What’s your favorite way to incorporate play in your life that isn’t a solo craft or competitive game/sport?

Question

Sealligator · Answer

baseball mitt catch: you and your mitt + your friend and their mitt + a baseball = easy joy

Leanne Citrone · Answer

Take a pottery class

Laura · Answer

Host a Collage Party ✂️: My friend has thrown a couple of these. Everyone brings a stack of magazines and a pair of scissors. It’s very zen, easy to mix friends and meet new people.

I also would suggest bringing a bottle of wine.

Lib · Answer

contact improv: it’s been therapeutic for me

Laura · Answer

Disco Therapy DIY Croissant Kit: Cheaper than actual therapy, and now I'm obsessed my disco croissant 🥐 I had all the girls pick a kit and we made a night of it.

They’ve got a ton of options, no experience required. Takes approx. 2 hours, depending how locked in your are. Just make sure to give your fingers a little break in between layers.

Bianca · Answer

Arts and crafts with friends!: It’s fun to try something new together, like water coloring at a rose garden or sewing sock squids. One person might teach the others something or we’ll all try something new for the first time together. And to think this all started with juggling balls. Next up: we are baking a pie together.

Christine · Answer

Learning to skateboard at age 41: Because it’s fun and silly and makes me feel like a punk teenager.

Kayla · Answer

Riding a Bike: Go fast or go slow, ride to get a little treat or just around the block!

Hannah Harvey · Answer

Just Dance: just dance STILL hits. they make a version for the switch, but my old roommate and i just downloaded the app on our smart tv before i had a console! nothing makes me feel like a kid again more than pushing furniture out of the way and trying to imitate these faceless flexible entities for points.

Rachel Hellesto · Answer

Throwing a frisbee back and forth!: My honey and I always have a frisbee in the car to throw around at a park or the beach and it’s so fun! You’re outside, laughing, and moving around. Doesn’t matter if you have good aim or not!

Sarah · Answer

a small goal instead of a hobby: I struggle to say "I do X as a hobby" because it feels...too big? Or like if I don't do it enough or at a certain level, I am faking?? I am instead a goal person. One of my goals this year was "grow one really big tomato starting from a seed," instead of "be a gardener." Maybe it sticks maybe it doesn't. Who cares! It means you end up trying a bunch of low stakes things. Also, a delight to accomplish your goal!

janelle · Answer

Flirt with a stranger: Try saying something weird and fun to someone you don’t know, just to see how it goes. Man, woman,young or old, hot or not! who cares. Invitation to play ✨

E.T. · Answer

Making giant bubbles: We created our own giant wands and bubble potion and we've brought them to the park, beach, birthday parties, potlucks...

Instant fun for us parents who could always use more play, but also brings joy and awe and squeals to everyone nearby! My husband has perfected the recipe for the bubble potion. I'll have to see if he can share it.

Elodie · Answer

Playing mermaids: Go to a rec pool with your gal pals and play mermaids in the shallow end.

Get some sun, dunk your head, DGAF about your hair and just do some lil flips in the water and ye ol’ George Washington hairdo.

Jules · Answer

Everybody Mad Dance Break (Dea Fezollari): this is an absolutely fucking impossible beyonce dance break from beychella. if you go to TT/youtube/IG it’s always fun to see who has mastered it. it’s fun to try and learn for 20 minutes here and there. i plan to know it all by the time i die

Maribeth · Answer

Musical mad libs in regular life: When a song lyric or phrase fits or almost fits into regular conversation, you either a) slow build into song or b) sing just that part of the song.

For example, in constant rotation: instead of saying “oh my god my neck really hurts” you might sing “my neck, my back, my neck, and my back” from Khia’s My Neck, My Back (Lick It), or replace neck/back with another 1-syllable body part that ails you. Lots of back pain in this household.

Other easy examples:

After something falls loudly: “At first I was afraid, I was petrified”

Seeing someone scary looking on the street: “Psycho killer, quest que c’est”

Walking into a room unannounced: “Hellloooooo, is it me you’re looking for?”

