Harness the power of play--101 creative ways for you and your child to bond, have fun, and so much more! What's the best way for children to relate to the world around them? Play! In this book, you'll find a collection of joyful activities that allow parents of children ages 3 to 9 to unlock the therapeutic benefits of play. From strengthening your bond to decreasing their screen dependency, Play Therapy Activities offers a variety of simple exercises that can help improve your child's behavior, impulse control, self-awareness, and more. New to the idea of play therapy? This parent-friendly guide offers a comprehensive overview of the practice, as well as advice for making sure you and your child get the most out of your experiences together. Play Therapy Activities provides: Open the play therapy toolbox--Discover how you can help your child hone certain skills and behaviors with arts and crafts, relaxation and breathing activities, and more. 101 Fun activities--Whether it's dancing, creating stories, or playing outside, discover on- and off-the-page activities (and tips!) for any number of occasions and moods. Play therapy revealed--Find out how and why play therapy is so effective, as well as the ways in which these activities can supplement actual play therapy. Bring fun and skill-building games home with Play Therapy Activities.

This is an easy-to-use reference to the most effective play therapy techniques and their substantiated results. Play therapy is not an approach based on guess, trial and error, or whims of the therapist at the moment. It is a well-thought-out, philosophically conceived, developmentally based, and research-supported method of helping children cope with and overcome the problems they experience in the process of living their lives. Concise digests of play therapy procedures explore the most difficult, as well as the most common problems encountered by play therapists. These digests cover play therapy approaches based on a variety of theoretical positions for dealing with a broad range of specific problems. Because they often do not have access to substantiated results, play therapists sometimes doubt themselves and the effectiveness of their work. This book, an invaluable resource, puts an end to such questioning.

Building on children's natural inclinations to pretend and reenact, play therapy is widely used in the treatment of psychological problems in childhood. 101 Favorite Play Therapy Techniques incorporates methods developed to elicit the best responses from children by therapists representing cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, and other orientations, and selected for their practicality, specificity, and originality. Arranged for easy reference, each bearing a succinct description and targeted application, the interventions illustrated—including Fantasy, Storytelling, Expressive Arts, Game Play, Puppet Play, Play Toys and Objects, and Group Play—have been used with success to address such common problems as low self-esteem and unresolved fear and anger, as well as more serious difficulties arising from loss, abuse, and sexual trauma. All the contributors share the enthusiasm and respect of editors Kaduson and Schaefer for the special value of play therapy in reaching and healing young patients. Together, they have created an eclectic, accessible, and comprehensive resource for students and professionals that will also support parents seeking to open new lines of communication with their children. A Jason Aronson Book

A thorough revision of the essential guide to using play therapy in schools Fully updated and revised, School-Based Play Therapy, Second Edition presents an A-to-Z guide for using play therapy in preschool and elementary school settings. Coedited by noted experts in the field, Athena Drewes and Charles Schaefer, the Second Edition offers school counselors, psychologists, social workers, and teachers the latest techniques in developing creative approaches to utilize the therapeutic powers of play in schools. The Second Edition includes coverage on how to implement a play therapy program in school settings; play-based prevention programs; individual play therapy approaches as well as group play; and play therapywith special populations, such as selectively mute, homeless, and autistic children. In addition, nine new chapters have been added with new material covering: Cognitive-behavioral play therapy Trauma-focused group work Training teachers to use play therapy Filled with illustrative case studies and ready-to-use practical techniques and suggestions, School-Based Play Therapy, Second Edition is an essential resource for all mental health professionals working in schools.

This book is an amazing resource for play therapy techniques. The contributors come from a diverse group including child-centered, cognitive-behavioral, gestalt, Jungian, psychodynamic, and prescriptive play therapy.

Children feel emotions in many ways. At times, the intensity of children’s emotions can create difficulties at school, home, and social settings, and obstruct children’s relationships with others in their lives. Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) has been proven as an evidence-based intervention for teenagers and adults with various mental health diagnoses that focuses on mindfulness, interpersonal relationships, distress tolerance, and emotional regulation. This helpful workbook guides clinicians to translate DBT principles through play therapy–informed activities for children and their caregivers. Supportive activities and techniques for use in the therapy room and at home with children are provided to assist children in managing their emotions and strengthening their relationships. Blending the facilitative powers of DBT and play therapy allows children to use the needed tools and techniques to process their internal conflicts. Utilizing these skills while combining the therapeutic powers of play allows children to better understand their world.

"The authors . . . make child-centered play therapy readily understandable to those who wish to take advantage of its long history of helping children overcome problems and grow emotionally to a level of maturity difficult to achieve by any other approach." —From the Foreword, by Louise F. Guerney, PhD, RPT-S A comprehensive resource that thoroughly teaches the theory, methods, and practice of child-centered play therapy Child-Centered Play Therapy: A Practical Guide to Developing Therapeutic Relationships with Children offers how-to direction and practical advice for conducting child-centered play therapy. Filled with case studies, learning activities, and classroom exercises, this book presents extensive coverage of play therapy applications such as setting goals and treatment planning, as well as recommendations for family and systemic services that can be provided along with play therapy. This rich resource provides: A thorough introduction to the theory and guiding principles underlying child-centered play therapy Skill guidance including structuring sessions, tracking, empathy, responding to children's questions, and role-play Effective ways of determining what limits to set in the playroom and how to set them in a therapeutically effective manner Clear methods for monitoring children's progress through stages as well as external measures of progress Practical guidance in adjunct therapist tasks such as playroom set-up, documentation, ending therapy, and working with parents, teachers, and principals Endorsed by Louise Guerney—a founding child-centered play therapy figure who developed the skills-based methods covered in this book—Child-Centered Play Therapy comprehensively and realistically introduces practitioners to the child-centered approach to play therapy and addresses how to incorporate the approach into schools, agencies, or private practice.