12 Reasons Adults Should Be Playful And 36 Suggestions For Achieving That

Children have many wonderful qualities, including their innate curiosity (I was always being told to stop asking questions when I was young), their boundless imagination, and their ability to play.

Much of this is eroded during the process of growing older, and by the education system, and that’s a shame, because these qualities offer lifelong benefits to all of us.

Maybe you’ve seen these two quotations before:

1. “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
2. “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

Both of these are attributed to Albert Einstein, and if curiosity and imagination were good enough for him, then I think they’re good enough for all of us.

But what about play?

Well, children aren’t just playing – they’re using it as a learning experience, to help them discover how the world works, how to interact with others, and as practice for adult life.

And play is not only a human trait – animals in the wild engage in it too, for many of the same reasons.

But as adults, we seem to have forgotten how to play. Yes, some people have hobbies, although finding time to participate in those seems to be becoming more and more difficult as the pressures of life bear down on us all.

So, this article discusses why adults should allocate time to play too, and suggests a few ways that we can regain some of our childlike qualities.

Why Should Adults Play?

Here are the main benefits of playing – or being playful, because these are not necessarily the same thing:

1. Confidence. Children are often uninhibited – it they enjoy doing something, they don’t worry about what others will think. But as adults, we seem to care too much about this. This is where playing can help – do what you enjoy, if it makes you happy (as long as it doesn’t cause harm to other people, of course), and if somebody thinks you’re silly, who cares? It took me until I was in my 40s to stop caring what others thought, and then only last night I was reminded of it by the scene where Wally (played by Richard Pryor) places an upturned ice cream cone on David’s (played by Gene Wilder) head, in the classic movie “See No Evil, Hear No Evil” which I was re-watching for the first time in 20 years or so.
2. Connection. One of the positive benefits of playing for children is that it helps them learn how to communicate with others, to share (both items, such as toys, and experiences / emotions), and more, and playing as an adult can achieve the same results.
3. Empathy. When adults engage in play, it helps them remember how it felt to be a child, and that can enable them to be more sympathetic in how they parent their own children.
4. Feeling Younger. Behaving like a child again can help rejuvenate you, making you feel younger.
5. Fun. Hopefully this goes without saying, but playing is all about having fun, but it’s something adults treat differently. Fun as an adult is more about engaging in predefined socially acceptable activities (e.g. parties, going to sports games), rather than the freeform fun that children love so much.
6. It’s Attractive. Being playful is recognized as one of the most important personality traits when it comes to attracting a partner.
7. Keeping Your Brain Active. Play, especially the type that uses your imagination, is a great way to keep your brain active. Playing is also a great way to learn, partly because it engages so many areas.
8. Laughter. Playing around often stimulates laughter – real laughter, not the fake kind that many adults often feel forced to do – and laughter is healthy for us. For example, it lowers blood pressure and stress levels, not only while you are laughing, but afterwards too.
9. Movement. The human body is structured in a way that demands movement, and yet many (or maybe most, these days) adults spend large parts of their waking hours sitting in chairs. This is not good for us, but playing can get our bodies moving again, as they should do.
10. Productivity. When you are bored at work, your productivity often decreases. Spending a few minutes in playful activities (either physically or mentally) can help you regain enthusiasm, thus boosting productivity.
11. Simplicity. When you’re a child, you don’t appreciate the benefits, because you never think of a future where you will have to earn a living and pay bills – and that’s as it should be. But as an adult, it’s hard to avoid those issues, and when you think back to your childhood, you can maybe recall how simple life was. Well, the good news is, playing can take you back in time to when you didn’t have to worry about very much at all, if you immerse yourself in play like kids do.
12. Stress Relief. Play is a great way to destress, and I think we all know the problems associated with stress (and anxiety).

Ideas For Being More Playful

So, now that you understand the benefits of play better, what can you do, as an adult, to be more playful?

