child's play

American  

noun

1. something very easily done.

---

child's play British  

noun

1. informal something that is easy to do

---

child's play Idioms  

1. Something easily done, a trivial matter. For example, Finding the answer was child's play for Robert, or The fight we had was child's play compared to the one I had with my mother! Originating in the early 1300s as child's game, the idiom was already used in its present form by Chaucer in The Merchant's Tale: “It is no child's play to take a wife.”

---

Etymology

Origin of child's play

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

Example Sentences

That sounds encouraging, but meeting those forecasts won’t be child’s play.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026

“They’re about to miss another payment. This is going to look like child’s play, what’s happening right now,” Duffy said.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 20, 2026

If you look at Hasbro’s earnings, everything seems like child’s play.

From Barron's • Feb. 11, 2026

And also, I feel child’s play is something to protect, inside of ourselves, particularly as women.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 22, 2024

Then the stormy North Atlantic proved that all the other gales had been mere child’s play.

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham