GAME FILE 0008

Two High, Three High

Your toddler stacks light, empty boxes two high, then three high, and decides when the stack comes down.

• AgesToddler, with a caregiver
• Players2 players
• Time5 min setup, 8 min play
• WhereIndoors

Who it is for

One toddler and one adult on the floor together. The adult prepares the boxes beforehand and stays within arm’s reach.

Toddlers who have enjoyed putting one thing on top of another are a suggested starting point. Some will stack. Some will only knock down what you stack. Both are the game.

What you need

• Three or four light, empty boxes: tissue boxes, cereal boxes, or small shipping boxes.
• Wide tape to close every flap, used by the adult before play.
• No boxes? Use firm sofa cushions, or large soft blocks if you already have them.

Space and surface

A carpet or play mat with clear floor on every side, at least as wide as the stack is tall. Nothing hard nearby for a box to bounce off.

Set it up

1. Away from your toddler, empty each box completely and remove any plastic liner or film window that is loose.
2. Tape every flap shut so no edge can open or scratch. Press down any tape corner that lifts.
3. Run your hand over every edge. If anything feels sharp or stapled, do not use that box.
4. Sit on the floor with the boxes beside you, not in a pile in front of them.
5. Put the largest box down flat and put one box on top of it, slowly. Say: “Two high.”
6. Take the top one off and hand it to your toddler.

How to play

1. Your toddler puts a box on top of the bottom one. Any direction is fine.
2. Say how high it is: “Two high.”
3. Offer the next box. If they place it, say: “Three high.”
4. Three is the top. Do not offer a fourth.
5. Ask: “Down?” Let them push it over, or take it apart one box at a time.
6. Gather the boxes together and start again if they want to.

How it ends

A round ends when the stack comes down, by a push or on its own. The game ends when your toddler has had enough. Building it back up together is the shared win.

Make it easier or harder

Easier

• Stop at two high.
• Use the biggest, flattest boxes you have.
• You hold the bottom box steady while they place.

Harder

• Put a smaller box in the middle and a bigger one on top, and watch together what it does.
• Let them choose the order.
• Turn one box on its narrow side.

Indoors and outdoors

Indoors on carpet is best. Outdoors, use a blanket on flat grass on a still day: light boxes blow away, and chasing them turns it into a different game.

Mixed ages and different abilities

• An older child can be the box handler, passing one at a time and calling the height.
• Ask older siblings to build their own taller stack somewhere else in the room, not next to the toddler.
• A toddler who is not yet stacking can do the knocking down while you do the building.
• For a child who is startled by things falling, take the stack apart by hand instead and say “off” for each box.
• Lying on their tummy and reaching counts as playing.

When it goes wrong, and how to reset

The common wobble is a box placed half on, half off, which tips at once. Do not straighten it for them. Say “It tipped,” hand the box back, and let them try the placing again.

By TeeterTop editorial. Updated October 11, 2026.

Play something next

More like this: Stacking games