Reviewed and updated: 13 October 2026
“Active play is an invitation to rediscover the joy of movement, whatever our age.”
What is Active Play for Adults?
Remember the last time you moved simply because something looked fun?
Maybe you chased a friend, danced without worrying about the steps, climbed something just to see if you could, or laughed halfway through a physical challenge.
Active play is physical activity approached with a playful attitude, involving enjoyment, curiosity, exploration, challenge or social interaction. It can include chasing games, dancing, crawling, balancing, climbing and cooperative movement challenges.
That is one of the attractions of active play for adults. Movement becomes something to explore and enjoy, rather than simply another task on the calendar.
The health benefits depend on what we actually do, how often we do it, and the physical demands involved. Playful movement can contribute to established physical activity goals while potentially making participation more appealing.
Unlike a traditional workout, active play doesn't always follow a predetermined routine. The challenge might change as you respond to a partner, explore your environment or invent a new rule.
In this article, we'll explore the science behind active play, its potential benefits for adult health and wellbeing, and why enjoyment may matter when it comes to staying physically active over time.
The Power of Play: Why Active Play Matters for Adults
When Did We Stop Playing?
As children, we rarely needed a reason to move. A wall became a balance beam. A tree became a challenge. An empty space became somewhere to run, chase or invent a game.
Then adulthood arrived.
Movement became something to schedule, measure and optimise. Steps to count. Calories to burn. Repetitions to complete.
There's nothing wrong with structure. I value strength training, cardiovascular fitness and the benefits of purposeful exercise.
But somewhere along the way, many of us stopped making room for movement simply because it was fun.
I don't believe we have to choose between playing out and working out.
A game of tag can leave you breathless. Climbing can challenge your strength and judgement. Dancing can demand coordination, rhythm and stamina.
And none of these experiences has to begin with the thought, “I really ought to exercise today.”
Perhaps we haven't outgrown play. Perhaps we've just stopped giving ourselves permission.
What Are the Health Benefits of Active Play?
Active play can challenge many of the same physical capacities as conventional exercise, including cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, balance, mobility and coordination. The health benefits of active play depend on the movements involved, their intensity, duration and how regularly they are performed. Games that raise heart rate, challenge muscular strength, or develop physical skills can support an active lifestyle.
Imagine a game of tag. You might accelerate, slow down, change direction and respond to someone else's movement. A climbing challenge can demand grip strength, whole-body coordination and physical judgement. Crawling may challenge upper-body strength, trunk stability and movement control.
These activities are playful, but they still place demands on the body.
Cardiovascular and metabolic health
Games involving sustained or repeated movement can raise your heart rate and breathing rate. When the intensity and total duration are sufficient, they can contribute towards aerobic physical activity recommendations.
Regular physical activity is associated with better cardiovascular and metabolic health. Whether a particular play session contributes meaningfully depends on its intensity, duration and frequency.
Strength, mobility and balance
Crawling (quadrupedal movement), climbing, squatting, carrying, and balancing can challenge muscular strength, joint movement, and postural control.
The physical adaptations depend on the activity and how the challenge progresses. A gentle balance game, for example, is not equivalent to a progressive resistance-training programme for developing maximal strength.
The value of playful movement lies partly in the range of physical challenges it can make available.
Darryl Edwards—climbing a tree in his local London park (otherwise known as his playground).
Movement variety and everyday function
Adult movement habits can become surprisingly repetitive. We sit, walk familiar routes and perform many tasks in predictable ways.
Play provides opportunities to move differently: reaching, turning, stepping, crawling, changing direction or responding to an unexpected challenge.
These experiences can broaden movement practice and help us explore capabilities that everyday life may overlook.
Can Active Play Support Mental Wellbeing?
Think about how it feels when a game absorbs your attention.
For a few minutes, you may concentrate on catching a ball, copying a movement, escaping a playful chase, or solving a physical challenge. The day's demands remain, but your attention has shifted elsewhere.
That shift may be part of play's appeal.
Physical activity has established mental health benefits, and enjoyable activities may also offer opportunities for positive experiences, relaxation, and social interaction.
Research suggests that adult playfulness is associated with aspects of subjective wellbeing and health-related behaviour (Proyer, 2013; Proyer et al., 2018). Experimental research has also investigated whether exercises designed to increase playfulness can influence psychological wellbeing (Proyer et al., 2021). However, these findings should not be confused with evidence from physical active-play interventions.
