Child Therapy Toolbox

14/11/2025

🌰 When Children Take What Isn’t Theirs

When a child steals or takes something that doesn’t belong to them, it’s easy to focus on the behaviour - but beneath it, there’s almost always a feeling trying to be understood.

Children might take things for many reasons:

💛 Sometimes, it’s about filling an emptiness - a way to soothe a feeling of loneliness or lack.
💛 Sometimes, it’s an act of defiance - a small attempt to take control when life feels unpredictable.
💛 Sometimes, it’s about impulsivity - acting before thinking, especially for children who struggle with self-regulation.
💛 And sometimes, it’s a call for attention - a way of saying, “Please notice me,” when words are too hard to find.

Instead of shaming or punishing, our role as adults is to look beneath the surface:

✨ Stay calm
✨ Help them reflect on what they were feeling
✨ Guide them toward repair and making amends

My story Squirley and the Acorns was written to help children and parents explore this very theme - understanding why we sometimes take more than we need, and learning that real fullness comes from being seen, valued, and loved. 🐿️

13/11/2025

🎄✨ A Christmas Gift Kids Will Love! ✨🎄

Looking for a gift that’s fun, calming, and built to last?
Our Cocoon Swings are a huge hit with children - they climb, swing, twist, and snuggle right in! 💚

✅ Takes up to 95 kg
✅ Double-layered for extra strength
✅ Durable, breathable, and super comfortable fabric
✅ Perfect for indoor or outdoor use
✅ Available in a range of beautiful colours

It’s more than just a swing - it’s a safe, cozy space for play, relaxation, and sensory regulation. 🌈

🎁 A gift that lasts long after the Christmas wrapping paper is gone!

Order yours at 👉 childtherapytoolbox.co.za

13/11/2025

Puppets in Therapy

Puppets can say the things children sometimes can’t.

They give feelings a voice, turn worries into characters, and make it safe to explore the messy, muddled parts of being human.

Today, a little duck and a calm frog came to life in therapy - the duck getting stuck in the mud, frustrated and defeated, and the frog gently teaching him how to breathe, move, and try again.

Through play, children can project their struggles, find words for stuckness, and discover new ways to move through it - one muddy step at a time.

Because sometimes, healing starts with a story… and a puppet who knows just what to say. 💛

We also have lots of hand and finger puppets to choose from in our online shop Child Therapy Toolbox 🌈🌸🌱

For a free story you can use with your children about The Duck and The Frog put your email in the comments 🌈

10/11/2025

💔 When Families Change: Remembering the Little Hearts in the Middle

Divorce and separation can feel like an earthquake in a child’s world.

Sometimes, children have seen the tension building - they’ve heard the arguments, sensed the distance, and braced themselves for what’s coming.

Other times, the separation comes as a complete shock. What felt like a normal family suddenly looks different, and the child is left feeling confused, scared, or even guilty.

In the chaos of conflict, it’s easy for the needs of the child to get lost between the emotions of the adults. But this is exactly when they need our calm, our honesty, and our reassurance the most.

Children don’t need all the details - they need safety, consistency, and the message that both parents still love them. 💛

My story The Confused Ducklings was written for moments just like this - to help children make sense of big family changes, and to remind adults to slow down and see the world through their child’s eyes.

🦆 Let’s remember the little ones caught in the middle, trying to make sense of the ripples around them.

04/11/2025

🌿 The Power of Sand Tray Play 🌿

From portable kits and sensory trays to kinetic, coloured, and natural sand - our range of sand tray products is designed to spark imagination, storytelling, and emotional expression. ✨

Sand tray play helps children make sense of their inner world - giving shape to feelings, building calm, and strengthening emotional awareness.

Whether used in a therapy room, classroom, or at home, each tray becomes a little world of creativity and healing. 💛

Explore the full range at Child Therapy Toolbox.

02/11/2025

Ever wondered why some children seem to soak everything in, while others let it roll right off?

Both are doing exactly what they’re wired to do, one feels deeply, one lets go easily.

Our job isn’t to change them, but to understand them. 💛

02/11/2025

🌸

“Our children don’t just hear our stress — they absorb it. When we heal, they learn safety”💚

31/10/2025

Sand Therapy with Children & Teens Online Workshop 🌸

Date: 7 November 2025
Time: 8am - 3:30pm (SAST)
Cost: R1100 pp
Online Workshop

7 CPD for HPCSA

The free, nonstructured, and protective space of sand therapy offers a way for children to heal through the therapeutic process. It creates a safe environment that allowing the release of feelings, conflicts, and emotions and brings unconscious fears, thoughts, and memories into conscious awareness.

Research shows that sand tray therapy can help increase emotional expression while reducing the psychological distress that may come from discussing traumatic experiences or events.

Through the use of sand, a tray and a variety of miniature toys and objects, the child is able to construct their world, feel, process and move towards healing and resolution.

Join me for a full day of learning and sharing about this incredible resource and its practical application.

If you’d like to attend please email laurensnailham@yahoo.com

See reviews in the pics above 😊

30/10/2025

❤️

Imagine growing up with kindness on your timetable.

In Denmark, students aged six to sixteen gather every week for a simple class about how we treat one another. It is called klassens tid, meaning class time.

There are no tests, no grades, just a space to talk, listen, and solve small problems before they grow. Teachers guide children to notice feelings, include others, and make room for every voice. It sounds small. It isn’t.

Caring also extends to animals. Danish schools teach that animals have needs and feelings too. Children learn how to care for pets, understand farm welfare, and practice gentle handling as part of daily learning.

That one hour each week builds something larger than conversation. It builds trust. It gives shy children a voice and strong ones a chance to listen. Over time, empathy becomes a skill that follows them home, online, and into adulthood.

It is not a poster on the wall. It is a habit. One hour, every week, year after year.

A soft idea with hard results. Kinder classes. Fewer conflicts. A stronger sense of belonging.

Source: Danish Ministry of Education (2023), The Local Denmark (2023), The Atlantic (2016)