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The phrase “child’s play” means something is easy, and other idioms like “cake walk” or “a breeze” convey the same idea. “So easy a child could do it” is a sharper contrast. “Playing ducks and boys” is negative. The speaker’s use of idioms may hide the true difficulty of a task.
The English idiomatic phrase “child’s play” refers to something that is easy to do or without significant challenges. This way of talking about levels of difficulty relates an adult’s abilities to those of a child, emphasizing that with less development, a child can only master easier tasks. This type of allegorical idiom is popular in describing levels of complexity or difficulty for any situation.
The English language has a wide range of other idioms that describe the same idea as the phrase “child’s play.” English speakers might also say something is a “cake walk,” which refers to a popular social activity from times gone by. They might also say something is “a breeze” or “a dunk,” where the latter is a reference to basketball.
In addition to using the phrase “child’s play,” someone might also say that something is “so easy a child could do it.” Here, the idea of pitting an adult’s abilities against those of a child presents an even sharper contrast. The phrase “so easy a child could do it” has inspired many advertising slogans for products that promote ease of use.
Another idiom uses the same allegory in a slightly different way. Some might say that something easy is “like taking candy from a child”. The tone of this idiom is more negative, although the overall meaning remains more or less the same.
In addition to the above, there are also English idioms that present children’s play as a negative phenomenon. For example, in British English, it might be popular to say that someone is “playing ducks and boys.” This generally means squandering wealth or opportunity. Here, the allegory is a childish game of skipping stones over water.
When English speakers use the phrase “it’s child’s play,” they are referring to their own ideas about how difficult something is. The task may actually not be as easy as the speaker presents it. One of the listener’s challenges is whether the speaker is using elaborate idioms like “child’s play” to accurately describe an easy activity, or to hide the fact that it might actually be quite difficult. Similar idioms that have the same meaning include “it’s not rocket science” and “it’s a walk in the park.
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