Simple play actions that encourage children to explore, use their senses, and move their bodies:

• Pillow Tower is a game that challenges children to create a tower made from all types of pillows. The objective of the game is to construct the biggest tower possible without it falling over. Children can choose which pillows to use and the order they should be stacked on top of the other. Older children can experiment with different stacking methods to create a sturdy tower and be creative with different designs or patterns that match specific colors.

• Pillow Toss is an easy game that can be played by children of all ages. To play the game, Children can toss pillows to knock down or into targets (e.g., laundry basket, onto the couch, to knock down a tower of pillows) or can stand facing each other and throw a pillow back and forth. If tossing to each other, players aim to catch the pillow without dropping it and with several variations that can make the game more difficult and attractive, such as players standing further apart from each other to raise the difficulty level, adding a spin or other movement to the pillow toss, or trying to catch the pillow with one hand instead of two.

• Pillow Maze is a game for children to get guided through a maze made out of pillows. To play, children can begin by creating a maze using pillows. The maze can be built in any room of the house, and the pillows can be placed in any design or form to create an obstacle of their choice. Once the maze is built, children can take turns guiding through it without losing their balance or crashing any pillows. Challenges can be added like barriers they have to navigate through to get from one pillow to the next or timing how long it takes to get through the maze.

• Pillow Hop asks children to hop on pillows as if they were on a hopscotch board. Children can begin by creating a hopscotch board with pillows on the floor. The exact shape of the pillow board depends on the difficulty that they want to give to the game and their ages. Once the pillow hopscotch board is ready each player can take turns and start hopping on the pillow without falling or moving them. If you want to create a more challenging game then you can add obstacles like a time limit, higher pillow boxes, hopping on one foot or backwards, or objects that children pick up and hold along the way.

• Pillow Race involves children running or walking while balancing a pillow on their heads. Children can choose the start and finish line made out of painters’ or electrical tape or designated with furniture. Pillow Race can be made more difficult by adding obstacles before crossing the finish line, running backwards, or doing other movements without the pillow falling off their head. If with a group of children, the game can be played as a relay where children on the same team give the pillow to the next player, who then passes it to the following player, and so on until the pillow arrives at the final player on the team. 
• Pillow Balancing is children choosing a pillow and putting it on a selected body part, such as their head, shoulder, or knee. The goal is to keep the pillow on that body part for as long as possible. Players can switch between different body parts or balance multiple pillows on body parts to make the game more challenging.

Imaginary play that encourages children to make-believe and role-play:

• Pillow Roads is placing pillows on the floor to make roads for vehicles and characters to go on. Houses or other landmarks can be built along the way to stop and visit. 
• Sandwich shop uses pillows and children as sandwich ingredients. Stack up alternating layers of kids and cushions as high as you can go! Throw a mom or dad in for fun!
• Whack a Mole uses pillows to gently bop stuffed animals or other critters that pop up from behind the couch, chair, or other hiding place.
• Jailbreak is using pillows to build a fort around the children (4 pillows as walls and 1 or 2 on top as a roof). One person becomes the guard, and the others are the “bad guys” trying to break out of jail. Turn your back for a second (or pretend to fall asleep on the job), and your bad guys will break out of their cell! Chase them, recapture them and repeat!