Ideas on how to make play time more fun

I consider myself a somewhat creative Dad when it comes to playing “make believe” with my two young daughters. My wife always laughs at the story lines and voices I create when playing with them. Whether it is barbie dolls, castles, or animals. But even then, I find myself often stuck and fresh out of new ideas. If it was up to my five year old, we would play the same exact “game” with the same characters and story line over and over and over again….. the problem with that is that a) I DO get bored with playing the same exact thing with her and b) I want to challenge her with new imaginative story lines and lessons (when I can, I try to weave a small little lesson into our make believe games. e.g. the princess doesn’t need rescuing - she can rescue the prince, sharing is important, compliments by friends at tea parties for attributes I want her to focus on like kindness or reading vs. appearance, etc.).Any ideas on ways to keep play time different? Story lines that work for you?? Let’s share them to help each other out. I’ll start:One of my go-to moves is taking a classic fairy tale story line and adopting it. This works especially good if it is a story she is unfamiliar with. For example, the other day I took the basic premise from the original princess and the frog (Brothers Grimm’s version, not the movie), had whatever animal I was pretending to be play the frog role. Had her Barbie loose her favorite toy in the forest, I found it, and negotiated with her to get it back. But instead of exchanging the toy for a kiss or friendship like the original, it turned into a lesson about sharing and helping someone without needing anything in return. Adding humor and “action” always keeps them entertained. So of course my animal would fall every once into some trap or hole, and she would have to help me get out. We’d have to cross some big canyon (in between pillows) and would need to help each other. Maybe another animal would get to the missing toy first and we’d have to find a way to get it back. At the end the animal turns into another barbie and they become best friends.Would love to hear any story lines that work for you. Especially ones that get our kids interested in toys they don’t naturally gravitate towards (e.g. my girls don’t seem very interested playing with matchbox cars). via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2qcSGrQ