Top 11 'Patience-Stretching' Waiting Games to try for toddlers who want everything 'right now' - Goh Ling Yong
"I want it NOW!"
If you're the parent of a toddler, that phrase probably sounds... familiar. Whether it's a snack that's two minutes from being ready, a toy their sibling is holding, or their turn on the slide, a toddler's world operates on an instant-gratification timeline. Waiting is, to put it mildly, not their strong suit. This can lead to epic meltdowns in the grocery store aisle, frantic wiggles at the dinner table, and a general sense of chaos that leaves you feeling utterly drained.
But here’s the good news: this is completely normal. The part of their brain responsible for impulse control and delayed gratification, the prefrontal cortex, is still a major construction zone. They aren't being "naughty" when they can't wait; they simply haven't developed the neurological wiring for it yet. Our job as parents isn't to punish the impatience, but to help them build that wiring, one playful moment at a time.
Instead of just gritting your teeth and enduring the wait, you can transform these challenging moments into powerful learning opportunities. By turning the act of waiting into a game, you can help your toddler develop the crucial life skills of patience, self-regulation, and impulse control. These "patience-stretching" exercises are fun, require little to no prep, and can be played anywhere—in a long queue, during a car ride, or while waiting for dinner to cook.
Here are 11 of our favorite waiting games to help your little one learn that good things do, indeed, come to those who wait.
1. The Classic: Red Light, Green Light
This isn't just a simple playground game; it's a foundational lesson in impulse control. The core concept of "stop and go" is a physical manifestation of the mental switch your toddler is learning to flip. It’s about listening to a command and overriding the powerful impulse to just keep moving.
To play, one person is the "stoplight" and stands with their back to the other players. When they call out "Green Light!", the other players can run towards them. When they shout "Red Light!" and turn around, everyone must freeze in place. It’s a brilliant way to practice body awareness and quick response, teaching them to pause an action mid-stride.
Tips for Toddlers: Keep it simple and fun. Start with very short distances. When you call "Red Light," make a big, exaggerated freezing motion yourself. You can add a "Yellow Light" command, which means everyone has to move in slow motion—an even greater test of control! Play it while walking to the car, tidying up toys, or any time you need to manage their forward momentum.
2. The Freeze Dance
Think of this as Red Light, Green Light with a soundtrack. The Freeze Dance is perfect for burning off that frenetic toddler energy while simultaneously sharpening their listening skills and self-control. The sudden shift from wild, joyful movement to complete stillness is a fantastic workout for their developing self-regulation abilities.
Put on your toddler’s favorite high-energy song and encourage them to dance their heart out. When you randomly pause the music, everyone has to freeze in whatever silly position they find themselves in. The goal is to hold that pose until the music starts again. The anticipation of the music stopping and the challenge of holding still builds a surprising amount of focus.
Tips for Toddlers: Let your toddler be the "DJ" sometimes, giving them control over the start and stop button. This empowerment makes them more invested in the game. Make funny faces or wobble a bit to try and make them laugh and break their pose. Celebrate their successful "freezes" with lots of praise!
3. Ready, Set… WAIT… Go!
This game is beautifully simple and can be adapted to almost any activity. It’s a direct exercise in building anticipation and then holding back an impulse until the correct release word is given. This simple sequence is a micro-lesson in delayed gratification that you can practice dozens of times a day.
The concept is easy: before starting any action, you build it up with "Ready, Set..." Then, you insert a pause. This is the patience-stretching moment. Draw out the "WAIT..." for a few seconds before enthusiastically yelling "Go!" You can use this for starting a race across the lawn, rolling a ball back and forth, taking the first bite of a special treat, or even starting to brush their teeth.
Tips for Toddlers: Vary the length of the "WAIT." Sometimes make it short and sometimes stretch it out for five or six seconds to really build the tension. Use your voice to add to the drama—whisper the "Ready, Set..." part and then shout the "Go!" The excitement makes the waiting period feel like part of the fun, not a chore.
4. Simon Says
"Simon Says" is the undisputed champion of listening and impulse control games. It requires a toddler to not just hear a command, but to process it and check for a crucial piece of information—the magic words "Simon Says"—before acting. It forces them to pause and think rather than just reacting, which is a massive skill.
The rules are simple: players must only obey commands that begin with the phrase "Simon Says." If you say, "Simon says touch your nose," they should touch their nose. If you just say, "Jump up and down," they should stay still. Resisting the urge to follow that second command is the whole point of the exercise.
Tips for Toddlers: At first, use "Simon Says" for almost every command to build their confidence. Keep the actions simple and fun, like "Simon says roar like a lion" or "Simon says make a silly face." As they get the hang of it, start mixing in commands without the magic words to challenge them. Remember to take turns and let them be Simon, too!
5. The Build-and-Crash Tower
What toddler doesn't love the glorious chaos of knocking over a tall tower of blocks? This game cleverly uses that desire for a big, satisfying crash as the motivation for patient, careful building. The reward (the crash) is directly proportional to the amount of time and patience invested in the setup.
Work together to build the tallest tower you can with blocks, Duplos, or even empty cardboard boxes. The key is to narrate the process. "We have to go slow and be careful to make it super tall!" The longer they can wait and the more they participate in the careful stacking, the more satisfying the final "BOOM!" will be. This creates a positive association between patience and a fun outcome.
Tips for Toddlers: Count each block as you add it to the tower to help them quantify the building process. Talk about what will happen when it's done: "Just a few more blocks, and then we can have a GIANT crash!" This helps them visualize the reward at the end of their patient waiting.
