I still play: Exploring play and creativity in early adulthood amongst science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics professionals

Play is acknowledged as a fundamental need and right of the human experience. However, across the human lifespan is not always valued. Research on play has traditionally been on children, and while some attention is now being paid to older adults, there is little scholarship regarding play in adulthood. This exploratory study examined how early adulthood (25-40 years old) play, the influence playing has on creativity and career performance, and implications for future research on play. The study was completed utilizing traditional and non-traditional research methods with the intent to incorporate the participants' voice and perspectives into a human-centered research design. The end results of this study, demonstrated that early adults engage in a number of play experiences that shape their development and learning as well as influence their creativity and work performance. The use of human-centered research provided participants with the opportunity to individualize data collection, analyze results, and have a voice in the final product.