Another Superhero Adventure today, and unlike last time, I wanted to be prepared this time around. So I prepped a scenario we could solve through cooperative play: A moon base had a critical leak of gamma energy, and to fix it, one of us would have to flick a (pretend) switch while the other two connected while touching buttons (placed far enough away that one person couldn't touch both on their own). Zephyr saw me making the buttons as he was having breakfast and wanted to get in on the act.
The kids got into their superhero outfits - Lyric as Stripe Boy, Zephyr as Dr. Ice - and prepared to shoot out into space.
I gave them their mission as Professor Plutonium, but almost immediately they started adding onto it by coming up with a villain named Red Volcano who was simultaneously threatening the earth as this moon base was having its gamma energy crisis. I think they may have wanted me to become Red Volcano and chase them around a bit, but I stayed as their ally and played along with the scenario. My goal was constantly to try and get them to problem solve: For example, If Red Volcano was pounding our spaceship with lava blasts, we could try and deflect the heat with Dr. Ice's ice shields. Whatever it took to get to the moon base before it exploded.
Their bunk bed was our spaceship. Lyric was loading it with supplies before we blasted off.
When we got to the moon base / living room, the kids immediately homed in on the three buttons I had put up on the wall. They couldn't quite each touch a button and reach each other, but they solved the problem by using a shoehorn to connect themselves together.
They actually wanted to do this scenario a bunch of times with different combinations of people (me and Lyric, me and Zephyr, Zephyr and Lyric). I was proud of them for coming up with the shoehorn workaround, I thought they might have to grab onto each other's legs or something.
With the Gamma Energy safely contained, we could battle Red Volcano. I had Red Volcano trap Lyric in a Fire cage (using a Hoberman sphere) so that Zephyr could work to free him.
Stripe Boy! Nooooooo!
After a pretend pounding of Red Volcano (Zephyr said "we're going to have to solve this problem... by punching!", which I wanted to try and correct so that I could tell them that violence doesn't solve anything, but which I found myself unable to do because I found it so funny) we had to wrap up our superhero adventure for the day.
I always feel like I could do more for this activity, but the kids always seem to have a good time even when I half-ass it. Any little thing you can do to prepare for it is appreciated by the kids, though.