Happiness and creativity

Why is it that kids tend to look like they are almost always happy when they are playing? Because they are doing just that…playing. They are doing something that makes them happy and using their creativity. Give a child an opportunity to make believe, and you unlock the sheer joy that comes with childhood and play.

So why have we stopped playing? Why do we no longer have fun? When is that last time that you genuinely smiled? If you cannot answer these questions, that is ok. Many of us forgot how to play. Think about the scene from Robin Williams’ movie Hook when the lost boys and Peter sit to eat.

Playing and imagining is the only real nourishment kids need, aside from, you know, food, water and love of course.

There is a joke where when a child asks the adult “Why do you always ask us what we want to be when we grow up?” The adult responds “Well, we are always looking for new ideas.” Children have wonderful ideas, but somehow along the way, maybe because of society, maybe because of school, we stop being creative and we stop playing.

A perfect example is, when was the last time someone asked you what your favorite dinosaur was? Kids can not only give you amazing answers to this, but darn good reasons why. For laughs, we have included a link here to a site that helps you figure out what kind of dino you are based upon your responses.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-dinosaur-are-you.html

Playing helps to unlock something in us. As adults we build models, do crosswords, play games on our phones and even doodle. This is us returning to that opportunity to have fun, even for a brief moment before the next task at work or chore at home is to be done. Play can even be goal oriented, decorating a cake or a cookie, putting sprinkles on our ice cream or even arranging flowers.

No matter what activity it is that unlocks that bit of “kid” in you, go for it. Buy a Lego set for yourself, go to the craft store and buy some popsicle sticks, get some finger paints, it doesn’t matter; just unlock that desire to play and have some fun.