Why should adults play ?
We would all agree that playing is a key beneficial activity for children. It is part of their learning process and allows them to experiment with their surroundings. It has been broadly researched and today, solutions to put children at play are booming. Tons of games, interactive books, learning toys and toolkits supporting a more playful experience of learning for children. But is play beneficial only for kids? Can play be beneficial for adults too?
Less research come to support that, and we think it is interesting to understand why. While the main activity of childhood is to learn, the main activity of our adults lives is work.
While childhood is dedicated to learning and experimenting, adulthood is seen as the moment when it is time to execute and be productive. Playing is no longer considered essential but relegated to leisure and entertainment. Therefore, play is strongly associated with childhood in our collective consciousness.
However, this polarized vision of play being only associated with childhood is slowly changing. Market and society dynamics are pushing continuous training and learning. As adults, we are expected to develop new skills and competencies during our work lives. With this consideration, learning becomes a core element of adulthood. And what is a great medium to learn? You got it right, play.
In fact, when we play we are placed in a protected environment in which he can test, fail & iterate without consequences. We are able to exert freedoms such as the freedoms to fail or experiment fully (read our article here) ! It empowers the player to try, put knowledge into practice and test new hypotheses. When done right, an adult as play gets many benefits from it. It is not a matter of being a child or an adult, but it actually comes down to the fact that playing is an universal human activity. Thus, we understand that adults can benefit from playing as much as children, we shall just play differently.
But how? Somehow, as we’re growing older, it seems less instinctive to know how to play. This is definitely an activity that you can push to the next level if you learn about it more and how to put yourself at play. To help you get started, we created an online class called Basics of Play at Work which will empower you to play seriously!
At Plush & Nuggets we reinvent the way to design corporate experiences by leveraging the benefits of play for organizations. We’re on a quest to reinvent the way we can play seriously, join us to build the future.