6. Hide the Toy (Shell Game)
This is a quiet, focused game that’s perfect for a restaurant table or waiting room. It teaches a toddler to wait, watch carefully, and hold information in their mind. It’s a mini-meditation in observation and patience.
Take a small, interesting object (like a small animal toy or a colorful pom-pom) and three identical opaque cups. Let your toddler watch as you place the toy under one of the cups. Then, slowly and deliberately, slide the cups around to shuffle their positions. Your toddler must wait until you stop moving the cups before they can point to the one they think the toy is under.
Tips for Toddlers: Start with just two cups to make it easier. Move the cups very slowly and dramatically. Let them be the one to hide the toy for you. The excitement of the "reveal" is a great reward for their focused waiting.
7. Cooking and Baking Together
The kitchen is one of the best real-world classrooms for learning patience. The process of cooking or baking is filled with non-negotiable waiting periods, and the end result is a tangible, delicious reward. It’s the ultimate lesson in delayed gratification.
Whether you're making cookies, muffins, or even just gelatin, involve your toddler in the process. They can help stir the batter, pour pre-measured ingredients, or sprinkle toppings. Then comes the hard part: waiting for it to bake or set. This is where you can see the skill in action. I've often heard from parenting experts like Goh Ling Yong that integrating these lessons into daily routines is far more effective than trying to teach them in isolation.
Tips for Toddlers: Use a visual timer (like a sand timer or a digital one with a progress bar) so they can "see" the time passing. Talk about what’s happening while you wait. "The oven is making the cookies warm and yummy. We have to wait for the timer to go 'ding!'" This helps them understand that waiting is an active and necessary part of the process.
8. The "I'm Thinking Of..." Guessing Game
This is a fantastic, no-props-needed game for developing conversational patience and thinking skills. It requires one person to wait for clues and the other person to wait for guesses, teaching the natural back-and-forth rhythm of communication.
Start by saying, "I'm thinking of something in this room that is... blue." Then, you wait. Let your toddler look around and make a guess. If they're wrong, you can provide another clue: "It's something you can sit on..." This forces them to slow down, listen to the information provided, and think before they speak, rather than just shouting out random answers.
Tips for Toddlers: Keep the objects you choose very simple and obvious at first. Praise them for their good listening and smart guesses. When it’s their turn to think of something, help them come up with good clues to give you.
9. Pass the Parcel
You don't need a birthday party to play this classic game. Even with just you and your toddler, "Pass the Parcel" is a wonderful way to practice turn-taking and manage the excitement of anticipation. The entire game is built around waiting for the music to stop and hoping it stops on you.
Wrap a small toy or treat in many layers of wrapping paper or newspaper. Play a short snippet of a song while you pass the parcel back and forth. When the music stops, whoever is holding it gets to unwrap one layer. Then, the music starts again. The process of slowly revealing the prize, layer by layer, is a masterclass in delayed gratification.
Tips for Toddlers: To keep motivation high, you can place a sticker or a single goldfish cracker between each layer. This provides small, immediate rewards for their patience as they wait for the main prize at the center.
10. The Statue Game
Similar to the Freeze Dance, the Statue Game is all about stillness. But instead of being a response to music, it's about a conscious effort to control one's own body for a set period. It’s an excellent tool for helping an overstimulated or hyperactive toddler find a moment of calm and focus.
Challenge your toddler to a "statue contest." On the count of three, you both freeze and see who can hold their "statue pose" the longest. This requires immense concentration and body control for a little one, strengthening the mind-body connection that is crucial for self-regulation.
Tips for Toddlers: Start with very short time goals. "Let's be statues for 10 seconds!" and count it out loud. You can also make it goal-oriented: "Let's see if we can stay frozen until that bus drives past." Making silly frozen poses adds to the fun and makes the challenge feel less like a test and more like a game.
11. Taking Turns with a "Talking Stick"
This is a slightly more advanced game that introduces the concept of conversational patience—a skill many adults are still working on! It helps toddlers understand that communication involves both speaking and listening, and that they need to wait for their turn to do each. As I've noted in other articles for Goh Ling Yong's blog, teaching social-emotional skills early sets a foundation for life.
Find an object to be your "talking stick" (a wooden spoon, a specific toy, a decorated cardboard tube). The rule is simple: only the person holding the stick is allowed to talk. When you want to tell a story or ask a question, you hold the stick. Then, you pass it to your toddler, and it’s their turn to talk without interruption.
Tips for Toddlers: Use this during specific times, like sharing about your day at the dinner table. Keep the turns short and sweet to match their attention span. When it's your turn to listen, model engaged, patient listening by looking at them and nodding along. This shows them that listening is just as important as speaking.
Patience is a Skill, Not a Personality Trait
Remember, teaching patience is a marathon, not a sprint. There will still be meltdowns and moments of "I want it NOW!" But by consistently and playfully integrating these patience-stretching games into your daily life, you're not just distracting them in a long line—you're building new neural pathways. You're giving them the tools they need to manage their big emotions, control their impulses, and understand that some things are truly worth waiting for.
Start small, keep it fun, and celebrate every little success. By turning waiting into a game, you can transform one of the most challenging parts of the toddler years into one of the most rewarding.
What are some of your go-to tricks or games for helping your toddler wait patiently? Share your best tips in the comments below—we can all learn from each other
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
Stay updated with the latest posts and insights by following on your favorite platform!