Imaginative Play for Dads with 3 Year Olds

Turn a laundry basket or cardboard box into a spaceship. Count down from 10 and blast off. Visit planets (different rooms), encounter aliens (stuffed animals), and collect moon rocks (balls). Houston, we have a three-year-old.

Make an eye patch from paper, a sword from a wrapping paper tube, and a treasure map with a tea-stained piece of paper. Hide 'treasure' (chocolate coins or stickers) and follow the map. Use pirate voices the entire time. Arrr.

Line up stuffed animals as patients. Use a toy stethoscope, bandages, and a notepad for 'records.' Examine each animal, diagnose silly illnesses, and prescribe treatments. The stuffed bear has a boo-boo? Bandage time.

Wear hard hats (or bike helmets), grab toy tools, and build something from blocks or cardboard. Assign jobs - foreman, crane operator, truck driver. Talk in walkie-talkie voices and take a 'lunch break' with real snacks.

Teach them simple 'magic tricks' - make a coin disappear behind your ear, pull a scarf from a tube, guess which hand has the ball. Give them a cape (towel) and a wand (stick). Let them perform for family or stuffed animals.

Hide plastic animals around the house or yard. Grab binoculars (real or made from toilet paper tubes) and go on safari. Whisper so you don't scare the animals. Identify each one and check it off your list. Take 'photos' with a toy camera.

Write letters and draw pictures to send to family members, stuffed animals, or imaginary friends. Put them in envelopes with stickers for stamps. Set up a mailbox (shoebox with a slot) and deliver the mail. They take the mailman role very seriously.

Sound the alarm, slide down the 'pole' (slide off the couch), put on your gear (rain boots and a coat), and rush to the fire (a pile of red and orange paper). Spray it with a 'hose' (jump rope or vacuum hose). Save the stuffed animals.

Scoop playdough ice cream into cones (real or paper) with an ice cream scoop. Take orders, name flavors, add toppings (beads, buttons, pom-poms). Charge play money. They'll serve you seventeen scoops and expect you to eat them all.

Line up chairs as train cars. Everyone gets a ticket (paper). The conductor (your kid) punches tickets (hole punch), calls out stops, and drives the train. Different rooms are different cities. 'All aboard!' Make train noises the whole time.

Set up a tent or blanket fort indoors. Pack a 'backpack' with supplies, cook pretend food over a fake campfire (tissue paper flames, sticks), tell campfire stories, and listen for bears (you making bear sounds from the other room).

Set up a laundry basket or box as the car. Make a steering wheel from a paper plate. Create a racecourse with tape on the floor. Rev engines, do a countdown, and race. Add pit stops for tire changes (spin cushions) and refueling (juice box).

Create a prehistoric world with pillows as mountains, blue towels as rivers, and green blankets as jungle. The plastic dinosaurs live here and have daily adventures - finding food, making friends, escaping a volcano (throw red socks).

Set up a pretend hair salon with combs, spray bottles (water), clips, and a chair. Take turns being stylist and client. They'll give you the most creative hairstyle of your life. Look in the mirror and tell them it's perfect.

Line up chairs as airplane seats. Make boarding passes. The pilot (your kid) makes announcements, serves snacks in the 'aisle,' and flies to destinations (name exotic places). Hit turbulence (shake the chairs) and enjoy the in-flight movie (a book).

Each of you creates a superhero identity with a name, power, and costume (towel cape, mask from paper). Build a headquarters from couch cushions. Receive missions (you write them on paper) and go save the day. Every mission ends with victory poses.

Set up a pretend library with books on a shelf. Make library cards (index cards with their name). They're the librarian - stamping books (with a stamp or crayon mark), scanning them, and shushing you when you're too loud. Then read the checked-out books together.

Make a microphone from a toilet paper tube and a ball. Stand in front of a 'camera' (phone on a tripod or propped up). Report on the weather. Draw weather maps. Use dramatic gestures. Three-year-olds are natural performers and they'll want to report all day.