You might not consider yourself a creative person anymore, but you almost certainly were at one point. Among childhood’s many blessings is the freedom to play and create; art class, recess, and music lessons offer outlets for unbridled imagination and expressiveness. But somewhere along the way, play and creation become uncool, something only little kids do, according to Cas Holman, a toy designer and author of Playful: How Play Shifts Our Thinking, Inspires Connection, and Sparks Creativity. So we stop. We focus on activities we excel in or could make us money instead of ones we enjoy simply for the sake of doing them.

As grown-up responsibilities mount, what limited free time remains might not be dedicated to creative pursuits but to rest, entertainment, doomscrolling. But for all the overwhelm in the world, you might have an itch for a more tactile, creative outlet — one that takes you away from the news, screens, and chaos, and puts you in touch with your more playful side.

Not only are these activities enjoyable, but infusing more creativity into your free time might also make you more creative in other domains, too. The unstructured and exploratory thinking fostered by a hobby can bleed into other areas of your life, says Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, a senior research scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of The Creativity Choice: The Science of Making Decisions to Turn Ideas Into Action. Indulging in that creative curiosity at work, for instance, might breed breakthroughs there, too.

Even if you think the creative part of you is long dormant, it’s possible to foster your more imaginative side. “That play instinct is still there,” Holman says. “We all became who we are through play, and we can still connect to that play from childhood. But also, there is a play inside of us........

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