The battle for your attention
Our brains love getting absorbed in something. Both children and adults thrive when they can focus on a single activity—but in our fast-paced, blinking, pinging world, those moments are becoming far too rare, with distractions and multitasking tempting us at every turn.
Sometimes our surroundings trip us up when we try to focus. Other times, our own brains sabotage us. When every little impression rushes straight onto our mental noticeboard, lining up like a hundred traffic lights waiting for our attention, it’s no wonder it’s hard to concentrate—even on the smallest things, like the text on a pack of gum. You can stand there in your tinfoil hat, being as mindful as you like, but our brains still have a habit of hoovering up the world around us as if they’re going for gold in the Vacuuming World Championships.
Today, the most valuable thing we have isn’t riches or gold—it’s our attention. Huge battles are being fought over it, with millions on the line across society. No wonder it’s getting harder and harder to stay immersed in a single moment, focused on just one activity.
From attention to immersion
At Toy Academy, we see it every single day: the battle for both our own attention and our children’s attention is getting harder and harder to win. That’s why we’re now launching a new part of Toy Academy designed to help create more room for immersion in family life.
Because when something captures our attention, immersion follows. Immersion. You breathe a little deeper. Your nerves settle. And time simply drifts by. The world around you seems to fall away, and before you know it, you’re completely wrapped up in the joy of play.
We believe that just as play helps children grow and flourish, it does us grown-ups a world of good too.
So now you can set off in search of immersion, play, and a calmer mind in our new category: GrownPlay.
What is GrownPlay?
GrownPlay is a collection of toys and tools for activities you can truly get absorbed in—on your own, with a friend, with your partner, or side by side with your child. Your child will see you absorbed in something you truly enjoy, and that experience will stay with them. You become a role model simply by showing that it’s wonderful to lose yourself in something, practise, and gradually get better—just for yourself. Without an audience. Without applause. Without putting on a show.
Maybe your child will want to join in at first—after all, new things are exciting. So share what you’re doing and let your child try a kid-friendly version alongside you. Our advice is to stick to the idea that you can sit side by side, but play separately. Share the enthusiasm, but not necessarily the activity.
The selection in GrownPlay will evolve over time, but here are a few examples of what you might find:
- Puzzles with intricate designs
- Colouring books
- Paint-by-numbers projects
- Steam engines
- Model and miniature painting
- Miniature building kits
- Creative tools and kits that require a steady hand, fine motor skills, and artistic flair—like resin casting, crochet, and silk flowers
Ease stress, anxiety, and restlessness with GrownPlay
The whole point of rediscovering immersion and play is that, unlike many of the other things we fill our days with, it’s something you do simply for the joy of doing it—for the sake of playing, not for a particular goal or outcome. You don’t have to wait for a special result or payoff. You can simply enjoy it for what it is, right here in the moment.
But if you still need a few solid arguments for allowing yourself to set aside some time in your day to play on your own, plenty of studies now show that play is a fundamental human activity that supports our wellbeing in countless ways.
For example, a Danish study found that when culture and art are part of everyday life, symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression decrease. Cultural and artistic activities are simply a catalyst for better mental health.
A British study has found a link between wellbeing and creativity, showing that crafts can give us a sense of mastery while also offering a meaningful way to express ourselves.
You might also find your way into new social communities built around your favourite hobby or form of play. In that way, GrownPlay can help if you’re feeling lonely or simply looking for new, meaningful connections.
Seen from a more holistic perspective—if you step back and take a bird’s-eye view of your overall wellbeing—there are plenty of good reasons to give GrownPlay a place in your life.
On average, we spend four hours a day staring at our smartphones. So if you cut a couple of hours of scrolling from your day, you could enjoy all the good things GrownPlay has to offer instead.
Learn something new or rediscover a childhood favourite
Many of us remember a game or activity that totally captured our attention when we were kids.
Maybe you played hacky sack from morning till night, or perhaps wild horses couldn’t drag you away from the F-16 model you were building. Or maybe you spent whole weekends drawing, or loved painting miniature models.
We’re working to bring together a wide and wonderful selection of the games and activities you might remember from your childhood. You’ll find them in our webshop, ready to help you rediscover the joy of losing yourself in an activity.
Or maybe you’d prefer to try something new and master a new skill—in that case, take a little inspiration tour through GrownPlay.
The best starting point for real immersion is a couple of hours to yourself with no TV, smartphone, or tablet. And with that, you’ve given yourself the gift of (re)discovering that carefree state of play, where your intuition and the simple desire to just be in the moment can flow a little more freely.
Enjoy exploring GrownPlay.
