PLAY THERAPY
EXPLORING A CHILD’S WORLD
THROUGH PLAY…
UNDERSTANDING A CHILD’S
WORLD
Play is a natural form of communication and reasoning for
young children.
Children can use toys, art, stories, games, etc. to
communicate with the therapist.
Play can help children ‘talk’ about feelings that they do not
know how to verbalize.
UNDERSTANDING A CHILD’S
WORLD
Plethora of innovative play therapy techniques have been
developed in the recent years to implement the therapeutic
powers of play.
For over 60 years, play therapy has been a well-established
and popular mode of child treatment in clinical practice.
THERAPEUTIC FACTORS IN PLAY
THERAPY
Communication
Abreaction Competence
Creative
Catharsis
Thinking
STAGES OF PLAY THERAPY
1. Building a Relationship:
Meeting with the child, demystifying the counseling
process, tracking behavior, reflecting feelings, answering
and asking questions, playing, and setting boundaries.
2. Exploring the Child’s Lifestyle:
Exploring family atmosphere, dynamics, and constellation,
clarifying goals and purposes of behavior, formulating
lifestyle hypothesis. For example,
“I am…”
“Others are…”
“The world is…”
STAGES OF PLAY THERAPY
3. Insight into the Child’s Lifestyle:
Helping the child gain insight into their lifestyle by
interpreting their play and/or verbalizations and also the
exploration of the connection between the behavior in the
play-room to that of the real world.
4. Reorientation/Reeducation:
Helping the child generate alternative behaviors for
outside the play-room, practicing new behaviors,
encouraging those new behaviors, and also consulting
with their parents during the course of the therapy.
GOALS OF PLAY THERAPY
The goals include:
To become more aware of and express feelings.
To manage anger.
To improve self-control.
To reduce fear, anxiety, depression.
To increase empowerment.
To enhance problem-solving skills.
CATEGORIES OF TOYS
Aggressive Creative Competitive
Toys Toys Toys
Dependency Intellectual
Active Toys
Toys Toys
Pretend Constructive
Sand Play
Toys Toys
PLAY THERAPY KIT
Pencils/Erasers/ Straws
Sharpeners/Scale/Scissors Bubble-Makers
Color Miniature Animals
Pencils/Crayons/Markers Soft Animals
Charcoal Pencils Hand Puppets/Stick
Paints Puppets/Finger Puppets
Plain White + Colored Wax Candle/Wax Crayon
Papers (White)
Buttons/Stones/Marbles Masks + Wand-Like
Ink Materials
Cotton Stickers
Balloons Blocks/Balls
Playdough/Clay Newspapers
BASKET OF FEELINGS
+
Techniques for BAG OF WORDS
Identifying
and Integrating
Feelings
PLAY
DOUGH
COLOR-YOUR-LIFE
POWER CARDS
Using card paper, child creates power cards.
Pick an “evil” and name it, such as, being called names (teased by
a bully).
Draw the creature and on back write what powers it has.
Draw a competing good force that will overcome what hurts you.
MAGIC WAND
Create a magic wand.
What would you change if you could?
What would you change about school?
What would you change about your friends?
What would you change about yourself?
How would your life be better with the change?
BOARD GAMES AND
DRAWINGS
(ART THERAPY)
ACCESSING THE INNER WORLD
Projective Drawings
Guided Imagery
“Boat in the Storm” (Oaklander, 1988)
BOAT IN THE STORM
Imagine you are a boat in a storm out in the ocean. The waves
are very high and are very rough and toss you about.
You can see the lightning flash across the dark sky and hear the
roar of thunder.
BOAT IN THE STORM
Imagine that you can smell the salty sea, and feel the rain as
the wind blows against your sides.
Listen to the wind howl as it blows at you. How do you feel
as the boat in the storm?
BOAT IN THE STORM
What do you do to take care of yourself in the storm?
Does someone help you or are you all alone?
Finally, the storm blows over and you find your way back to
a safe harbor.
PEACE/POWER SHIELDS
Making a personal power shield that shows who we are.
Create a circle, divide it into four parts:
1) Strengths or Skills
2) Fears
3) Dreams for the Future
4) People who you can Trust
ANGER
COLLAGE
ANGER
MASKS
ANGER
BALLOONS
STRESS BALLS
+
GARBAGE BAG
+
ZIP IT!
THE
MAD GAME
BUILDING SELF-ESTEEM
Three stackable boxes:
First Box: Puts a self-representation of how others see you.
Middle Box: Barriers the child uses to prevent others from
seeing them, or getting to know you.
Smallest Box: A representation of their core self. Can be words,
drawings, items.
STICK PUPPETS
Use craft sticks and have the child make one for each
member of the family.
Use the stick puppets to role play situations with family
members or classmates.
Use stick puppets to solve problem situations.
ANIMAL PICTURES
+
ANIMAL FAMILIES
ANIMAL PICTURES
Pick an animal from the pictures or think of one you like.
How does this animal remind you of yourself?
What are its strengths?
What attributes of it do you wish you had?
ANIMAL FAMILIES
Pick an animal for each member of your family.
Describe each animal’s, pluses (positives) and minuses (negatives).
Describe how the family member resembles the animal -
strengths/weaknesses.
Describe how each of these animals relates to your animal.
Which of the children in the family of animals is the mother’s
favorite?
STORYTELLING
Make up a short story or draw it:
The tiger who never felt safe.
The volcano which could not stop exploding.
The dog that bit and bit until everything was bitten up.
MUTUAL
STORYTELLING
CALMING ACTIVITIES
Deep Breathing
Humor
Repetitive Motions
Chewing Gum
Swinging
Change of Scene or Activity:
Listening to Music
Modeling with Clay or Playdough
Building Something
Jumping on a Mat/Using a Jump Rope
BUBBLE
BREATHS
FIFTEEN EFFECTIVE PLAY
THERAPY TECHNIQUES
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice (2002)
Vol. 33, No. 6, 515-522
Hall, Kaduson & Schaefer.
BOUNDARIES IN PLAY
CONCLUSION
Only a fraction of the creative play therapy strategies are
currently being employed.
The greater the number of play techniques that therapists
have in their kit, the better the likelihood to select the right
tool for healing an individual child.
The development of innovative play therapy techniques has
matched the significant gains made in play therapy theory
and research.
