Child-Centred Sydney

13/11/2025

Child-Centred Play Therapy facts.

11/11/2025

05/11/2025

Something to bear in mind: 'What looks frivolous might actually be a child learning where control begins. And ends.

When a child wraps tape around their arm, they’re doing more than playing with a material. They’re experimenting with autonomy.

How tight is too tight? What happens if I pull? How does it feel to choose something uncomfortable, and undo it myself?

This is sensory exploration and self-regulation in motion. It’s the body asking questions the brain doesn’t have experience for yet.

Play like this isn’t about craft or product. It’s about agency. And when we interrupt too soon, “Don’t waste that tape!” “That will hurt!” we cut off the very process that teaches kids how to recognise, test, and trust their own limits.

So the next time you see something that looks like nonsense, stay curious. You might be witnessing the first draft of self-control.'

Source: Rooted in Play

04/11/2025

Play therapy provides an opportunity for children to develop their narratives and make meaning of their experiences. The therapist's role is to support children through reflection and co-regulation so that they can develop coherent narratives of their lived experiences.

27/10/2025

"Many people underestimate how common trauma is for young people. Surveys suggest this clinical form of dissociation affects 7–11% of high school students, making it as common as anxiety disorders."

Dissociation is the brain’s way of protecting itself from overwhelming stress or emotion, and it’s often linked to trauma.

26/10/2025

💕 This.

26/10/2025

One last share for mental health awareness month. Not just relevant for foster kids, but for any child who has been through a traumatic experience in utero (including a stressed mother) or as an infant. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16cfR913Gu/

26/10/2025

A common misunderstanding is that participating in outdoor sports, such as soccer or nippers, counts as play. It doesn't. Those are structured activities with specific rules. There is much research in this area, and how lack of enough free, unstructured time for play and other independent activities is linked to mental health issues in children and adolescents.

"Play is intrinsically motivated activity initiated and directed by the players themselves (appendix p 2). Play is a fundamental human drive, an expression of freedom, a source of creativity, and a vehicle of learning that enriches the lives of people of all ages. For children especially, play is a prime source of happiness. Moreover, play and other independent activities are the vehicles through which children practice taking charge of their own activities, solving their own problems, and dealing with adversity. Through play, children develop traits such as responsibility, agency, and courage, which allow them to face life's trials with equanimity.

Research has shown that children and young adults who engaged in more play and other independent activity in childhood feel better about their lives and, by various measures, are doing better than those who engaged in less play.1 History shows that societal changes that reduce children's (including adolescents') opportunities for play negatively affect young people's mental health. This Comment reflects on three eras of change in children's opportunities for play and other independent activity, and their mental-health consequences."

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00160-9/abstract?fbclid=IwY2xjawNqQnNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFZY2ljY29TbEtpOUs1TzRvAR6ZQVmP4u0kxBbwbR8BEC7LgwCYqxjdUkIqyqqhcZvODL5KYsXyA3qEWCJXig_aem_7lbXRI2EtiDZ6bTfr-75Nw

International Day of Play, on June 11, 2025, prompts us to consider the relationship between young people's opportunities for play and their mental health. Play is intrinsically motivated activity initiated and directed by the players themselves (appendix p 2). Play is a fundamental human drive, an....

25/10/2025

In therapy, children often need to play out what they have experienced, as they don’t have the words to describe what happened to them or they don't have the cognitive ability to articulate complex emotions.

Accordingly, the playroom toys and materials are carefully selected to support self-expression in the different therapy stages. Arranged from left to right, the categories of toys in a Child-Centred Play Therapy playroom are as follows:

Acting-Out or Aggressive-Release Toys:

These toys allow for the release of emotions that are typically not allowed to be expressed in other settings and include a large bag of air (BoA), toy soldiers, rubber or foam knives/swords and toy guns that do not look realistic. Less obvious, but still important are egg cartoons and Popsicle sticks that can be physically broken down and destroyed.

Real-Life Toys:

This category consists of toys that are directly representative of real-world items including doll families, doll's house, pretend food, baby bottles, blankets; doctor kit; miniature figurines; cars, boats, airplanes; cash register and play money; pretend/fantasy play items, such as dress ups, masks and magic wands; puppets and puppet theatre, among other things.

Creative Expression Toys:

This toy grouping allows for creativity. There is no right or wrong way to show creativity, so children will always have an opportunity to feel successful and experience mastery. Items in this category include sand, water, paints, easel, paper, pencils, crayons, textas, scissors, pipe cleaners and construction materials.

Ref: Landreth, 2002, p. 133.