I play a role-playing game with my 4-year-old.
I need to make it very simple.
She has a short attention span.

We use Perfected by M.A.R. Barker as the gaming system.
We both roll a die. Higher roll wins.
If her chances of success are higher than mine, she gets a higher die size (i.e. she gets a d20 and I get a d10).

She plays a dinosaur called Nossil. Nossil is pink and violet.
The kids in her village want her to find the Candy Monster.
It has eaten up all the sweets.

She tracks the monster to a cave. (Yes, it’s a dungeon. Nothing wrong with the classics.)

In the first room, there are Licorice Spiders.
They say: “No, you can’t pass. The Candy Monster gives us Wine Gum Flies to eat. If you defeat the monster, we will starve.”
Nossil: “I will eat YOU!”
Spiders: “Aaah!”
Nossil: “Just a joke.”
(Violence is not her style. My daughter doesn’t know how to proceed. What are you supposed to do as a role-player?)
Spiders: “Will you give us food?”
Nossil: “Yes.”

We roll dice. She rolls a 12 on her d20, I roll a 7 on a d10.
The Licorice Spiders let her pass.

The next cave is full of a jello lake. But it is liquid.
I say: “Do you want to take your rope and climb over it? Or do you want to use flour to make the jello solid again so you can walk on it?” (Give her clear choices, otherwise, she doesn’t know how to go on.)
She surprises me: “I want to use a trampoline to jump over the lake.”
We roll dice and she wins again.
We pantomime it out and laugh. Now she wants to play something else.
The Candy Monster gets a breather.

I’m curious about what will happen next time.