After looking for the toothbrush head replacements: “I fouuuund you, miss new [toothbrush]”

Bad news headline? “It’s the end of the world as we know it”

When someone is sitting in too dark a room: “Hello darkness my old friend”

After a bad nights rest: the Beatles, “I’m soooOoOoo tired, I haven’t slept a wink”

The list is endless and that’s why it’s so great!

We also often change individual words to fit our needed meaning. Extra points for riffing whole sections of the song to your needs.

Always gets a laugh!

Gabriela Riccardi · Answer

Hosting A Scavenger Hunt: For the last few years, I've put together scavenger hunts for my birthday and other big occasions. Last year I themed it around my "double-golden" birthday. Engagement party? Make it love-themed. Graduation? Pursuit of knowledge!

Set your friends up in teams — I like the formula of everybody gets one person they know + two they do not. Send them out for a set amount of time (90 min, 2 hr) to complete as many as they can, then have an agreed-upon spot to meet for the finish. Sometimes they find the meeting spot by solving a riddle I text everyone. They send photos and videos of every activity they complete for credit. Themed prizes for the winners! Mine were thrifted gold brooches and pins.

Elena · Answer

Playing with hair: Why has this never stopped being so fun?! Even if you have short hair like my partner does, you can still play by putting way too many clips in it.

Maryn · Answer

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo Switch): I played video games growing up, but as a teen decided I was above them. A few years ago I decided to love on my inner child and get back into playing. I bought myself a Switch and Breath of the Wild and wooooooow, this game is a genuine work of art (as is Tears of the Kingdom, its sequel). The only problem is no other games compare 🥲

Dylan · Answer

BLÅVINGAD Soft toy, octopus/yellow: my cats are obsessed with bunny kicking his tentacles. its nice for humans to fondle the tentacles also. very enjoyable sensory experience.

Dylan · Answer

Smiley Bundle of Light: a bundle of JOY is what this is. super cute paired with the Miffy lamp. a playful addition to my home.

Dylan · Answer

rename your wifi to something silly: it brings joy (or mild concern) to your neighbours and that's called GIVING BACK TO COMMUNITY

Dylan · Answer

Embarrassing your cat: you steal a donut? i photograph you with tiny human hands

Dylan · Answer

Play-Doh: Play doh is fun at any age! I like squishing it between my fingers for a sensory dopamine hit or making little creatures with it while watching a trashy TV show.

Dylan · Answer

send your besties a video of yourself dancing: give the people what they want

Dylan · Answer

Frisbee: none of this frisbee golf or ultimate frisbee shit - let's just PLAY... toss + catch one of these at the park or in the shallows at the beach for a guaranteed silly fun time!

Dylan · Answer

Slinky: Ahh, the humble slinky. A childhood simple pleasure and an adulthood stim toy. I personally love the sound and feel of the metal ones, but you can also get plastic ones, which my cats are very fond of.

Nora Rev · Answer

Playing Irish Trad Music: So extremely uncool for so much of my life that it’s somehow a little cool again? Spend decades learning something you will never be a master of. If you’re a woman, deal with decades of misogyny that still feels somehow like deep love and community. You can sing in the Irish language, which might be the least monetizeable skill on earth yet has earned you many pints in foreign countries. A secret passport that opens a hidden pocket of culture anywhere you travel.

Danielle · Answer

magic the gathering: a time consuming hobby, and there is a small learning curve, but once you’ve learned the basics it’s a perfect creative and fun game to play. a group of my friends all decided to “get into it” last summer and its been the perfect casual way to hang out over a few beers. deck building is its own sort of creative hobby. endless cool cards (and sick art) to choose from. my boyfriend and I bring our decks to play at the airport before flights. it’s weird to see myself “improve” at a silly little game but that’s been fulfilling too. no way to monetize this so it’s just a wholesome time with friends. there’s a growing community around it too!

Em · Answer

Geocaching!: I’ve gotten into geocaching thanks to my brother this past month. It’s been such an easy way to “play” and to explore areas I wouldn’t have maybe been to without the app. Geocaching has been around for a while but it’s new to me. You can make it competitive (counting your caches, difficulty of hidden cache etc.) or just look at it as a way to check out a new neighborhood with a certain goal. Went on a roadtrip to Scotland and made it a point to find a cache in each city we visited!