Separately, large reviews of physical activity interventions report improvements in symptoms of depression, anxiety and psychological distress across different adult populations (Singh et al., 2023). Active play may offer one enjoyable way to participate in physical activity, although its specific clinical effects require further investigation.
A woman runs outdoors with her dog as part of an active play session.
Playing together
Shared movement can create opportunities for laughter, cooperation and connection.
A group game asks people to communicate, respond, negotiate rules and occasionally make fools of themselves. Those experiences can help an activity feel socially rewarding rather than purely effortful.
For adults who find solitary exercise unappealing, social play may offer another route into being physically active.
The goal is not to insist that play makes everyone happy. It is to make room for forms of movement that people genuinely want to return to.
Adults take part in a playful movement activity in an office.
Active Play, the Brain and Movement Skills
Your muscles aren't the only things working during a game.
Imagine playing tag with someone who keeps changing direction. You're watching, anticipating, deciding and reacting, often in fractions of a second.
Or consider learning a new movement. You try, adjust, occasionally get it wrong, and gradually discover a better way.
Playful movement can involve attention, perception, coordination, motor learning and decision-making.
Exercise research also points to benefits for aspects of cognitive health. What makes playful movement particularly interesting is the opportunity to combine physical activity with novelty, challenge and real-time decisions.
It invites us to explore not only what our bodies can do, but how we respond when the unexpected happens.
And that's part of the fun.
A family enjoying active play together outdoors.
Attention and reaction
Games that change unpredictably can challenge your ability to notice information and respond appropriately.
Coordination and motor learning
Learning a new movement, adapting to a different surface, or exploring an unfamiliar pattern gives you opportunities to practise motor skills.
Problem-solving and decision-making
Movement games can involve choices: which route to take, how to maintain balance, when to change direction or how to cooperate with another player.
Why Enjoyment Matters for Staying Active
Knowing movement is good for us doesn't always make it easy to sustain.
Many adults start exercise programmes with good intentions, only to find the activities feel repetitive, inconvenient, or disconnected from what they actually enjoy.
Play offers another possibility.
A challenge that sparks curiosity, a game that makes you laugh, or a shared activity with friends can give you reasons to move beyond future health outcomes. Enjoyment may be an important part of maintaining physical activity habits.
Playful movement may help some adults find physical activity more appealing by introducing choice, novelty, challenge and social interaction.
A group of adults takes on a playful physical challenge together.
Choice and autonomy
Play often lets us choose the activity, invent rules, or decide how difficult the challenge should be.
Challenge and confidence
An achievable challenge can make progress feel rewarding. As confidence grows, the activity can change with you.
Social connection
For some people, companionship and shared enjoyment matter more than performance targets.
None of this guarantees long-term adherence to exercise. Enjoyment is one factor among many, including accessibility, time, confidence, health status and personal circumstances.
But if movement feels like something worth doing today, rather than merely something we should do for tomorrow, that is a valuable starting point.
RELATED: Play And The Feel Good Hormones
Examples of Active Play for Adults
Active play does not require elaborate equipment or a dedicated facility.
Here are six ways to explore playful movement.
1. Animal movement challenges
Try a bear crawl or another suitable ground-based movement pattern. Explore short distances, changes of direction or simple movement sequences.
2. Tag and chasing games
Play a familiar game of tag, try Primal Play Tag, or adapt the rules to include walking, limited movement areas, or cooperative challenges.
Darryl Edwards Playing an Inclusive Game of Primal Play Tag With Kids
3. Balance games
Follow a safe line on the ground, practise controlled weight shifts or try a supported partner balance challenge.
4. Climbing and exploration
Where appropriate, explore low-level climbing, stepping and reaching challenges in a suitable environment.
5. Dancing and rhythm games
Move to music, copy a partner's actions or invent a short movement sequence.
6. Cooperative strength challenges
Try suitable partner games, object-carrying tasks or playful bodyweight movements that match participants' abilities.
The important point is not to complete every activity. It is to find movement experiences that are enjoyable, appropriately challenging and worth repeating.
For demonstrations and further ideas, explore the Primal Play in Practice activity library.
