7 Reasons You Should Play Lawn Games As An Adult
Last Updated on September 28, 2019 by Duncan
As people get older and responsibilities increase, they take a more serious outlook on life. Most of them ignore playing and only view the games as an activity for kids.
You should know there are plenty of benefits that come with playing. These benefits include:
Play relieves stress
A study done by the American psychological association saw that stress levels are going up every year.
Most of the adults worry about their family future, family finances, work, and many other things. Stress contributes to headaches, sleeplessness, and depression.
According to the voice of play, play is one of the best stress freeing activities that you can engage in.
When you engage in games, you spend a lot of energy, releases a lot of oxytocin, and serotonin, which leaves you more relaxed and happy.
When you are engaged in play, you even forget what is troubling you hence you have a better outlook on life.
Play improves brain function
Mind challenging games such as chess, completing puzzles, and other games have been shown to prevent memory problems and improve brain function.
Play improves creativity and imagination
Creativity is best known for children, but studies have shown that adults too greatly benefit from engaging in play. As an adult, you are more likely to learn a new task when you are relaxed and in a playful mood.
The play also stimulates your imagination, which helps you adapt easily. You are also able to easily solve the problems in your life.
Play builds better connections
Since you will be playing with other people, you will have better connections with them. Sharing fun and laughter fosters empathy, trust, compassion, and intimacy with others.
Even when you are playing with strangers, play easily breaks the ice helping you to easily make new friends and even form new business associates.
If you are someone who thinks they need to work on their social skills for simple social reasons or to have new friends, there is no better way to build your skills than through play.
Group activities involve cooperation, communication, teamwork, perspective-taking, and boundary-setting. All of these are necessary for building and maintaining healthy relationships.
Play builds productivity
Science has shown that people are more productive when their mindset is content and aren’t overwhelmed. When your mindset is happy, you tend to work better and longer, hence you are more productive in your life.
When you engage in play every day, it means you are happy every day. This greatly reduces your chances of suffering from burnout at work.
Play keeps you feeling young and energetic
It goes without saying that playing boosts your energy and vitality. Play can also improve resistant to diseases hence helping you to function better.
Tips for playing as an adult
Whether you are playing lawn games or any other game, for you to get the most from the activity you need to consider a number of tips. These tips include:
Find games that you enjoy: No two games are the same. Some might be fun and others feel like a chore. For you to enjoy your game, you need to choose one that is motivating and fun.
Don’t take the game too seriously: Some adults will engage in games as a way of getting involved in physical activity. Due to this, they will go to the backyard with their step-counters, heart monitors, and other accessories. Don’t do this.
Exercise should be fun. When you are playing, just move for the sake of moving. It’s just a game. It’s never that serious.
Create a variety: Any game, regardless of how fun it might be, it’s bound to get stale when you play it for a long time. To avoid this, change it up.
Don’t repeat the same game every day or week. Make it fun and motivating by introducing a new game.
You can also introduce new activities in the game that will make it more exciting.
Play like a child: You don’t have to come up with complex adult games. Simple games played by children are enough.
For example, you can simply engage in jump rope, swinging, jumping jacks, hoopla hoop or any other activity.
The most important thing you should do is to ensure that it’s fun for you and it gets you moving and your heart jumping.
Involve the children: Involving the children makes the game more fun. You are also more likely to play for a long time as children have high energy levels.
If your children’s bounce house is a quality one, join them there too!
Tips on how to play with children
While children need to play alone or with other children, it’s good to involve them in your games every now and then. For you to get the most from it you need to:
Set specific times to play: Since both of you are engaged with individual activities, you need to have a specific time when you will be meeting and playing.
Focus on the game: Some parents will go to the backyard simply to fulfill their duty. Here they will be on their phone or have other distractions.
Don’t do this. When you are playing, give full attention to your child. Doing this makes the child feel special.
Match your child: You shouldn’t dictate the tempo of the game—your child should. If your child is loud and energetic, you should follow suit.
Avoid trying to play the game with your rules as you will lose their interest.
Pay attention to their age: Different games are appealing to different age groups. If a game is too easy or too complex, it loses its sense of pleasure and fun. Find a game that is ideal for your child.
When playing, consider the safety rule for play. Nothing ruins a game faster than a hurt child. Get rid of any stones, toys, or any other equipment that might be lying around your yard.
Creative play ideas
If you have been thinking that you are too old to play, there are plenty of ideas you can go with:
Lawn games: Do you have a sizeable lawn? You can play games there with your children or other adults.
Some of the games you can play include: bean bag, parachute, pin the tail on the donkey, water balloon, ring toss, and many others.
To avoid accidents, learn the rules of the game and follow them.
Yoga: Yoga is not only a physical activity, it also has been shown to promote creativity and mindfulness. When you engage in yoga you become mindful, improve self-awareness, and decrease stress. You can learn yoga from a physical trainer or get one online.
Get into crafts: Do you deem yourself artistic? Find adult crafts that are easy for you to do at home. Dollar stores have plenty of craft supplies that you can work with.
Learn an instrument: If you don’t like running around the yard, you can learn to play a musical instrument. Do you have a guitar that is collecting dust in the store? Take it out and learn a few chords.
Creating playing opportunities
Many adults report that the reason they don’t play is that they don’t have playing opportunities. If the opportunities aren’t there, you should create yours. You can do this by:
Joining a recreational sports league: Many areas have sports teams for adults. Do your research and find one in your area. The most common ones are softball and Frisbee. Join one. To make less daunting, drag a friend along.
Host a regular game night: Do you have friends and family members that love playing? Set out one night a week when you will be meeting for dinner and some play.
Surround yourself with playful people: Have you noticed a playful person in your place of work or church? Try to befriend them and they might invite you to their next game night.
Join the children: As mentioned above, there is nothing wrong with playing with your children. In fact, it’s more fun doing it. If you have young children, ask to join it. You are not only the only one who will enjoy it, so will they.
If you don’t have young children, organize a play date with nephews, grandkids, nieces or young relatives that you have.