Play Isn’t Just for Kids: Why Adults with ADHD Desperately Need It Too
Raise your hand if the word play sounds… suspiciously unproductive. Like something we’re not “supposed” to do once we’ve hit adulthood and acquired things like bills, responsibilities, and that one drawer in the kitchen full of broken pens and expired coupons. But here’s the truth: play isn’t a luxury—it’s essential.Especially if you’re an adult with ADHD.
In fact, play might just be the thing that saves your focus, helps you stay regulated, boosts your creativity, and—dare we say—makes life feel less like an endless to-do list and more like something you actually want to participate in. Let’s dive into why play matters, how it benefits the ADHD brain, and how you can actually (re)introduce play into your adult life without it feeling silly, selfish, or scheduled to death.
First Things First: What Is “Play” Anyway?
Let’s define it, so we’re all on the same swing set here. Play is any activity that is fun, enjoyable, and done for its own sake—not for productivity, competition, or outcome. It’s when you’re engaged in something because it lights you up inside, not because it earns you points, praise, or profit.
Play might look like:
· Dancing like a goof in your kitchen to your 2000s playlist
· Building elaborate LEGO cities for your cat to destroy
· Making up voices for every character in the book you’re reading out loud
· Baking weirdly-shaped cookies just to see if you can make one look like Danny DeVito
The possibilities are endless, as long as it brings joy,spontaneity, and a sense of freedom.
Why Adults with ADHD Need Play (Like, Desperately)?
1. Play Regulates Dopamine
Let’s talk brain chemistry for a hot second. People with ADHD have lower levels of dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for motivation, reward, and pleasure. That’s why boring tasks feel painful, and exciting ones feel like rocket fuel.
Play gives your brain a dopamine boost—and in anatural, healthy, sustainable way. It helps you feel energized, present, and interested.That’s a big deal if you often live in a fog of “I know I need to do things,but I can’t make myself care.”
2. It Helps with Emotional Regulation
Play puts us into a state of relaxed alertness—that magical zone where we’re calm, focused, and creative all at once. For ADHDers who often live in a state of emotional whiplash (hello, rejection sensitivity,impulsivity, and anxiety), play can be a gentle off-ramp from overwhelm and intensity.
Ever noticed how after five minutes of doodling, playing with slime, or tossing a ball for your dog, you suddenly feel…human again? That’s not a coincidence. That’s play doing its thing.
3. Play Boosts Executive Functioning
Executive function skills like time management, planning,prioritization, and flexible thinking can be brutal for ADHDers. But guess what strengthens them?Play.
Games and playful activities often require us to solve problems, shift strategies, collaborate, imagine possibilities, and make decisions. All of which are executive functions! Engaging in play actually exercises the ADHD brain in a way that feels good rather than grueling.
4. It Reconnects You With Joy
So many ADHD adults have lived under the burden of being “too much,” “too scattered,” or “too lazy.” We’re used to feedback loops that revolve around fixing, correcting, or improving.
But play is about being—not fixing. It’s about experiencing delight, ease, and freedom without needing to prove anything. Play reconnects you with your essential self, the one that existed before you learned to measure your worth by productivity or performance.
Real Life Examples: How Play Shows Up (or Doesn’t)
Let’s meet two fictional-but-familiar ADHD adults:
ara has a color-coded Google calendar, seven unfinished books on her nightstand, and a sticky note that says “get life together.” She’s perpetually exhausted and trying to “catch up” on everything from laundry to inbox zero.
Play? She doesn’t remember the last time she had fun that wasn’t “fun for the kids.”
But one day, while cleaning out the closet, she finds herold rollerblades. She dusts them off and takes a spin around the neighborhood.It’s awkward. It’s glorious. For 20 minutes, she isn’t someone’s boss or mom. She’s just… Tara. Laughing and trying not to crash into her neighbor’s recycling bin.
Now she keeps her skates by the door.
Carlos gets hyper-focused on work for 12 hours, then crashes hard. He thinks he’s either productive or a puddle. No in-between.
On a friend’s dare, he downloads a silly video game with low-stakes puzzle challenges and goofy characters. At first, it feels dumb. But then it becomes his go-to reset button after long projects. He even finds himself getting better at shifting gears during the day.
Turns out, play isn’t a waste of time—it’s a bridge between energy states.
What Counts as Play for Adults?
If you’re worried that “play” means you have to suddenly take up cosplay or learn the ukulele (unless you want to, in which case—rockon), don’t worry.
Play can be solo or social. Physical or mental.Structured or spontaneous. Silly or soulful.
Here are some ADHD-friendly play ideas to spark inspiration:
· Doodling, painting, or collage (no pressure to be “good” at it)
· Singing karaoke alone in your car
· Making up stories or goofy poems
· Board games (especially strategy or storytelling types)
· Video games (bonus if they’re cozy, creative, or funny)
· Improv games or escape rooms with friends
· Trampoline parks (yes, adults are allowed!)
· Hula hooping or dance breaks between Zoom meetings
· Martial arts, circus skills, or movement classes that aren’t about “fitness goals”
· Kinetic sand, slime, or fidget toys
· Playing with textures (finger painting, gardening, baking bread with your hands)
· Swinging in a hammock or rolling around on an exercise ball (seriously, try it)
· Daydreaming on purpose
· Walking barefoot on the grass
· Making fairy houses in the backyard (or tiny ones on your windowsill if you live in an apartment)
How to Make Play Part of Your Life (Even If You Think You’re Too Busy)
You don’t need to quit your job and join a traveling puppet troupe. You just need to start small and start noticing.
1. Identify What Feels Like Play to You
Not everything labeled “fun” feels playful to everyone. Ask yourself:
· When do I lose track of time?
· What makes me laugh or feel light?
· When do I feel most like myself?
Then, follow those clues.
2. Add Micro-Moments of Play to Your Day
You don’t need hours. Sometimes a few minutes is enough to reset your brain:
· Make your to-do list with glitter pens.
· Do a silly voice when talking to your pet.
· Do a TikTok dance, even if no one’s watching (especially if no one’s watching).
3. Pair Play with Transitions
Use playful rituals to shift gears:
· A 3-minute sketch before starting work
· A dance break between chores
· A quick game before winding down at night
Transitions are hard for ADHDers—play can make them easier and more fun.
4. Schedule Play—But Keep It Loose
Yes, schedule it. Otherwise, you’ll forget. But don’t over-engineer it. Try:
· “Wednesday night is game night with myself”
· “Sunday morning is art time—whatever that looks like”
· “Ten minutes of silliness after lunch every day”
Make it a habit, but let it evolve.
5. Ditch the Guilt
Play is not frivolous. It’s fuel.
You don’t have to earn it. You don’t have to justify it. And it’s absolutely as important as your other priorities—because when you’re replenished, focused, and connected to joy, everything else goes better.
In Conclusion: Play Isn’t Optional—It’s Oxygen
For adults with ADHD, life can feel like a never-ending loop of trying to catch up, clean up, and keep it together. But play reminds us that we are more than our checklists. It taps into our innate creativity,flexibility, and resilience. It soothes our nervous systems, boosts our focus,and connects us to others and ourselves.
So go ahead. Start a pillow fight. Finger paint. Invent a language. Make weird sound effects while folding laundry.
Your brain—and your spirit—will thank you.
What did you love to do as a kid?
Revisit it this week. Just once. No pressure, no judgment,just curiosity.
And if you need a permission slip, here it is: Play is productive. Joy is justified. Fun is fuel.
Now go be ridiculous. You’ve earned it.
