Menu
Play is how children make sense of their world. As play therapists we witness the power of play every day with our clients. The freedom, the challenge, the flexibility, the choice, the decision making, the risk taking, the pivoting when something doesn’t work out, the therapeutic power of play, the list is endless.
So our advice is, get silly with it! We are offering you a selection of games, some don’t need any resources and some need minimal. Choose what’s right for you. Go with it.
The game may not always go as planned and that’s ok. If this happens it is an opportunity for you and your child to work through some big feelings together and for you to role model what you do when you are having big feelings, working with your breath, moving your body, naming what’s happening in your body and the feelings you are experiencing.
Accepting these feelings and meeting them with kindness and self compassion. If your child does not learn this from you, who is going to teach it to them, self compassion and a growth mindset?
The aim of the game is playful connection! Through this we build parent-child connection and nurture family bonds.
There are many types of play, educational play, sports training play, competition play, fun and connective play.
Here we are talking about fun and connective play with an openness to taking the opportunities as they arise to role model emotional regulation.
“Play is the universal language of the child”
Jean Piaget
Choose a game that you will also authentically enjoy, which will bring the right energy from the get go! Try to remain open minded and flexible to play games your child loves, keeping it playful and bringing the fun factor for them.
Keep in mind that play can end up in big emotions! Be ready for this and see it as an opportunity to role model positive responses and co regulation of emotions for your child.
Take a minute to think about your mood before play, what energy you are bringing to it, what it is like for your child to play with you.
Try to work within the time you have, however short, without it being a stress or ending the play abruptly. Making time regularly for parent-child quality time and building healthy parent child relationships is vital and often we don’t have enough of it. Work with the time you have, setting a timer together if necessary for you and choosing a game that will work well within that time. Giving a 5 minute warning and a gentle countdown from 10 or 20 can help to ease the ending and regulate both of you.
It’s worth taking a minute to think about what you are hoping will happen in the play, in terms of whether you have a specific learning point for your child or not. Coaching as you play is not always fun/connected play for your child. It brings with it expectations, unlike playing just for fun!
However there is a time and a place for all types of play and even when playing rock, paper, scissors there are winners and losers. Just keeping in mind that there is a balance to strike, that it’s ok for the child to lose, it’s ok for you to win and what’s important is that it’s still fun and that you role model that for them.
Have fun and enjoy!
Le chéile
Explore our Masterclasses and Discovery Programme offering pre-recorded content, course materials and live group sessions to help you support your little one.
