50 Play Quotes to Inspire Fun In Your Life

Take some time to enjoy these Play Quotes that are sure to inspire fun and enjoyment in your life.

To play means to do activities simply for fun or enjoyment.

Whether you are a child playing a game for fun or an adult playing with your kid, play is important in your life.

Play is so important to children that nidirect.gov says, “Playing is a natural and enjoyable way for children to keep active, stay well, and be happy.”

They explain that playing helps children develop and learn life skills.

Play is not only important for children, helpguide.org explains that as an adult, playing relieves stress, improves brain function, improves relationships, and even stimulates the mind.

Look at these play quotes and get inspired to have more play in your life!

Best Play Quotes for Having Fun

Enjoy some of the most popular quotes about playing.

1. “Play is the work of the child.” — Maria Montessori

2. “Play is the highest form of research.” — Albert Einstein

3. “The true object of all human life is play.” — G. K. Chesterton

4. “It is a happy talent to know how to play.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

5. “A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men.” — Roald Dahl

6. “Necessity may be the mother of invention, but play is certainly the father.” — Roger von Oech

7. “Children learn as they play; most importantly, in play, children learn how to learn.” — Fred Donaldson

8. “If we want our kids to have happy, productive lives, we must allow more time for play, not less.” — Peter Grey

9. “You can learn more about a child in one hour of play than you can in one year of conversation.” — Plato

10. “Think of playtime like an innovation lab where tomorrow’s civilization is being actively designed.” — Jordan Shapiro

Play Quotes Sharing the Importance of Play for Children

Play is more than it looks like for children, as described in the quotes below.

11. “Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning.” — Diane Ackerman

12. “The child learns while living, and any part of living that is enjoyable is also play.” — Penelope Leach

13. “When we deny children play, we are denying them the right to understand the world.” — Erika Christakis

14. “Play is the royal road to childhood happiness and adult brilliance.” — Joseph Chilton Pearce

15. “ Children need the freedom and the time to play; play is not a luxury play is a necessity.” — Kay Redfield Jamison

16. “Children at play are not playing about. Their games should be seen as their most serious-minded activity.” — Michel de Montaigne

17. “Play turns out to be stunningly essential in childhood; it’s li,ke love sunshine, and broccoli all juiced together.” — Lenore Skenazy

18. “Give childhood back to children: if we want our offspring to have happy, productive, and moral lives, we must allow more time for play, not less.” — Peter Gray

19. “When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magic wand; a sock can be a puppet; a small child can be a superhero.” — Fred Rogers

20. “Through observing children at play, we recognize what their worries, concerns, and fantasies are. We learn about their basic needs, their feelings of love and anger, their rivalries and fears of failure, their secret wishes, and desires.” — Jerome Singer

Play Quotes to Inspire Adults to Have Fun

These quotes show that kids aren’t the only ones that need to have fun and play.

21. “Play is training for the unexpected.” — Marc Bekoff

22. “People tend to forget that play is serious.” — David Hockney

23. “Play is the road to childhood happiness and adult brilliance.” — Joseph Pearce

24. “You can’t use up creativity; the more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou

25. “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.” — Dale Carnegie

26. “Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.” — Heraclitus

27. “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” — George Bernard Shaw

28. “Anything that engages your creative mind, the ability to make connections between unrelated things, and imagine new ways to communicate is good for you.” — Girija Kaimal

29. “A child who does not play is not a child, but the man who does not play has lost forever the child who lived in him.” — Pablo Neruda

30. “This is the real secret of life—to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.” — Alan W. Watts

The Importance of Play Quotes

Play is critical for healthy lives for children and adults, as shown in the following quotes.

31.“Deep meaning lies often in childish play.” — Johann Friedrich von Schiller

32. “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.” — Carl Jung

33. “It’s the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives.” — Fred Rogers

34. “Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.” — Joseph Chilton Pearce

35. “All play is associated with intense thought activity and rapid intellectual growth.” — N.V. Scarfe

36. “Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood, for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child’s soul.” — Friedrich Froebel

37.“Play and playful forms of activity potentially lead towards increasingly complex forms of knowledge, skills, and understanding.” — Elizabeth Wood

38. “Play is often talked about as if it was a relief from serious learning, but for children, play is serious learning play is really the work of childhood.” — Fred Rogers

39. “Play matters because people matter. It reminds us of our interdependence and gives us a chance to really see other people and, in turn, to be really and truly seen.” — Jill Violet

40. “Play is foundational for bonding relationships and fostering tolerance. It’s where we learn to trust and where we learn about the rules of gameplay; it increases creativity and resilience, and it’s all about the generation of diversity of interactions, diversity of behaviors, diversity of connections.” — Isabel Behncke

Play Quotes to Encourage You to Take a Break and Play

These quotes will inspire you to make time to play in your life.

41. “Culture arises and unfolds in and as play.” — Johan Huizinga

42. “Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.” — Abraham Maslow

43. “Nothing lights up a child’s brain like play.” — Dr. Stuart Brown, M.D.

44. “Time spent playing with children is never time wasted.” — Don Lantero

45. “Play is not a break from learning. It is endless, delightful, deep, engaging, practical learning.” — Vince Gowman

46. “Play builds the kind of free-and-easy, try-it-out, do-it-yourself character that our future needs.” — James Hines Jr.

47. “Let them play! The more they play, the more resilient and socially adept they will become.” — Jessica Joelle Alexander

48. “Toys are the tools of childhood, and the simple act of playing allows kids to develop a lifelong love of learning.” — Mark Carson

49. “The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery.” — Erik H. Erikson

50. “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature heal and give strength to body and soul.” — John Muir

What Play Activities Are Best for My Child or Me?

The great thing about “playing” is that it does not need to be structured; “free play,” where you just simply enjoy yourself, is valuable for stimulating the brain.

If you enjoy structured play more, you or your child can play games, sports, or any activity that you enjoy and gets you moving.

Please share these Play Quotes with your family and friends and post any comments about “playing” in the comment section below.