20 Two-Minute Ways to Get Playful

Taking time to play with your kids can feel like adding one more thing to the parenting to-do list. Get playful instead. Here are easy ways to lighten up your daily routine.

1. Have a thumb war.
2. Wake your kids up with a pillow fight.
3. Have a joke-telling contest.
4. Keep water guns at the ready and fire when no one expects it.
5. Take silly selfies.
6. Teach armpit farts and fake burping (or have your kids teach you).
7. Play a practical joke.  
8. If you have enough people around the table, play the game “telephone.”
9. Revisit one of your most embarrassing childhood moments.
10. Record your kid telling you one of his favorite early childhood stories.
11. Blow up balloons. Fun will emerge.
12. Play hide and seek in the house.
13. Make up a joke, the sillier the better.
14. Play “Would you rather …”
15. Have a staring contest.
16. Have a laughing contest.
17. Have a dance party.
18. Step outside for five minutes of flashlight tag before bed.
19. Watch a funny video. (Try parentmap.com/viral as a starter.)
20. Laugh at yourself.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published a few years ago, and updated in March 2021.