What is Play Therapy?

Why do kids play? 

Our bodies are experts in guiding us toward becoming fully functioning humans. When someone comes to therapy, they seek healing, growth, or development in some way. For kids, play is the body’s natural solution to incorporating all aspects of human development—social, emotional, physical, and cognitive—at the same time.

• Social: When children play, they learn how to build relationships and collaborate (even when playing alone, you’ll often notice they involve multiple “characters”).

• Emotional: Play allows children to experience the full range of emotions. Play is an outlet for feelings—feelings are made to be felt.

• Physical: Play involves movement, helping children develop coordination and fine motor skills.

• Cognitive: Through play, children express themselves with words in pretend conversations and storytelling.

Becoming human is complex, and play is a child’s pathway to healthy development. It’s also just fun! Kids innately understand the importance of laughter and joy—and they make time for it.

Why Play Therapy?

Child-centered play therapy is an evidence-based modality that allows children to communicate in the way most natural to them—through play. When adults think about therapy, we often imagine an hour of talking with a counselor. This makes sense, as we primarily express ourselves, build relationships, and solve problems through language—by talking and thinking. However, children accomplish these tasks primarily through play.

A child’s brain isn’t fully equipped for abstract thinking yet. Words without images, objects, or movement don’t stick. They need something physical to hold, manipulate, and assign labels to in order to make sense of situations. They need to look at pictures or recall memories to understand a story. Kids’ brains are hard at work developing adult cognitive and verbal abilities, but they’re not there yet. So, just as adults "talk things out," children "play things out," making play therapy a natural fit.

Allowing a child space to play during therapy is like allowing an adult space to verbally process. This is how a child will most effectively use their time in therapy. Play isn’t an add-on to talk therapy for children—it is the therapy itself! Just as adult therapy sessions differ from casual conversations with friends, play therapy differs from typical playtime at home or school. Play therapists are trained to adapt to a child’s communication style, using therapeutic techniques within the language and experience of play.

What Does Play Therapy Look Like?

Play therapy rooms are equipped with toys selected specifically to facilitate storytelling and emotional expression, allowing the child to communicate with the therapist in a way that feels most comfortable. As children play, we build secure relationships with them by empathizing with and understanding the stories they are telling. We teach healthy boundaries by setting and maintaining limits when unsafe behavior arises in the therapy room.

We help children experience and recover from big emotions by staying emotionally stable ourselves and providing coping skills, which create new brain pathways for safety and calm in the face of anger, fear, or sadness. We foster a sense of self-control, competence, and self-esteem by staying attuned to their abilities and returning responsibility when appropriate.

Play therapy gives children the space to fully develop and process the things that matter to them—at their own pace and in their own language. It’s a breath of fresh air for any child!

Ready to take the next steps toward change? Call our office at 281-882-3706. We look forward to working with you!