How to play like a child again?

Here is a very useful article on just this point.

One way is to play with children (then you can observe them).

When I was little, my sister and I used to play this game. One of us would make a big scribble on a page. Then we would take turns trying to find something hidden in it. We would draw in what our imaginations had already begun to see. At the end, we’d have pages and pages filled with fantastical drawings of all sorts of random things.

It’s a simple game. But it’s a good exercise in seeing possibilities. Kids are naturally great at this. When you’re little, everything is possible.

That’s only one of the qualities of childlike play.
But I think it’s a good/easy place to start.

To me, the essence of playing like a child is being in the moment and unself-conscious; two qualities that most adults are sorely lacking in.

I took courses from Landmark Forum. Their Wisdom Course was all about play, I never played as a child. It took these folks to teach me how. Now I play every day! PM me for details if you wish.

Stop trying so much to be one. Be yourself and it will come back to you.

I actually myself don’t have a lot of problems to move myself in a child’s world. I still read children’s books and love it. (At the moment I’m marveling with Roald Dahl and it’s absolutely scrumdiddlyumptious!) I’m sort of proud of it that I can still move and think inside that world. But I notice in my friends that they don’t have that ‘unself-consciousness’ at all. Or indeed they aren’t themselves. Seriously, we are losing a world on peer pressure.

One of the few things that can give me that childlike delight is swinging on a swing set. So freeing!

I can’t tell you exactly what to do, but take joy in the little things. That’s what I remember from my childhood. I remember playing without having to plan the game, rules were not taken seriously and I played with my all. Let your happiness shine through the little acts you perform daily, and you’ll feel alive. That’s exactly how I felt when I was a child. Full of life, energetic and just happy. Next time it rains, actually enjoy it by going outside and feeling it. I used to run outside when it started to rain. Don’t hesitate getting your hands dirty, let go.

As a kid :-/
I used to play a game called catchy kisses; this involved me chasing all the girls & stealing a kiss, Lol…… Also Doctors & nurses; which I still play to this day, given the right incentives, Lol ;-) I’m more a ‘big, daft’ kid now though, Lol…..

For me and my set, it’s often a wonderment how we’ve managed to become adults! Play is no problem and having a group of people who aren’t out of sorts with that is a blessing.

How to do it? Seems easy enough to still build forts in the house, go on trekking/treasure hunts, play board games, sneak about in the dark to make someone squeal, tickle wrestles, climb trees, make feasts out of sweets or junk foods, dressing up to shock or surprise.

Being an adult means you can do all the stuff you wanted to do as a kid but you have your own car, your own home, your own time schedule.

I went to a theater bootcamp back in 1995. One of the activities they had for us to do was to sit for 5 mins in a dim room and imagine ourselves being 5 years old again. We had to visualize being a baby, then toddler, then arrive at age 5. Then, we were told to play cowboys and Indians as if we were 5 years old, no other age except 5. Cowboys and Indians is NOT PC, but neither are 5 year olds.

All 21 of us students got deeply into character and we ran, chased, played pretend, built and destroyed, created stories and stayed like that for almost 3 hours with no awareness of time. When the lights were shut off and we were asked to become our ages again, it was intense—really intense. In the discussion that followed, we all shared our experiences and most of us felt a sense of loss stopping the activity. I actually did feel like a child again, completely, and this has stayed with me since.

After our discussion, the teacher said that this activity also gives some insight into our most fundamental way of functioning and responding to others. He explained to each of us his observations about ourselves and we added with our own self-observations. One of the things I learned from that activity was that, while playing, I switched fluidly between watching and participating, and I rarely initiated play but watched then responded to others each time. This was amazing because that’s exactly how I am as an adult! I would not have discovered this if I didn’t fully 100% let go and become a kid again.

So how to play like a child again? Get a group of like-minded adults and a moderator/observer, go to a large, quiet room where you won’t be interrupted or watched by outsiders, then play cowboys/Indians, cops/robbers or something simple of that sort, become 5 and let loose. No self-judgment, no questioning, pausing, just go into it.

Run in the rain, play at the park or play in the snow.

You can buy a frisbee and bubbles for a total of less than $5. Those two things can provide hours of fun.

Buy sidewalk chalk and play hangman on your patio.

Play flashlight tag in the dark (of course)

Do you have a cat or dog? Laser tag will entertain you and your pet.