Tony Abbott described the world of politics as a game of snakes and ladders as he licked his wounds after being toppled as prime minister.
On Monday, it was his successor's turn to play.
With Science Minister Christopher Pyne in tow, Malcolm Turnbull played the game with preschoolers from the Mother Teresa Early Learning Centre in Canberra.
The game's politics wasn't lost on local Liberal senator Zed Seselja.
"Yes, Christopher knows how to climb the ladder," he said jokingly of Mr Pyne.
The trio was visiting the preschool to spruik an $8 million investment in Little Scientists and Let's Count, early maths and science programs.
And it seemed appropriate that a leader grappling with how to shake-up Australia's tax system would spend the morning counting.
With wood blocks and a game of dominoes, Mr Turnbull helped the three and four-year-olds who were intent on not letting the throng of cameras and photographers interrupt their class.
"I've never seen so many concentrated people," the prime minister said, watching another group churn a tub of water with hand-mixers.
He was also shown a demonstration of water filtering using a funnel and leaves, telling a little girl called Stella she was replicating what happens in nature.
"It travels under the ground very slowly and while it's doing that it gets cleaned and then it comes out into the rivers or a little pond or at the bottom of a well," Mr Turnbull told her.
He agreed with a reporter that there's never been a more exciting time to be a preschooler - a reworking of his favourite phrase.
"I thought it was instructive actually that despite the fact you had all of these grown-ups they haven't met before and television cameras ... the kids were just completely focused on what they were doing," he said.
"It's been said many times before, but these children are our future."
It's estimated the two programs will reach 350,000 young people across the country.
The Smith Family, which runs the latter, gave Mr Turnbull a showbag of goodies for his grandson Jack.
"Jack will definitely be counting with the help of this," he told the charity's CEO Lisa O'Brien.
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