Laughter leads to playfulness, and playfulness equally leads you back to laughter. An easy way to laugh spontaneously more is to play more, because laughter is a natural outcome of playful behaviors. Give yourself permission to play every day!

Here is list of 40 ideas to experience childlike playfulness – the preciousness of fantasy and imagination – as adults. Find the ones that appeal to you and try them! Even if they do not make you laugh upfront, assuming there is resonance they will/should loosen you up and prepare yourself for laughter.




  1. ideas to experience childlike playfulness as adultsAsk lots of questions with a big smile on your face.
  2. Do a bubbles-blowing competition. The biggest/fastest traveling bubble(s) wins.
  3. Build a fairy-tale sand castle.
  4. Climb trees.
  5. Collect rainbows. If there are none today, draw one!
  6. Commit to engaging in a heart to heart conversation with a least one new person per day for a whole week (longer of course if you can). The goal is to make new friends.
  7. Dance! Lots of free dance videos are here.
  8. Daydream: imagine you are riding a cloud…
  9. Doodle with colored pencils (because you can), draw on and paint an empty apple box you can get for free from your local supermarket, or draw cartoons on toilet paper.
  10. Dress as a clown, just for fun.
  11. Fly a kite.
  12. Get into the habit of doing really nice things for people who will never find out. The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else up.
  13. Get a new pair of sneakers (multicolored ones are best), and then pro-actively tell everybody you meet for a whole day why you like them.
  14. Get really excited about everything, just for fun.
  15. Give gag gifts.
  16. Go barefoot. Add lots of “ooooo’s” and “aaaaaa’s” while walking around.
  17. Go on an adventure.
  18. Have a comedy night (Go with friends. If you don’t have any, invite your neighbor).
  19. Have a food fight in gibberish (a made up language that nobody understands).
  20. Have a funny toy throwing contest.




  1. Have a water fight.
  2. Have a theme day, and dress and behave accordingly.
  3. Jump in a mud puddle.
  4. Look at every object you interact with as if you were three years old and seeing it for the first time, wondering how you could play with it.
  5. Make a list of what feeling happy looks like to you, and then endeavor to engage in all of these movements to the best of your abilities (It’s OK to make believe if need be).
  6. Make up new rules and try them out religiously for a whole day.
  7. Mine your past for play memories: What did you do as a child that excited you? Did you engage in those activities alone or with others? Or both? How can you recreate that today?
  8. Play a game! (I post what I like here. Thousands of games and creative activities for inside & outside family fun are here. There are also hundreds curated games in the Soft Skill Games database).
  9. Put on a puppet show.
  10. Read aloud to your partner trying on different foreign accents.
  11. Sing happy music, karaoke style. 100+ happy and other songs to make you dance, sing and feel good are here. Many thousands more are here.
  12. Sing in the shower (Try different styles.)
  13. Spend time with a baby, play with little ones. Playing with kids helps us experience the magic of play through their perspective.
  14. Talk to your pet.
  15. Tell a fantastic tale with lots of enthusiasm and hand gestures to at least one child of any age every week/month. Yes, you can volunteer and do bed visits at your local retirement community or hospital. There is a fool-proof template to create amazing stories on the fly here.
  16. Try face & finger painting.
  17. Try lip synching. Turn off the sound on your TV and make up the dialogues yourself.
  18. Watch funny movies and/or funny pictures.
  19. Watch the moon and stars come out. Say “aaaaaaa” and “oooooo” a lot.
  20. Wear 2 different color shoes or socks (dare to be different).




Lots more ideas you’ve never thought of

What are your favorite ideas to experience childlike playfulness as adults? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below!