4 Simple Ways to Tap Into Your Inner Child (and Actually Have More Fun)

Somewhere between responsibilities, routines, and trying to “have it all together,” many of us forget how to have fun. Real fun. The kind that isn’t scheduled, productive, or shared for validation, just light, curious, and a little bit silly.

Tapping into your inner child isn’t about being immature or avoiding real life. It’s about reconnecting with parts of yourself that knew how to feel joy without overthinking it. The parts that didn’t need a reason to laugh, create, or play.

Here are four simple, realistic ways to invite more of that energy back into your life.

1. Do Something Just Because It’s Fun (Not Useful):

As adults, we’re conditioned to justify everything. Workouts have to burn calories. Hobbies have to turn into side hustles. Even rest has to be “earned.”

Your inner child didn’t operate like that.

Think back to what you loved doing as a kid, drawing, dancing in your room, baking for fun, riding a bike with no destination. Try reintroducing one of those activities without attaching an outcome to it. No goals. No productivity. No posting it online.

When you allow yourself to do something purely for enjoyment, you remind your nervous system that life doesn’t always need to be so serious.

2. Let Yourself Be Bad at Things:

One of the biggest blockers to fun as an adult is the fear of being bad at something. We don’t want to look silly. We don’t want to fail. We don’t want to be seen trying.

But kids learn through mess and experimentation, not perfection.

Sign up for a class you’ve never done before. Try painting, pottery, surfing, or learning an instrument. Give yourself full permission to be awkward, slow, and imperfect. The joy is in the trying, not the result.

Being bad at something can actually be incredibly freeing.

3. Create Little Moments of Play in Your Day:

You don’t need to overhaul your life to feel more playful. Sometimes it’s about small shifts.

Wear something fun just because. Take a longer route home if it’s prettier. Dance while making dinner. Buy the colourful mug. Order dessert for the table. Watch a movie you loved when you were younger.

Play doesn’t have to be loud or dramatic, it can be quiet, cozy, and woven into your everyday routine.

4. Spend Time With People Who Make You Feel Light:

Notice how you feel after spending time with different people. Some connections feel heavy, performative, or draining. Others make you laugh, relax, and feel more like yourself.

Your inner child thrives around people who don’t require you to explain yourself or have everything figured out.

Make space for the friendships that feel easy. The ones where conversation flows, laughter comes naturally, and you don’t feel the need to be “on.” Feeling safe and light is one of the fastest ways back to joy.

Tapping into your inner child isn’t about escaping adulthood, it’s about softening it. It’s about remembering that joy, curiosity, and play are not things you grow out of. They’re things you grow back into.

Life feels lighter when you let yourself enjoy it again.