Play Note

Play Note: Play Catalyzes Human Creativity

Play Note: Play Catalyzes Human Creativity

Play Catalyzes Human Creativity

A great deal of research makes it clear that being playful is integrally tied to being creative. People who play – who have regular periods of experiencing playfulness – are more creative than those who don’t.  This Play Note overviews some of the extensive anecdotal and scientific evidence that playfulness is a direct route to creativity. 

Creativity and Childhood

In an oft cited manuscript, Dr. Peter Gray, a leading play researcher, defines creativity as “anything that has a novel aspect to it, something that is new, but that is new in a way that somehow is meaningful.”  

We at the National Institute for Play believe  that … 

  • Play is how you stay creative through and beyond childhood 
  • Play is how you can regain your creativity after you ‘grew out of it’

The Wisdom of Play – How Children Learn to Make Sense of the World is a pamphlet edited by David Elkind, Phd., professor emeritus of Child Development at Tufts University.  It contains a series of short essays by academic experts in Child Development.  The theme of these essays is summarized in a quote from Sharna Olfman, PhD, professor of Psychology at Point Park University: “Many of our greatest thinkers locate their capacity for original and profound thought in their imaginative abilities, first developed through creative play in early childhood.”

In the early 20th century, Pablo Picasso famously said, “Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.”  In the 1960s, a NASA test of creativity proved Picasso correct.  A group of 1,600 kids enrolled in a Head Start program were subjected to a creativity test initially crafted for NASA recruits. The results were startling; a test score indicating ‘creative genius’ was reached by the following proportions of the 1,600 who were followed for more than 10 years: 

Ages% Creative Genius 
4 – 5 years98%
10 years39%
15 years12%
Adult*2%
*Adult avg. age 31 (over 1 million tested)

Virtually all kids ages 4-5 years are creative geniuses.  But by the time they become adults only 2% of the population has retained that creative spark.  

In the 2011 paper “The Creativity Crisis”, Kyung Hee Kim shows that scores on the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking have been declining at every grade level for many years. Creativity has steadily declined among Americans of all ages, especially in kindergarten through third grade.

So research is showing that creativity declines as we age.  And overall, creativity is declining for people of all ages.  How are we losing this creative power?

Turning once again to Dr. Gray, he argues that creativity is natural to us when the drives of play, curiosity, and sociability are allowed to thrive. However, Gray believes that creativity can be suppressed in school, because: 1) the rigid curricula obviates time for curiosity and play; and 2) the judgment implicit in academic standards and grading squelches creativity. 

Research has documented that when you are aware of being judged, it limits your creativity (McVeigh, 2014; Rainford, 2019). When you know there will be an evaluation of your work, “instead of allowing your mind to flow free, you are now focusing on … how somebody might evaluate it.”  Feedback that seeks to engage rather than critique, is more supportive of the creative process. 

Dr. Kim reinforces this conclusion in her 2016 book, “The Creativity Challenge – How We Can Recapture American Innovation”.  Her research indicates that cultural climates and attitudes (including over-reliance on standardized testing) often work against innovation unless creativity is deliberately grown and developed. Kim has devised original models to identify creativity in people and organizations and help it to blossom. 

Creativity as a State of Being

Creativity is not a talent and is not related to IQ as found by Donald W. MacKinnon, a 20th century psychologist.  This talk by comedian John Cleese summarizes MacKinnon’s research as follows:

  • Most creative people have simply acquired a facility for getting themselves into a particular “mood” – or “way of operating” — which enables their natural creativity to function.
  • This mood or way of operating can be described as an ability to play. MacKinnon wrote that the most creative people, when they are in this mood, are being childlike. They play with ideas… they explore them, not for any immediate practical purpose but just for enjoyment. Play for its own sake.

Dr. Brown, founder of NIfPlay, coined the term “State of Play” (Brown 2009) which is when you are fully engaged in an activity that is based on your personal desire (self-motivated). At NIFPlay, we think that the ‘mood’, the ‘way of operating’ that MacKinnon described is what Dr. Brown describes as a state of play. So, when we are in a state of play, we are enabling our natural creativity.  This hypothesis is reinforced in Chapter 8 (Play, Flow, and Timelessness) of the Oxford Handbook of Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (Mainemelis & Dionysiou 2015).

