GAME FILE 0009
DECLASSIFIED: PLAY IT TODAYThe Wobbly Bowl
Your toddler tries to rest one soft thing on the rounded top of an upside-down plastic bowl, and finds out together with you what makes it stay.
- AgesToddler, with a caregiver
- Players2 players
- Time2 min setup, 5 min play
- WhereIndoors
Who it is for
One toddler and one adult on the floor. Best after your toddler has had some easy success with a flat base.
Toddlers who have played One Thing on Top a few times are a suggested starting point. A rounded base is harder, so expect more sliding, and treat the sliding as the interesting part.
What you need
- One light plastic mixing bowl or storage tub, turned upside down. Plastic only: no glass, ceramic, or metal.
- A folded washcloth, and a small stuffed animal or rolled pair of adult socks.
- Optional: a second, flatter container to compare.
Space and surface
Carpet or a play mat, with clear floor around you. A bowl slides on hard floors, so stay on something soft.
Set it up
- Check the bowl: no cracks, no sharp rim, light enough for your toddler to lift easily.
- Turn it upside down on the carpet between you.
- Drape the folded washcloth over the top, slowly. It will stay. Say: “On top.”
- Take it off. Now set the stuffed animal on the top. It may slide. Say what it did.
- Offer both objects to your toddler and let them choose.
How to play
- Your toddler puts one thing on the bowl.
- Watch together. Do not catch it if it slides.
- Name what happened: “It stayed,” or “It slid down.”
- Offer the other object and watch again.
- If they turn the bowl the right way up and put things in it, follow them. In and out is a fine game too.
How it ends
It ends when your toddler moves on. If something stays on top for a moment and they notice, that is as much of a win as the game has.
Make it easier or harder
Easier
- Use only the washcloth: something floppy will stay on almost anything.
- Swap the bowl for a flat-bottomed storage tub turned upside down.
Harder
- Try the rolled socks, which roll.
- Try a smaller bowl.
- Put the washcloth on first, then the stuffed animal on top of the washcloth, and see whether that changes anything.
Indoors and outdoors
An indoor floor game. Outdoors on a blanket works if the ground is flat. On a slope, everything slides for a different reason and the game gets confusing.
Mixed ages and different abilities
- An older sibling can guess out loud, before each try, whether it will stay or slide. Guessing is their game. Placing stays the toddler’s.
- If reaching the top of the bowl is hard, use a shallower one.
- You can steady the bowl with a hand on the far side.
- Patting the object once it is on top, and watching it fall, is a way of joining in.
When it goes wrong, and how to reset
The common wobble is the bowl skidding away when it is pushed. Move to thicker carpet, or put the bowl on a towel. If your toddler gets frustrated, go back to the washcloth, which always stays.
Safety notes for this game
- Plastic only. Never glass, ceramic, or metal bowls, which are heavy and can break or pinch.
- The bowl stays upside down on the floor. It is not a seat or a step.
- Every piece is bigger than your toddler’s closed fist, with nothing that can come off it. If you are unsure about a piece, leave it out.
- No lids with small seals or removable parts in the play space.
- No objects filled with loose beads, beans, or pellets.
- An adult is within arm’s reach the whole time.
More in the play safety guide.
Play something next
Balancing objects
One Thing on Top
One soft thing, one low flat place to put it. The very first balancing game.
Balancing objects + Building
Two High, Three High
Light empty boxes, stacked two high and then three. Knocking it down is part of it.
Balancing objects + Body movement
Carry It on Top
For confident walkers: carry a soft thing on a small cushion, a few steps, to you.