The Power of Play: How boosts creativity and learning

If you want to learn, create and innovate, play.

🏷️ Categories: Creativity, Learning

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When I was a child, I loved playing with building blocks.

There was no fixed plan. I just imagined, stacked, knocked things down, and rebuilt my creations. And in the process, without even realizing it, I was learning about balance, weight distribution in construction, how to combine shapes, and much more.

I was learning while playing—and it was a truly rewarding experience.

This idea of play applies to any field. A writer plays with words and rhythms, a painter with colors and shapes, a musician with combinations of notes. Play is more than entertainment; through play, you experiment without fear, and that allows you to discover ideas and learn new concepts in a natural, effortless way.

Aristotle once said, "Knowledge acquired through play always stays with us."

You'll see why Aristotle was right—and why you should keep playing...

Photo by La-Rel Easter on Unsplash

Play to Innovate

Steven Johnson, in his book Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World, argues that many of the breakthroughs we consider “serious” actually came from the pursuit of pleasure and curiosity—not from necessity or deadline pressure.

Steve Jobs, for example, revolutionized computer typography purely through play.

“Throughout the campus, every poster, every label on every drawer was beautifully hand-calligraphed. I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do it. I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had any hope of practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me.”
— Steve Jobs

Notice that: "it all came back to me."

As Aristotle said, “Knowledge acquired through play always stays with us.”

Let’s continue with the case of Albert Einstein and his games. He carried out “thought experiments” that were essentially imagination games used to test theoretical physics concepts (Hossenfelder, 2024).

Here’s one of the most famous: the windowless elevator experiment.

Einstein imagined a windowless elevator with someone inside. He said that the person inside wouldn’t be able to tell whether the elevator was stationary or accelerating upward at a constant rate. He concluded that the laws of physics must be the same in both cases. This “principle of equivalence” states that, locally (inside the elevator), gravity and acceleration have the same effect.

When expressed in equations, this laid the foundation for general relativity.

Illustration of the windowless elevator experiment (Hossenfelder, 2024)

“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.”
— Albert Einstein (Heilbron & Clark, 1972)

Play is the gateway to infinite possibilities.

And this is exactly why, if you’re stuck on a problem, the solution rarely comes from pushing harder. It appears when you let your mind wander and play.

Greg McKeown, in Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, argues that play helps us see new connections. When we play, our brain explores patterns it would normally ignore, which can lead to unexpected ideas. That’s why some of the best solutions appear when we’re distracted or doing something enjoyable—just like Einstein with his thought experiments.

Play is where we learn to fail safely.

And that’s key—because innovation depends on fearless experimentation.

The more you play, the more likely you are to create something innovative.

Learn While You Play

This isn’t just a romantic idea—it’s proven.

Play is key for learning and adaptability in both animals and children because it allows them to explore without limits and gain an empirical understanding of the world. And when play involves others, it greatly helps develop social skills (Panksepp, 2010).

But this doesn’t just apply to children—it also applies to adults.

Edward Hallowell, a neuroscientist, explains in Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People that play stimulates adults in the same way:

“… planning, prioritizing, scheduling, anticipating, delegating, deciding, analyzing... in short, most of the skills any business leader needs to master to excel.”
— Edward Hallowell, Shine

If you want to think beyond boundaries. If you want to have original ideas. If you want to learn in a more effective and enjoyable way, the answer is simple: play more.

✍️ Your turn: When was the last time an innovative idea came to you while you were having fun or doing something that seemed unimportant?

💭 Quote of the day: “Unconscious play doesn’t mean play without awareness.” — Timothy Gallwey

See you next time, and have fun! 👋

References 📚

1. McKeown, G. (2014). Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.

2. Heilbron, J. L., & Clark, R. W. (1972). Einstein: The Life and Times. The American Historical Review, 77(3), 748. URL

3. Hossenfelder, S. (2024, 20 february). Lost in Thought--How Important to Physics Were Einstein’s Imaginings? Scientific American. URL

4. Jobs, S. (2011). I, Steve: Steve Jobs in His Own Words.

5. Panksepp, J. (2010). Science of the brain as a gateway to understanding play. American Journal Of Play, 2(3). URL