In an interesting study, Isen concludes that a “playful mood” improves creative, insightful reasoning (Isen 1987).  In Isen’s experiment, there were three groups trying to solve an insight problem– one saw a 5-minute slapstick comedy film, one saw a film about mathematics, and one saw no film.  75% of those who watched the comedy successfully solved the problem while only 20% of the math audience and 13% of the no film group were able to solve it. 

Einstein employed play in his creative work. He wrote, “Combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive [creative] thought.” He also said “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. (A. Einstein 1954)

Eubanks, et. al. published a 2014 manuscript in the Journal of Creative Behavior looking at the drivers of creativity for 59 Nobel Prize winners. “One of the first steps to reaching creative output is to have a playful attitude toward work where there is encouragement and processes that allow individuals to take risks and try new things.”  The authors found that most of the Nobel Prize winners were exposed to (playful) environments early in their career that encouraged them to take risks and try new things.  In Dr. Brown’s interviews of multiple Nobel prize winners he found that most did not distinguish between work and play – their work was playful for them.

Creativity in the Workplace 

The  Society for Human Resource Management’s 2024 annual research found that of the 1,000+ employees surveyed, 44% feel burned out at work, 45 percent feel “emotionally drained” from their work, and 51 percent feel “used up” at the end of the workday. Employees who are tired and unmotivated are less likely to think creatively to solve problems.  Research demonstrates that play is an antidote that can make employees happier and make organizations more creative and resilient. 

In a 2023 study, 500+ full–time employees were questioned to investigate the connection between fun in the workplace, creative behavior and managers’ support for fun. Positive correlations were found that suggest:

  • Fun should be allowed more in the workplace because it can contribute to positive outcomes
  • Managers should create a workplace that is fun and allows for creativity to increase productivity

A recent article in Harvard Business review, “How a Playful Mindset Can Boost Creativity on Your Team” (HBR Sept 16, 2024) further supports those conclusions: 

  • “At work, our brains are … overloaded with emails, meetings, reports, training, and so on. We often don’t have time to think …our brains are stuck in what science calls the beta (brainwave) state — a state of constant busyness where creativity is blocked. When you’re in beta, the door between your conscious and subconscious mind is shut. By contrast, the alpha and theta (brainwave) states, characterized by … mental relaxation, open that door. … The key to making the jump from beta to alpha or theta? Playfulness.” 

The author, former head of Creativity and Innovation at Disney, suggests introducing short, playful activities (“energizers”) that infuse play into your workplace.  Energizers lead to laughter which indicates that people in the room are more relaxed and so will be more creative.  Research has found that laughter can improve problem-solving by catalyzing broader thinking and finding obscure connections. By implementing playful activities, you can create a dynamic and engaging workplace where creativity thrives.

Brendan Boyle: Embrace Fun

Brendan Boyle is a toy inventor, adjunct professor at Stanford University’s Design School (d.school), a founder of The IDEO Play Lab and a member of our board of directors. He wrote this piece for the Play Times.

In early 2010 I was working on “The Klutz Book of Inventions,” it was an exciting project but I was feeling deadline pressure and worried about budget overruns. I was also slightly annoyed that my co-author, John Cassidy, was having fun on this work, in fact, way more fun than I was having. 

Cass had a playful mindset toward the project. He was enjoying the work and found ways to make us laugh about each idea. I wanted that enjoyment too! So I emulated my friend, focused more on the fun in the ideas and the result was that deadlines and budgets faded from my thoughts. We had more brainstorming sessions than needed because now we were both having more fun. Never have I laughed as much as on a project, it continues to be a reminder for me to embrace play and joy.

In the end the book contained 164 inventions, some brilliant, some ridiculous. We’re particularly proud of the chapters that describe the invention process and how to think like an inventor. The book became a winner of the Parent’s Choice Award and at its ten-year anniversary it had sold over 500,000 copies.

Lessons Learned

Embrace Play and Joy: This project serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of maintaining a playful mindset, even when faced with deadlines and budget constraints. Whenever you have the opportunity to be playful and to laugh, do it and share it. Play and laughter are contagious.

Collaboration and Creativity: By allowing ourselves to be playful and have fun creating the book, we both became fully engaged in the process and fed off each other’s enthusiasm, we produced a book that has resonated with readers for over a decade.

Inspiring Young Inventors: The book’s success goes beyond sales figures. It encouraged children to create and submit their own inventions and so fostered creativity and innovation in the next generation.

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