Do adults need playtime, too?
As we get older, more responsibilities are placed upon us. The playfulness and carefree attitude of our younger years is replaced with a more mature and common sense outlook on life. The time for fun and games becomes less and less, and the time for responsibility and performance more and more. Play is something we eventually grow out of. After all, we’re adults, we can’t act like children, can we? A team of researchers in New Zealand claim that grown-ups can benefit from play as much as children do. The full study findings were previously published in the ‘International Journal of Play’(opens in new window).
The power of play
The researchers studied the experiences of New Zealand families that participated in a four-week project. The goal was to examine the challenges involved in integrating traditional, unstructured and mostly unsupervised play practices into the contemporary family setting. The project included a two-hour information seminar for parents, real play activities for the children and a joint debriefing session. The research team gathered and assessed data from the parent and child focus group interviews and social media postings to build a clear and complete picture of what each family experienced. The emphasis was on how families found meaning and value in real play based on their first impressions, experiences, challenges and reflections after the project. “Our research with New Zealand families highlights how supporting unstructured play can help adults feel less stressed and more connected, while also normalising playfulness in everyday family life,” professors Scott Duncan and Melody Smith of New Zealand’s Auckland University of Technology and the University of Auckland, respectively, explain in their article in ‘The Conversation’(opens in new window). “In a world that demands constant busyness, play offers essential qualities we are at risk of losing: spontaneity, togetherness and the freedom to have fun.” So what is considered ‘play’ when it comes to adults? “Play in adulthood can look different from play in childhood. It is less about toys or games and more about how we approach everyday experiences. Adult play can be physical, social, creative or imaginative. It might involve movement, music, humour, storytelling, problem-solving or simply doing something for the pleasure of it.”
Never too old for fun
The two researchers say it’s also about how we respond to everyday situations. “What makes an activity playful is not its form, but the mindset behind it: curiosity, openness and a willingness to engage without a fixed outcome. For adults, play is often woven into hobbies and moments of exploration that sit outside work and obligation.” Making play a priority isn’t silly or unnecessary – it’s an important part of a healthy, happy life. “Play has long been treated as something separate from adult life, confined to childhood or reserved for rare moments of leisure,” they concluded. “Yet the evidence suggests playfulness continues to matter well beyond early development. Reframing play as a legitimate part of adult life opens up new ways of thinking about wellbeing across the lifespan.”