Play to Blossom

10/12/2025

In play therapy, movement-based play gives children countless chances to practise balance in ways that feel joyful and natural. Whether they are wobbling on a cushion, darting across the room, or inventing a game that involves spinning, hopping, or stretching, their bodies are constantly learning.

These playful moments help strengthen the sensory and muscular systems that support physical balance and coordination. With a play therapist’s attuned presence and safe boundaries, children can explore movement freely, challenge themselves and discover what their bodies can do.

In this way, play therapy nurtures not only emotional wellbeing, but also the developing physical systems that help children feel steady, confident and grounded in their world.

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09/12/2025

In play therapy, children engage in rich cognitive work that directly supports the development of working memory, the mental space where they hold, organise and manipulate information.

During play, children remember sequences, keep track of roles, follow the unfolding logic of their story and juggle multiple ideas at once. Even simple activities like building, planning, or imaginative storytelling require the child to hold information in mind while also adapting to new possibilities.

Within the therapeutic relationship, this cognitive load is manageable because the child feels safe, supported and free to explore at their own pace. As children repeat, revise and expand their play, they strengthen neural pathways involved in attention, planning and flexible problem-solving.

The play therapist’s attuned presence helps the child tolerate challenge and recover from frustration. All of which reinforce working memory and broader executive functioning.

Through this process, play therapy nurtures the developing brain, enabling children to think more clearly, organise their experiences and approach the world with greater cognitive resilience.

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07/12/2025

In play therapy, we recognise that sharing and turn-taking do not come naturally to emotionally young children. These are developmental abilities that unfold gradually as children feel safe, regulated and connected.

Play provides the ideal space for this growth. Within the therapeutic relationship, the child is invited to explore at their own pace while experiencing clear, consistent boundaries. Over time, the child begins to practise waiting, negotiating, sharing materials and taking turns not because an adult instructs them to, but because the play itself creates authentic moments where these skills emerge.

Through the play therapist’s attuned presence, emotional containment and modelling of respectful interaction, children internalise these social skills in a way that feels organic, relational and rooted in their own sense of competence.

In this way, play therapy becomes a gentle, developmentally appropriate environment where social skills can take shape and flourish.

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06/12/2025

Play is one of the most powerful tools children have for building their memory systems. Through repetition, imagination, storytelling, and sensory exploration, children strengthen neural pathways that support working memory, long-term memory, and the ability to recall information under stress.

In Play Therapy, this happens naturally and safely. Children revisit themes, rehearse experiences, and make sense of their world at their own pace. This gentle, child-led process strengthens memory, supports emotional integration, and helps previously overwhelming experiences become organised and understood.

Play isn’t “just play” — it’s how the brain learns to remember.

03/12/2025

In Play Therapy, children learn how to be with others long before they learn how to talk about being with others.
Through shared play, turn-taking, problem-solving, and navigating big feelings in a safe therapeutic relationship, children develop the foundations of social cooperation:

✨ Understanding others’ perspectives
✨ Practising negotiation and compromise
✨ Building trust through consistent relational safety
✨ Learning empathy through symbolic and imaginary play

Play is the rehearsal space for real-world relationships.

📖 “Children learn to cooperate, negotiate and compromise through play long before they can articulate these skills in words.”
— Dr. Stuart Brown, Play Researcher & Founder of the National Institute for Play

Play Therapy uses these natural developmental processes to support children who struggle with relationships, connection or communication—meeting them where they are, at their pace, with acceptance at the centre.

02/12/2025

In Play Therapy, we know that movement is medicine for the developing body and brain. When children climb, jump, push, pull, balance, and explore, they’re not “just playing” — they’re building the foundations for lifelong physical confidence.

Through play, children develop:

🟢 Core strength & stability
🟢 Gross-motor skills (running, climbing, balancing)
🟢 Fine-motor control (gripping, manipulating toys, drawing)
🟢 Coordination & spatial awareness
🟢 Confidence in their own bodies — essential for emotional regulation

Unstructured, child-led play gives children the freedom to test their limits safely, tune into their sensory world, and build resilience in a way that feels joyful and natural.

“Play is the work of childhood.” — Jean Piaget

At BAPT, we champion play as a powerful therapeutic tool — strengthening not just bodies, but relationships, self-esteem, and emotional wellbeing.

01/12/2025

Children learn language best in relationships that feel safe, attuned and playful. In Play Therapy, they’re not pressured to perform words — they naturally discover them.

Through play, children develop the foundations of communication:
✨ Joint attention
✨ Turn-taking
✨ Symbol use
✨ Emotional vocabulary
✨ Storytelling and sequencing

As children explore, imagine and express through play, their brains become more open, flexible and ready to learn the language of the world around them.

29/11/2025

As parents we want our children to be respectful of other’s feelings and be quick to admit when they are wrong. We want them to give a sincere apology and learn from their mistakes. But how many parents will apologise to their children? We seem to live in a culture where adults feel that they are superior to children and therefore they don’t owe them an apology even when the adult has done the wrong thing. Adults worry that if they admit that they are wrong to a child that this somehow undermines their authority. Or they feel that whatever they did was justified because it was the child that drove them to behave that way, so they shouldn’t have to apologise. All of these beliefs are false and by following these beliefs we are damaging our relationship with our kids and missing out on the lessons our kids could learn from us simply by saying “sorry”.

More information in my book

Guidance from The Therapist Parent

Available on my website and Amazon

parenting parentingtips playtherapy psychologist childtherapy life play kids positiveparenting gentleparenting respectfulparenting resilience mumlife momlife dads teachers ADHD anxiety anger

25/11/2025

The Therapist Parent 💗

18/11/2025

14/11/2025

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In Play Therapy, children often take brave steps of their own — exploring difficult feelings, facing fears, and learning new ways to express themselves through play. Each small moment of trust, connection or creativity is a powerful act of growth. 🎨🧸

As BAPT Registered Play Therapists ®️, we see every day how providing a safe, consistent space helps children meet their own inner challenges — one play session at a time.

This , we celebrate the courage of children everywhere, and all those who work to help them thrive. 🌈

02/11/2025

Sarah R. Moore, Dandelion Seeds Positive Parenting 🩵