As simple as it may be, the act of playing can help a person in a therapeutic way, so that they can solve problems or just improve their potential. This is especially true for children, since we are talking about their universe. Understand what it is play therapy and some examples of activities.

What is ludotherapy?

Play therapy is a therapeutic procedure aimed first and foremost at children, validating the act of playing as their self-expression In short, this therapy employs the idea that play is a valuable resource in a child's development, so that he or she can overcome difficulties and reach their potential.

The action of playing in therapy has become the basis of the work of several lines of psychology theories. Psychoanalysis, Humanism, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy all strive to improve the use of the practice.

Through toys, the play therapy room gives the little ones the chance to let go of their problems and feelings. Play becomes the main channel for them to project their way of being externally.

The conditions favorable to the development environment

To understand what ludotherapy consists of, we should focus on aspects favorable to the development of the process. The first is the authenticity of the therapist, being himself with the other helping in his growth. By experiencing the sensations that flow from the process, you are better able to get closer and help lower barriers .

Basically, the therapist must positively accept what the patient is and does at the moment so that change can come. In this way, the professional will ask the participant to express his feelings presently and freely.

Finally, it is important to work on empathic perception, to be emphatic in capturing the other's meanings and feelings. Through this, the professional finds an open door to dive into the individual's world. On this path, he will be able to clarify both what is in his consciousness and in his unconscious world.

Why apply play therapy to children?

Being made as a special approach to children, play therapy is tailor-made. One of the reasons why it is effective is that children are inexperienced in not yet demonstrating abstract thinking. The child does not yet understand the complexity in separating something specific into a practice and sees a complex procedure as a one-time experience .

Another reason for the excellent results is that the child can manifest himself through the toys, which become portals for his essence to condense in the environment. He can gesticulate with their help, and build up his speech in and after therapy.

Not enough, the child still has premature language ability at this stage of life. With the help of this therapy, he or she will learn to refine their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in any environment. Ultimately, they learn to communicate more effectively with themselves and with others.

Diversified play therapy work: adults also benefit

Although it is primarily aimed at those going through childhood, play therapy can also be used on young people and adults. Direct therapeutic processes help to comfort the ideas and beliefs of the major, revitalizing their perspectives Through this, young people and adults can gain insights and find new ways of thinking.

In relation to the elderly, the play box ends up helping the emotional bonding within the clinical care. This allows older people to improve their socialization. Their issues with anxieties, defense mechanisms, and unconscious desires can be reviewed.

Through it, we can more easily manifest internal expressions to understand the elderly. With proper management, the most sensitive health and well-being condition of this age group is improved, not to mention that it serves as an easily applicable preventive resource for community improvement.

Axline Play Therapy

Virginia Axline has also built pillars in play therapy for the care of children and adolescents. In her work, she defines child psychotherapy as a growth experience for young people. On this path children can be released from their tensions and let their negative feelings melt away .

When this happens, Axline ludotherapy indicates that they get to know themselves better and achieve self-control. This approach will make them see themselves as people with potential. Ultimately, people will adjust to human relationships in a realistic and healthier way.

Play box: Play therapy in a box

The Play Box in Play Therapy shows itself as the child's internal universe condensed into toys. In addition to serving as storage for objects, it indicates the symbol of a personal space. This is why it is common for small children to paint the object in any way that suits them to delimit their space.

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Melanie Klein indicates that the materials stored should be small, but not small enough to fit into the mouths of the smallest ones. Not to mention that the toys should be direct representatives of reality. Respecting the cultural reality of the children, they need to recognize these objects in the real environment.

For example, indigenous children should not put a gasoline station in the box because it is not part of their routine. Structured and unstructured materials should conform to reality, such as a green alligator and not blue or orange. Below is a list of materials that can be put in the box:

Structured materials that can be used for a more urban everyday life

The list of material for play therapy can consist of:

• Puppet families;
• Families of domestic and wild animals;
• Indians;
• Airport;
• Little house with rooms;
• Ball;
• Phone;
• Soldiers or policemen;
• Toy weapons;
• Nursing or kitchen utensils or tools;
• Port with small boats.

Unstructured materials

• Box of colored and black pencils;
• Rubber;
• Pointer;
• Sulfite paper;
• Colored papers;
• Scissors;
• Gouache paint;
• Snap-together type construction toys;
• Brushes;
• Glue and/or tape;
• Modeling clay;
• Colorful wooden blocks;
• Cloth and basin with water.

Structured Materials

The purpose of structured materials is to facilitate children's expression of their power to understand the symbolic.

Examples of children's play therapy activities

As for ludotherapy, various techniques are in charge of making the work more dynamic and enriching for the participants. Although each one works as part of a larger purpose, they deliver individual achievements to the patients. Some of them are:

Anger Balloons

The therapist will ask a child to inflate a balloon, tie it up and imagine it as a body and the air as anger. The child should step on it so that it, the anger, explodes. After that, the therapist will explain that if the balloon were really a person, blowing it up would be an aggression .

The child should then fill up another ball, squeezing the tip instead of tying it. Now the child should release the air calmly and in parts, holding the tip and the inside. At the end, the professional will repeat the representation of anger and how to release it without hurting oneself or someone else.

News

With tables, chairs, and paper, the proposal is that a news show is built inside the doctor's office. The professional will introduce some stories and the child will be the expert to solve some issues. Thus, the therapist will pick up the phone, simulating a viewer, and bring a question for the child as an expert to solve.

While solving the imaginary participants' questions, the little one solves his own problems If he is unable to solve the problem at the therapist's call, the professional will comfort him with a puppet.

Relaxing with soap bubbles

One of the most accessible games used in play therapy is playing with soap bubbles. Using accessible materials and detergent with water, the children are to make soap bubbles and play. You notice that one of the first impulses is for them to burst as soon as they start to reach them.

After a while, the professional will ask them to make a bigger bubble, teaching them to breathe in and out more deeply. He should make it clear that irritation and anxiety push the brain to need more air. Breathing deeply makes the brain calm down, the lungs work properly, and the little ones can relax.

Final considerations about play therapy

Play therapy uses the natural impulse of childhood to work on the development and transformation of children In this way, the act of playing becomes therapeutic, helping patients to get rid of their internal hang-ups.

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However, this is not only restricted to young people, but is well applied to teenagers and adults as well. Although it is a nonchalant way of looking at problems, it is still very effective in dealing with them.

Another way to revitalize your life beyond play therapy is with our 100% online Psychoanalysis course The classes will help you reach your potential, understanding more clearly your unconscious movements.