bedroom.

When I need to cut his finger nails, I talk the clippers and pretend they are hungry and they tell him what his nails taste like.

I used to play this dragon game to get him to go pee. We pretend that dragons live in bathrooms and we have to try to sneak into the bathroom and go pee without waking them up. I'll say, 'Oh, I think there's a dragon in the bathroom. Let's sneak in there and pee but we can't wake him up". But of course, we always wake them up. So I'll growl and say, "who's in my bathroom?" in a growly voice. He would talk back to the dragons and have a conversation. This was a huge hit. But now he always goes pee when I ask him to.

We make up songs a lot. Especially when we brush teeth. I will make up songs as I brush but they always involve telling him the foods he ate that day that I am brushing away.


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## eshallow (Feb 24, 2009)

variations on a couple games mentioned:

"whatever you do" i say "whatever you do..... dooooon't....." "get in the car" "eat that" etc. then i scold saying "hey! i thought i said dooooon't...." they laugh so hard. (they seem to understand the different tone to my voice too, which i was worried about. if i mean no they seem to understand but if i say "whatever you do" they giggle and do it)

"lazy/crazy" when picking up toys. first play lazy- yawning, flopping on ground, moving slow. then crazy- run around picking up things like crazy. like red light green light. yell "lazy" "crazy"

eating- sprinkles do wonders. amazing that two tiny sprinkles can get a whole plate eaten, food coloring, different containers- using giant bowls for tiny bit of food, eating things out of cups instead of plates or tiny egg cups that have to be refilled over and over, eating out of mixing bowls or jars etc. using chopsticks was a big hit for a while

loving these ideas!


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## eshallow (Feb 24, 2009)

asking them to change out of their grumpy pants. "uh oh. i think you have made a big mistake! those pants seem to be super grumpy today. think they woke up on the wrong side of the drawer. this can't be. this won't do. let's quick change them..... " listen to all the pants til you find one that is laughing and happy. "let's wear these today!"


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## OkiMom (Nov 21, 2007)

I have been having a HORRIBLE time getting DD1 (3 years old) to go to bed and not wake up her sister (whos one). Ive learned that two things we use to do in Combat training for the Marines works well.
Ones called stargazing- Basically after PT if we had time left over they would have us lay on our back and look at the stars (ok, Combat training stunk but we had good instructors that realized that they needed to give us downtime when they could). With DD1 I tell her we are going to play stargazing but we have to close our eyes since we are inside and cant see the stars. Within two minutes shes out.
The other one is checking for holes in your eye lids. DD1 loves this one and thinks its so funny to think there might be holes in her eyelids so shes almost always willing to play it. Again, within two minutes shes out.

Who knew you could pick up some playful parenting tips from the Marines but I keep remembering back to some of the things I use to do with my Marines and I find things that DD would find fun/funny like low crawling around to pick up toys.


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## GracieLynn (Feb 3, 2010)

I really love, love, love these ideas! Thank you for such a GREAT topic. I am always trying to find new ways to get my little people to help *and* make it fun!


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## Ell-Bell (Nov 16, 2002)

I love love love this thread!

On of my favorite Playful Parenting "games" is for brushing teeth. For a long time Max hated doing this (and still sometimes does) and wouldn't open his mouth. So, I will take the toothbrush and pretend it's a little person. The toothbrush walks up to his mouth and says (in a silly voice or accent), "Um, hello Maximus. I um, I was just here for a party and I think I left my purse inside your mouth. Can you let me in just for a second so I can find my purse?" Max will always open up at this point. Then when the toothbrush is in his mouth the toothbrush says, "Woohoo! I made it in! Party! Party! Party!" Sometimes we have to do it several times, with the toothbrush saying things like, "Hi again Max. I know I was just here, but this time i forgot my pet chihuahua. Can I come in really quickly and look for it?"

Works for us!


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## hibiscus mum (Apr 6, 2009)

I think some of the playful stuff we do I may have read about here on MDC at some point.

For picking up toys, we have a big toy box andI tell DD that she has to pick up all the toys and hide them in the treasure chest or else the pirate will take them. DH lurks somewhere nearby and yells out the occasional "Arrrrgh!" or "Shiver me timbers!" in a pirate voice. He comes in when she's done, strutting around like a pirate and complains that he can't find the treasure.

Bathtime used to be a big fight around here, so I'd throw DD over my shoulder and pretend to be a giant who wants some "[DD's name] soup." I'd run the water and complain about being hungry, then "chop her up" by doing gentle karate chops all over her body, pretend to sprinkle her with salt, etc. This always led to a fit of giggles.

This one's a bit gross, but we were having big problems with DD witholding her poop. She'd say, "My bum hurts!" which really meant that she had the urge to poop, but she refused to go. We got the book, "Everyone Poops" which shows different animals and their poop (among other things). So now when she says that her bum hurts, we tell her we need to see her poop because we want to see if it's a great big elephant poop, or a two-humped camel poop, or a little mouse poop. It's working so far.


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## mushka3000 (Aug 25, 2008)

I found some good ideas in this thread but am always in need of more..so I'm bumping it up for revival.


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## BC mom (Nov 25, 2006)

I love these ideas and am taking notes!! I definitely need to be more creative and playful. One thing that I do with DS (3) that works well is make up a crazy story or just tell him about something that is going to happen, as I am putting on shoes/coat/clothes/pajamas or putting him on the toilet to pee. He just listens as I get it done. I only do this if I don't have time to wait for him to do it on his own as I think that is important also!


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## BonnieLynn (Dec 13, 2007)

My sister does this fun game with her 4 yr old when she gives him vitamins. She takes his vitamins out of the bottle beforehand and then gives him the bottle to shake like crazy and then tosses the vitamin on the ground and says "Oh no! The vitamins are coming out of your ears!". He thinks it's the funniest thing in the world.

If my ds doesn't want to do something I ask his baby sister if she thinks he's big enough to do it and have her respond in a baby voice that she's not sure if he's big enough, maybe he could show her? Works everytime.

We can get our ds to pick up very happily if one of us wearing a puppet who's helping.

Great ideas on here! Let's keep them coming : )


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## Bea (Apr 6, 2008)

It's chilly here but putting on a jacket before we go out (without the threats of 'if you don't put it on, we can't go outside') was an increasing struggle.

My son solved the problem one day by telling me his hands were scared to go into the dark sleeves.

Now we encourage them with shouts of "go to the light hands!!"...little does he know I'm getting Poltergeist movie shivers









He loves it!


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## sailorscout (Feb 20, 2010)

This thread is so helpful! Thanks everyone!


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## of2mindsmama (Nov 18, 2007)

awesome, fellow mamas.








i compiled all the ideas into an 8 page doc with subject headings, for my hubby, for me, and for my neighborhood moms group.
you mamas ROCK!


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## sunnmama (Jul 3, 2003)

I haven't kept up with this thread, so maybe someone already mentioned this idea...but I've got something going on recently that is working really well with 3 yo ds...

When he whines or demands, I start moving but _s-l-o-w-l-y_, say "Whining makes me reeeeaaaalllyyy ssslllloooooooooowwwwww". He laughs and rephrases politely, and then I go super fast! to get him what he wants.


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