What is Creative Play?

Google’s definition of Creative Play:

“Creative play is any type of play that is free and allows children to express themselves. Creative play provides an opportunity for your child to have fun but develop intellectually at the same time. During creative play, children gain skills that are essential to academic learning and social development.”

The words that first stood out to me when I read this definition are children/child. I asked myself why is creative play described as something for children? The second point that caught my eye was that creative play develops skills that are essential to academic learning and social development. Yes! But this type of play should not stop at the end of childhood! Be sure to nurture your creative soul with play.

Creative people often find a way to take something they are good at, that they enjoy, and figure a way to make an income through their unique skill and perspective. This is a wonderful thing! Work that expresses your unique design, where you get to do what you love to do doesn’t feel like work… at first. Unfortunately, as the days march on, the business side of your craft demands attention and your passion, even if it is still a joy, also becomes a job. Work.

We lose the free form feeling of creative play. The longer we press our creativity into a schedule that brings with it financial expectations and demands, that farther we get from that playful feeling we had when we started. It isn’t long before we come face to face with some type of creative block.

What is a creative block?

I am a writer and a painter. Creative blocks look to me like a blank page on my computer or a new sheet of 140lb cold press paper. If I don’t bring with me some type of inspiration, that blankness can feel bewildering, if not downright scary. Doubts whisper at me, “What if I can’t do this thing? Maybe I have no more to give. Why did I ever think I could do this in the first place? Last time was probably just a fluke.”

Of course, those doubts are lies based in fear, and we must call them out as such. Fear causes us to feel blocked. Let’s go back to our childhoods for a minute. Can you remember even a single time when you were under the age of seven and were afraid that your imagination wouldn’t show up when you played make-believe? No! It never occurred that could even happen. What about when you decided to paint a picture, or draw, or paste construction paper together? We hadn’t yet developed our inner critic and imaginative, creative play was simply fun. There was no agenda, no comparison, no dollar amount assigned to our creation. It was pure.

Dare I say, there is no such thing as a creative block?

Now, I’m going to go out on a limb and confessing that I don’t believe in creative blocks. I mean, I know we all feel blocked at times… but is it really a block? Did our muse truly run away or refuse to play?

There is an old saying that goes:

Now, I’m going to go out on a limb and confessing that I don’t believe in creative blocks. I mean, I know we all feel blocked at times… but is it really a block? Did our muse truly run away or refuse to play?

There is an old saying that goes:

“You cannot pour from an empty cup.”

I believe that our sense of being blocked stems from the truth of that quote. I don’t think we as creative spirits are blocked. I purpose that instead; we are empty. We have allowed our work, the stresses of life, the distractions, the seriousness of adulthood, bills, illness, politics, whatever trips you up—you name it, to deplete our reserve of creative thinking and being. We draw from the well but forget to replenish the resource. We must nourish our creative spirit. It is crucial to feed and care for our muse!

How do we nurture our creativity?

I have many thoughts. In fact, I’m in the process of writing a book that answers this very question. But in this post, I want to address one of the most important ways to refill our creative cup. I want to give you at least one thing to consider as you stare at the blank page, music staff, slab of uncut wood, blob of unformed clay, or whatever your medium is. We must return our spirits to the sense of play.

When we feel blocked in our primary creative expression, it helps to play with a completely different form of creativity. Perhaps something we have never tried. Something we, (gasp) aren’t any good at. Take your muse on an adventure and dare to be incompetent at a new form of expression! Enjoy the process of trying something new and release any attachment to the outcome.

If you would like to join my Creative Play Newsletter, click this link and receive a list of 60 creative expressions to experiment with. Choose something you’ve never done before. Let your creativity soar! And then, please, email me at jodi@elanvitalcreate.com and let me know about your experience!