1. Ask Questions. Question everything, including (or even especially) things that you take for granted, and then try to find out the answers. The most common questions that children ask begin with “Why…”, so start there. For example, “Why is the sky blue?” or “Why do some countries drive on the right and some on the left?”
2. Blow Bubbles. Yes, get one of those little bottles of bubble liquid, or make your own, and have some fun. (You may also ask yourself why bubbles stay intact for a while, and then burst.)
3. Build Sandcastles. Go to the beach (or a sandpit) and build yourself a sandcastle.
4. Colouring Books. Colouring books for grown-ups became very popular a year or two ago, and that’s because it’s a fun activity, and it’s good for you too.
5. Create Your Own Rules. Make a rule for the day and try your best to follow it. Examples might include not using a certain common word all day, or only turning left when you’re walking somewhere, or not stepping on the cracks in the pavement / sidewalk.
6. Dance. You must have heard the saying, “Dance like nobody’s watching.” Well, why not? Dancing is good for you anyway, because it gets you moving, and it’s fun (for most people, at least – I just don’t get it).
7. Daydream. Remember back in school when your teacher told somebody (maybe you) off for gazing out of the window? These days, that would probably be diagnosed as ADD, but when I was young, it was called daydreaming – and it’s a fun way to think about the future you would like to live, so let your imagination run wild. You still have one – it may just be buried through years of insufficient use. 🙂
8. Do Random Things. Write a list of things you could do, and then roll two dice to decide which option you will actually do. (This is the central premise of my all-time favourite book, The Dice Man, by Luke Rhinehart.)
9. Doodle. Get some crayons or felt tips or markers out, and draw something. You don’t need to be a great artist – most children aren’t, and it doesn’t stop them – but you do need to make it fun.
10. Dress Up. This needn’t be restricted to children, so find, or make, a costume, then act and behave like whatever character (or animal) you resemble.
11. Enthusiasm. Whatever you do during the day, do it with all the energy and enthusiasm of a young child.
12. Finger Painting. Most children love to get messy, so what better way to do that than try your hand at some finger painting?
13. Fly Kites. Go to your local park, or the beach, and fly a kite – anything from a basic one to a fancy box kite to one of those aerobatic kites will do.
14. Games. There are no shortage of good games available, including board games, card games, and outdoor games. Examples might include Mouse Trap, Ludo, Snakes & Ladders, Hangman, Cornhole, Snap, Hopscotch, Garden Jenga, Marbles, Twister, or Hide And Seek.
15. Get Down On Your Knees. Health permitting, do as many activities as you can on your knees, to remind yourself of a child’s perspective on the world.
16. Improv. Try to create your own jokes or riddles or comedy routines. For example, you could come up with your own Knock Knock jokes, or write some funny limericks.
17. Jump In Puddles. I’m sure pretty much everybody has done this as a child, but there’s no rules that say adults cannot enjoy it too.
18. Laugh. If you don’t encounter funny situations, then make time to read a funny book, watch a funny movie or TV show, or look for some funny videos on YouTube.
19. Lego. Why should kids have all the fun? Get out your Lego (or any other construction-based toys) and let your creativity flow. (They even make larger, more complex Lego kits that are designed for adults too.)
20. Make Up Your Own Language. This is something my best friend and I in junior school did. It brought strange looks from the other children, but did we care?
21. Picnic. Go on a picnic and only take foods that children enjoy.
22. Play Fights. This might be a pillow fight, or a water bomb fight, or, at the right time of year, a snowball fight.
23. Play With Children. Whatever their age, play the games they choose following the rules they decide on.
24. Puppet Show. Put on a puppet show using whatever you can find as the puppets (e.g. socks with things stuck on for facial features, empty boxes), and make up the script as you go along.
25. Read Books Designed For Children. You can read them to yourself, read them out loud, or have somebody else read them to you. Remember to ask questions every few minutes, and point out irrelevant details.
26. Remove Your Shoes. Going barefoot is something children often do, because they are not bound by society’s “rules” – but why should you be (as long as your feet are clean, of course)?
27. Roll Down A Hill. Find a gentle slope, make sure there is nothing in the way, and no people, and roll down it.
28. Run Around For No Reason. Children often run around with no particular goal in mind, often pretending to be an airplane, with their arms outstretched. As an adult, you can do this too – and don’t forget to make the right sounds.
29. Sing. You don’t need to go to your local karaoke bar to enjoy a sing-song – you can do it anywhere, including at home, in your car, or as you walk.
30. Skip. This could either be skipping with a rope (which is good exercise anyway), or skipping instead of walking – just like children do.
31. Talk To Random Strangers. Many children will interact with just about anybody, so walk up to people you don’t know and say hello to them, or just start a conversation.
32. Tell A Story. Make up a story as you go, and remember to emulate how children do this – the story should ramble, not make sense, and repeat itself frequently.
33. Throw A Frisbee. Go to the beach or park and throw a frisbee for a while.
34. Use The Wrong Words. Deliberately substitute normal words with alternative words that make no sense.
35. Wear Mismatched Clothes. Depending on how brave you are, this might be two different colours or patterns of socks, to something more visible, like a jacket and pair of trousers that clearly don’t belong together.
36. Yoda Talk. Deliberately alter the word order in your sentences. Fun this may be.

Of course, many of these suggestions can be done by yourself, with other adults (maybe as a competition), or with your kids.

Conclusion

Remember that:

• Play is meant to be fun, so if it’s not fun, don’t force it.
• It doesn’t need to make any sense.
• You don’t need to explain what you’re doing to anybody else, but if you must, just say that you’re having fun.
• You need to make sure you (and anybody else involved) stay safe.

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above:

1. Colouring Books For Adults
2. Garden Jenga
3. Lego Kits For Adults
4. The Dice Man