# Play Therapy Techniques Parents Can Use at Home
Source: Little Wheels Educational Research
URL: https://littlewheels.app/learn/parent-guides/play-therapy-techniques-parents-can-use-at-home
Last Updated: November 2025

## Key Facts

### Why Play Therapy Works
Play is children's natural language. Between ages 2-10, children lack brain development for sophisticated emotional processing and verbal expression. Through play, children can process experiences, express feelings they don't have words for, work through fears symbolically, and gain mastery over situations where they felt powerless.

### What Play Therapy Is
- Evidence-based mental health treatment by licensed therapists with specialized training
- Research-supported for trauma, anxiety, behavioral issues, grief, developmental challenges
- Major approaches: Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT), Theraplay, Filial Therapy

### Research Support
Meta-analyses show moderate to large effect sizes for anxiety, depression, behavioral issues, trauma/PTSD, and social skills. Benefits often maintained at follow-up.

## What Parents CAN Do at Home

### Parents Can:
- Use child-led play principles to strengthen relationship
- Provide consistent special play time (20-30 min, 2-3x/week)
- Use specific techniques for everyday regulation
- Support professional therapy as adjunct
- Build emotional literacy through play

### Parents Should NOT:
- Attempt to treat trauma without professional guidance
- Interpret child's play psychologically
- Push child to process things they're not ready for
- Replace professional help when needed

## Core Principles (Child-Centered Play Therapy)

### 1. The Child Leads Completely
Child chooses toys, directs play, makes rules. This is empowering for children who usually have little control.

### 2. Unconditional Positive Regard
Accept all feelings, all play themes (within safety limits). Judgment shuts down emotional expression.

### 3. Tracking & Reflecting
Narrate what you see without judgment, interpretation, or questions.
- Tracking: "You're putting all the blue blocks together"
- Reflecting: "That bear looks scared"
- AVOID: Questions, Praise, Teaching

### 4. Minimal Limit-Setting
Only intervene for real safety. Three-part formula:
1. Acknowledge: "You want to throw the blocks"
2. Limit: "I can't let you throw blocks at me"
3. Alternative: "You can throw at the wall or into this basket"

## Recommended Toys (5-8 Categories)
- Nurturing: Baby dolls, stuffed animals
- Aggressive: Dinosaurs, toy soldiers, monsters
- Creative: Art supplies, playdough, blocks
- Pretend: Doctor kit, vehicles, puppets
- Sensory: Sand, water play, slime

NOT: Electronic toys, competitive games, toys with strict rules

## Therapeutic Play Techniques

### 1. Emotion Play
Use toys to explore emotions: "What does mad bear do? What helps bear calm down?"

### 2. Narrative Play
Child creates stories with toys. Don't impose resolution.

### 3. Sensory Regulation Play
Calming (playdough, slime), Alerting (jumping), Organizing (heavy work)

### 4. Symbolic Play
Toys represent real people/situations. Don't interpret aloud.

### 5. Repetitive Play
Same scenario repeatedly is GOOD—they're processing.

## When to Seek Professional Play Therapy
- Trauma (abuse, neglect, witnessing violence)
- Mental health symptoms (persistent anxiety, depression, PTSD)
- Behavioral concerns (aggression, cruelty to animals, self-harm)
- When home techniques aren't helping

## How to Find a Play Therapist
- Credentials: RPT (Registered Play Therapist)
- Association for Play Therapy directory: www.a4pt.org

## Timeline
- Week 1-2: Testing phase
- Week 3-4: Trust building
- Month 2: Deeper themes emerge
- Month 3+: Integration, improved regulation

## Professional Resources Referenced
- Bratton et al. (2005) meta-analysis
- Lin & Bratton (2015) meta-analysis
- Association for Play Therapy
- Axline: Play Therapy
- Landreth: Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship