20 of the Cutest Photos of Presidents’ Kids Playing at the White House

This is one of the most iconic images of John F. Kennedy’s presidency — his young son John-John (aka JFK Jr.) playing underneath the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. JFK was one of the first presidents to really let cameras into the White House with him and his family, and a lot of great pictures were taken over the years.

This picture was also taken in the Oval Office. Both John-John and his sister Caroline Kennedy were dancing up a storm while a happy JFK clapped along to the music. At the time this was taken in 1962, his kids were 2 and 5, and they were some of the youngest inhabitants of the White House ever.

There have been a lot of presidential animals in the White House over the years, but we’re pretty partial to the Kennedys’ pony. Not only is it cute, but it had the best name: Macaroni. Here, JFK plays with John-John and Caroline and their pet pony outside the Oval Office. Just another day as president and devoted father.

Lyndon B. Johnson had two daughters: Lynda and Luci. But his youngest, Luci, is the one who lived at the White House while he was president. She even got to celebrate her 17th birthday in the iconic building. Imagine blowing out birthday candles in the White House. Luci got to live that in 1964!

The White House has many rooms for the First Family to enjoy, like this private bowling alley. In 1966, Luci Johnson was captured playing the game with her mom Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson. We’d like to imagine that Lyndon B. Johnson enjoyed a game or two on the alley himself while he was president.

Luci grew up in the White House and eventually even got married there to her husband Patrick John Nugent in 1966. And once she had her son Patrick Jr., it wasn’t long before she was showing him around her old stomping grounds. The White House is so big and pretty, and it’s nice to see children getting to play on the giant lawn.

Gerald Ford’s kids were on the older side when he was serving as president, but they still had plenty of fun in the White House. In this picture from 1974, the president’s 17-year-old daughter Susan snuck up on him while he was working inside. She brought out a big smile in her father with her jokes and pranks on him.

President Ford was plenty up for playing around himself. As captured in this photo, he and Susan loved to spend time on the in-ground White House trampoline, pretty nifty toy in 1974. We hope that was still there for Donald Trump’s presidency. What an image that would have been of Trump bouncing on a trampoline.

Steven Ford was a year younger than his sister Susan, and he had a lot of fun during his White House days as well. This iconic image captured the 16-year-old leaping over the net on the White House tennis court. He was excited to congratulate his father after an intense match. He probably should have been a high jumper in school or something.

Jimmy Carter was president from 1977 until 1981, and his daughter Amy was just 9 when they moved into the White House. Here, she enjoyed some quality time with her dad at his desk in the Oval Office. We wonder if she understood the gravity of that room at the time. Probably not, but that’s what pictures are for!

A lot of kids like to mimic what their parents do at work, but Amy’s make-believe was a lot more impressive than ours! She got to pretend to be president and sit at her dad’s desk and everything. The Resolute Desk is a pretty impressive pretend workspace for a little kid to get to use. John-John only got to play under it!

Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy had two children together — their son, Ron Jr., and their daughter, Patti. Ron Jr. was 22 when his father was elected to office, so he didn’t live at the White House full-time. But he did get to enjoy the perks of visiting. We love this photo of him clowning around on a tandem bicycle with his mom.

The Bush kids were grown when George H. W. Bush took over the presidency in 1989, but the White House was still full of little ones thanks to all of his grandkids. Look closely, and George W. Bush’s young twins, Barbara and Jenna, can be spotted in the bed between their grandma and grandpa. It was a full house!

Another precious moment between George H. W. Bush and his young grandchildren was during one Christmas Eve. He gathered everyone on the couch to read them a Christmas story before bed, and then they presumably all got to wake up to presents in the White House the next day. That’s a pretty special way to spend the holiday.

Young Chelsea Clinton was just 12 when her dad Bill Clinton took office in 1993. She brought along her pet cat, Socks, to the White House, and both of them loved playing around in the Oval Office while President Clinton was working. The president must have been so used to it, he’s not even looking up in this photo.

Shortly after President Clinton’s swearing-in ceremony, the family got to watch the 1993 Super Bowl from a pretty prime location — a private screening room at the White House. Chelsea even got in on the fun, bringing Socks along as well. Seems like the First Daughter at least deserved one of those comfy chairs, though.

During the transition from the Bush administration to the Obama administration, Jenna and Barbara Bush got to show new First Daughters Sasha and Malia Obama around. Jenna recently shared several photos of the day on Instagram, writing, “Barbara and I taught the girls how to slide down the banister and all the secrets of the White House we loved as little girls: the best hiding spots, the movie theatre, and bowling alley. We showed them our rooms that would soon be theirs.”

Aww.

This photo from 2009 shows the Obamas walking their new puppy Bo on the South Lawn of the White House. Bo was the girls’ present for putting up with their father’s lengthy campaign. They later got a second dog named Sunny in 2013 to commemorate their father’s second presidential campaign victory.

Like the JFK Jr. photo of him playing under his dad’s desk, this is an equally iconic photo of Sasha Obama hiding in the Oval Office. She was probably just about to sneak up and surprise her dad, who was hard at work at the infamous Resolute Desk. Sasha and Malia were some of the youngest inhabitants that the White House had had in years when Barack Obama became president. Sasha was 7 and Malia was 10.

Barron Trump was 11 years old when his father took office, so he no doubt had plenty of his own fun at the White House. Here he is, pictured in 2017, checking out the solar eclipse from the White House balcony. That’s not a bad place to take in the view, as the airspace above the iconic location is unobstructed.