STRESS BUSTERS
The games that adults play
Play is important for children. Psychologists agree that it teaches them the skills they need as adults — communication, problem solving, following rules, creativity, understanding risk and expressing emotions.
Once we mature, it seems that society tells us to give up childish things, but there is a growing trend for adults to engage in activities that might traditionally be seen as for kids only — everything from colouring books to oversized board games to even giant Slip ’N Slides.
So what’s fuelling this desire for adults to start playing again?
Michael Mandrusiak, a registered psychologist, says that while we might believe that adults playing games is out of the ordinary, it’s actually unusual for humans to reject play in adulthood.
“In the animal kingdom, there are lots of examples of adult play,” says Mandrusiak, director of training and community engagement at Vancouver’s Adler University. He believes play is something we all want — and need.
“With increased work pressure and financial strains, I think that people are looking for fun and creative ways to be active, to connect with other people and to get some moderate-risk adrenalin,” Mandrusiak says.
Play activities for adults range from the sedate to the wild.
On the calmer side, there are colouring books — where instead of teddy bears or trains, you’re likely to be colouring Liberty prints or cityscapes.
Already hugely popular in the U.K., they’re now becoming widely available here. Matthew Lore, New York publisher of The Mindfulness Colouring Book ($13.95), thinks the current popularity of adult colouring books “(is) less about nostalgia for childish things and much more about the appeal of a ready-made alternative to the ever-glowing screens of our smartphones, tablets and computers.
Lore says colouring also reduc- es stress in the same way as other tactile activities such as cooking or crafts. The difference is that you don’t need any particular knowledge or skill to colour in a picture, and you aren’t starting your creation from scratch.
Other games offer adults opportunities to socialize.
Last year, Vancouver event planner Dani Vachon started online game-hire company Bonkers Games after seeing the success of giant games at a wedding she’d planned. She rents out oversized games including checkers, Tumble Tower (which is like Jenga), and anagram game Bananagrams.
“It’s funny to watch. It loosens people up and if everyone else is doing it, even shy guests think, ‘Hey, I can be silly too,’” Vachon says.
Vachon is also a big fan of another adult fun activity that requires total concentration: Escape the Room games. In these, teams must try to get themselves out of a locked room by solving puzzles.
Rooms generally have frightening or macabre themes, but Richmond, B.C., company Freeing Canada is trying something different. In its Rainboworld game, teams use walkie-talkies and mailboxes to pass messages and notes. As well as using keys to open locks, they have to play music and perform actions. At the end, everyone comes together in a huge ball-pit.
One activity that’s sure to make you feel like a kid is the Slip ’N Slides. According to U.S. company Slide the City, which brings its 305-metre inflatable water slide to cities around the U.S. and some in Canada (among them, Vancouver, Saskatoon and Montreal) adult friendly Slip ’N Slides have been getting increasingly popular over the past three years.