How Much Active Play Do You Need?
No universally established dose of active play guarantees a specific health benefit.
Physiologically, what matters is the amount and type of physical activity you accumulate, along with your current abilities and health needs.
The World Health Organization recommends that adults generally aim for:
150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity each week, or
75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination.
Muscle-strengthening activities involving major muscle groups on at least two days per week.
Playful activities can count toward these totals when they provide the right intensity and muscular demands.
A gentle movement game may be valuable for confidence, coordination or enjoyment without providing a substantial aerobic training stimulus. A more energetic game may contribute to your weekly moderate- or vigorous-intensity activity.
Not every movement experience needs to be a workout.
You can combine structured exercise, everyday activity, and active play to match your preferences and goals.
An adult skateboards outdoors as a playful form of physical activity.
RELATED: Have more fun with fitness!
How to Get Started Safely
Start with an activity that interests you and matches what you can comfortably do today.
A few practical principles can help:
Choose an appropriate challenge. Begin with manageable movements, distances and intensity.
Adapt the rules. Walking games, seated activities, supported balance and cooperative tasks can make play more accessible.
Progress gradually. Increase speed, duration, complexity or physical difficulty as appropriate.
Consider the environment. Check surfaces, space, equipment and other people before starting.
Respect your symptoms and limitations. Pain, dizziness, unusual breathlessness and other concerning symptoms may require you to stop and seek appropriate advice.
Keep the playful element. Enjoyment, exploration and choice are part of the experience, not optional extras.
People living with long-term conditions, significant mobility limitations or recovering from illness or treatment may need individual movement guidance on suitable activities and exercise intensity.
The goal is not to turn every playful movement into a performance test. It is to find a level of challenge that is appropriate, engaging and repeatable.
The Joy of Playing Again
Think back to the last time you were so caught up in moving that you forgot to check the time.
Perhaps you were dancing to a favourite song, racing someone to the finish, or laughing so hard during a game that you could barely catch your breath.
You weren't counting steps. You weren't tracking calories. You weren't wondering whether you'd done enough.
You were simply enjoying being alive and in motion.
As adults, we have plenty of reasons to move for our health. Strength, fitness, mobility and independence all matter enormously.
But I think we sometimes overlook another perfectly good reason.
Because moving can be fun.
We don't need to abandon structured exercise or pretend we're children again. We can make room for both discipline and spontaneity, purpose and play.
So the next time you have an opportunity to move, don't just ask yourself what you should do.
Ask yourself what might be fun.
Find an excuse to play.
Explore the Primal Play Method®
The Primal Play Method®, created by Darryl Edwards, is an evidence-informed approach to movement that brings together natural movement, playful challenges and practical exercise science.
Its four scientific pillars are:
Cognitive neuroscience: How the brain perceives, plans, learns and controls movement.
Exercise physiology: How movement challenges strength, fitness, coordination and physical capacity.
Evolutionary biology: Why movement variety and interaction with our environment matter when considering human movement.
Play psychology: How enjoyment, autonomy, curiosity, challenge and connection shape participation.
The Method offers a way to explore movement beyond conventional workouts, while recognising that appropriate exercise prescription, progression, and individual needs still matter.
Playing out as well as working out.
Explore the Primal Play Method®, discover the four scientific pillars and browse the Primal Play in Practice activity library to find your next movement challenge.
References and Further Reading
World Health Organization (2020). WHO Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240015128
Proyer, R. T. (2013). The well-being of playful adults: Adult playfulness, subjective well-being, physical well-being, and the pursuit of enjoyable activities. European Journal of Humour Research, 1(1), 84–98. https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR2013.1.1.proyer
Proyer, R. T., Gander, F., Bertenshaw, E. J., & Brauer, K. (2018). The positive relationships of playfulness with indicators of health, activity, and physical fitness. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1440. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01440
Singh, B., Olds, T., Curtis, R., et al. (2023). Effectiveness of physical activity interventions for improving depression, anxiety and distress: An overview of systematic reviews. British Journal of Sports Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2022-106195
Brown, S. (2009). Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. Avery.
Keep Moving. Keep Playing.
Want more ideas for making movement enjoyable? Get my free Importance of Play and Animal Moves Sampler ebooks, along with practical inspiration for exploring movement in your own way.
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