Your daily prompts for May 2025: Play

This month our journaling is lighthearted, silly, fun, imaginative…it’s all about play! And you know what? I think this might be one of my favourite themes yet.

If you find yourself thinking that this stuff is trivial or you’re questioning how it’s helping your wellbeing, have a read of this article here. There are sooo many evidence-based benefits when it comes to embracing playfulness as an adult — reduced stress, improved brain function and better relationships, to name a few.

So, I encourage you to dive in to the prompts, let go of your inner critic for a while and see what happens when you just allow yourself to PLAY. Enjoy 🙂

A few things to remember:

• Some of the prompts are lighthearted and playful, and others encourage you to take a bit of a deeper dive — but it’s entirely up to you how long you’d like to spend on each. They’re designed for you to be able to take as much or as little time as you like.

• Likewise, it’s completely up to you whether you’d like to complete the journals prompt everyday or just pick and choose the ones that speak to you the most. Do what feels good to do. If daily journaling feels unrealistic or pressured, then please don’t feel that you have to. Even journaling a couple of times a week can bring amazing benefits to your wellbeing and mindset!

• Most of the prompts here are designed for you to explore with writing, unless otherwise stated. But please feel free to adapt them if you’d rather draw or collage or use any other creative techniques!

• Tip — each time you want to get to these prompts you can log in to the Members area and head to this page (I’d recommended bookmarking it for quick access) or if you’d like to be able to access them offline, you could copy & paste all the prompts and save them in your notes app on your phone, or print them out on a piece of paper at the start of the month. Your choice, of course!

Lastly, I’m here to support you so please just send me an email on hannah@journalforjoy.co.uk if you have any questions at any point.

Happy journaling,

Hannah x

The prompts

1. Grab three different coloured pens or pencils. Holding them all at the same time, draw a big scribble or shape on your page. 

2. Split your page in two. On one half of the page, list the things you did for fun as a child. On the other half, list the things you do for fun now. Notice where there are similarities and differences. Is there any inspiration you could take from your childhood, to bring more fun into your adult life?

3. Go for a walk and draw a portrait of the first animal you see. Give them a name!

4. If you could have any superpower today, what would it be and why?

5. List out the letters of the alphabet down the side of your page. Then list out things that bring you joy, filling in as many of the A-Zs as possible. For example:
Adventures in new places
Blue skies
Chocolate
Dogs
etc. 

6. Draw something on your page with your eyes closed.

7. Write a silly limerick that includes your name, where you live or what you love to do. For example,. mine could start with ‘There once was a girl called Hannah…’ or ‘There was a girl who loved the sea…’!

8. Write down two truths and one lie about yourself. Share them with someone you know, if you like, asking them to guess the lie!

9. Make a list of 10 wishes you hope will come true this weekend.

10. Draw a large butterfly shape on a piece of paper. Fold the paper in half, down the middle of the butterfly, then squeeze some coloured blobs of paint onto one half of the page (on its wings). Then fold the page again to create an imprint, filling your butterflies wings with colour.

11. Sit in a busy spot and do a little eavesdropping! Draw some speech bubbles on your page, and inside them, write down anything interesting or funny that you hear people say.

12. Write down three mundane tasks you need to do this week. Now write down ideas for ways that you can make these tasks more playful. For example, if one of your mundane tasks is washing the dishes, perhaps a way to make it more playful could be to have a kitchen karaoke session whilst you do it?

13. Write a funny sentence or paragraph using your favourite swear word 😛 Let loose!

14. Is there something on your mind that’s been worrying you, or stressing you out recently? Write it down. Now see if you can reframe it in a way that’s silly, lighthearted or can make you laugh – and write down your playful new perspective on the matter.

15. Write down your favourite silly joke. If you’ve not got one, get some inspiration here!

16. Plan a play date with a friend. Think about where you’ll go, what you’ll eat and drink and the playful activities you can enjoy.

17. Pick up a children’s book, either an old one of yours, one that belongs to a young family member, or one from a charity shop. Choose a page that you love and recreate it (in your own style!) in your journal.

18. Make a collage depicting something that brings you joy, using scraps of paper from an old magazine.

19. Where in your life, do you think you could take things a little less seriously? Why?

20. Think about a place you loved to visit as a child. Write about or draw this place, recalling as many of the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures that you can.

21. Write a short story or poem about a fairy who you’ve discovered is living in your garden or home.

22. Draw a blob shape. Give it a face that reflects your mood today.

23. Put on some loud music and dance freely around the room, at least for the duration of one whole song. Then write in your journal about how it felt. 

24. Go for a penny walk. Flip a coin at each turning – heads means go left, tails means go right! Write about the experience, or take pics as you go.

25. Make a flat lay using natural objects like leaves, flowers, stones or shells. Take a photo of it (and stick it in your journal if you like).  

26. Find a new recipe that sounds like fun to prepare — or eat! Write it down in your journal and plan to make it some time this week.

27. Have you ever played a musical instrument? If you have, write about your experience of this. If you haven’t, write about what instrument you’d like to play, if you could (and if you’re feeling inspired, perhaps you could look into trying out some lessons with a teacher or on Youtube?).

28. See how many words or anagrams you can make using the letters from your full name.

29. Design a new item of clothing for yourself for summer – something that brings you joy.

30. Write down a question in your journal that you’d like to ask a magic 8-ball. Now ask your question here!

31. Make a brainstorm of things you can do for fun that cost little-to-no money. Perhaps you’ve discovered some of them in this month’s journaling? ☺️