The Importance of Play for Adults

We all know that play is important for children.  It develops their motor skills, dexterity, and curiosity.   It helps them to explore things and connect the dots between their actions and their results.  It’s learning through play and something kids aren’t likely to stop very easily when it’s time to go.

What about play for adults?  Can you remember the last time you had so much fun doing something, that you didn’t want to stop, even though your schedule told you otherwise?  Did you lose track of time? 

Were you playing volleyball?

Singing karaoke?

Playing catch in the pool with your kids? 

Playing Monopoly?

Creating a scrapbook?

Making something?

Our work and kids’ schedules keep us very busy these days.  We barely have enough time for a family dinner together, let alone havetime to play for adults!

What does your downtime look like?

Is it binge-watching your favorite series on Netflix?

Searching aimlessly on the Internet?

Although these activities are fun, they typically are not engaging, thought-provoking, or rejuvenating.

We don’t stop playing because we grow old;
we grow old because we stop playing.
– George Bernard Shaw

Why is Play for Adults Important?

Research shows that Play…

• Stimulates creativity
• Improves brain function
• Relieves stress
• Encourages imagination
• Can improve your relationship with others
• Releases endorphins
• Improves memory
• Increases BDNF secretion, important for brain cell growth
• Stimulates the growth of the cerebral cortex
• Can increase productivity levels

Play gives you the opportunity to forget about schedules, commitments, and your to-do list and engage in activities that allow you “be in the moment.”

Examples of Play

OK, you might be thinking, “play, yup, OK, I can do that…but what does play for adults mean?” Does this question ring true for you?

According to this research study, play can be defined as…

… a free activity standing quite consciously outside ‘ordinary’ life as being ‘not serious’ but at

the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no

material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper

boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner.

Anything goes with play, here are some play for adults examples:

• Playing a sport (volleyball, basketball, baseball, frisbee golf, tennis, rollerblading, rafting, etc.)
• Swing a hula hoop
• Play tetherball
• Make sparkle play dough and have fun with it
• Make shrinky dinks
• Create your family’s Halloween costumes
• Have a water balloon fight
• Jump on a trampoline
• Play charades or Pictionary
• Go for a bike ride by the beach or down a mountain
• Color with adult coloring books
• Play foosball
• Play ping pong
• Sing karaoke
• Play putt-putt golf
• Go indoor rock climbing
• Go kayaking
• Take a hike
• Join a dance class
• Find out how to make your own beer
• Build something for fun
• Build a sand castle
• Jump on bubble wrap
• Make a castle out of cardboard
• Go bowling
• Have a snowball fight
• Blow bubbles in milk
• Go on a mall scavenger hunt
• Skip rope
• ___________ (you fill in the blank)

Give yourself permission to have some fun.  It’s a great release from the stresses of the day and gives your mind a break from the mental taxes of work. 

There’s a reason why so many tech companies have brought in ping pong and foosball tables (like I’ve seen at Netflix), sand volleyball courts (as I’ve seen at Microsoft’s Southern California location), a LEGO play station (at Google),  or a gym, swimming pool, basketball courts, and sand volleyball (at Pixar).

Companies know that play for adults means having fun and connecting with colleagues enhances connection and communication while breaking down boundaries.  It also increases loyalty to the company and assists with creative, out-of-the-box ideas.  It’s a win-win for everyone!

So, take some time out of your busy day and endless to-do list to play.  Yes, dinner still needs to be made, but you can take a break and play a game with your spouse or kids before finishing it.

Oh, and no surprise, play allows you to connect with your kids in fun ways, resulting in long-lasting memories, boosting their self-confidence, and connectedness to your family.

See our previous article, Family Fun, Connecting Through Play, for more ideas on how to do this.

So go out and play…with reckless abandonment!