healing through play 

Wishes

Materials: Open art materials, paper, paints, pastels, crayons, markers.

Activity: Ask clients to create two art pieces which represent one wish for themselves and one for their family.

Objective: Support client’s ability to goal set and be in touch with their hopes and needs.

 

Adapted from Bucharlter, S. (2009). Art therapy techniques and applications. London, UK & Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publisher.

 

Family Animals

Materials: Open art materials.

Objective: Awareness of family dynamics.

Activity: Ask client to create their family as animals. Once complete, reflect on the chosen family members, spacing, and types of animals.

 

Draw Yourself as a Stone

Materials: Drawing paper, markers, crayons, pastels, pencils.

Procedure: Ask clients to draw themselves as a stone. Request clients create their personal traits within their stone.

Objective: Review characteristics of stone. Is it small, large, smooth, or uneven? What colour is the stone? Therapists are able to review client’s personal thoughts and feelings regarding their personal self.

 

Adapted from Bucharlter, S. (2009). Art therapy techniques and applications. London, UK & Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publisher.

 

Volcano

Materials: Drawing paper, pastels, crayons, markers, paints.

Activity: Ask the client to draw a volcano (no direction required).

Objective: Encourage the client to discuss how they relate to their volcano. Is the volcano about to erupt? Has it erupted? Pay attention to the characteristics of the volcano. Encourage client to discuss their anger and how they manage this tricky feeling.

Adaption: Create your own volcano with play dough; watch it erupt with the use of baking soda and vinegar.

 

Adapted from Bucharlter, S. (2009). Art therapy techniques and applications. London, UK & Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publisher.

 

 

My Body

Materials: Large paper, markers, crayons, paints.

Objective: Promote feeling awareness.

Activity: Have client lay down on paper if client feels comfortable. Trace client's outline. Disucss where client feels feelings in his body. Colour

afraid- gray

worried-orange

happy- yellow

embarrassed- purple

jealous- green

guilty- brown

angry- red

sad-blue

Option: Discuss how feelings are connected to our thoughts and behaviours.

 

Adapted from Heegaard, M. E. (2003). Drawing together to learn about feelings. Minneapolis, MI: Fairview Press.

 

My Mask

Materials: Plastic masks, paints, permanent markers.

Objective: Feeling awareness.

Activity: Discuss with client how we can often wear a mask for others to hide our true feelings. Ask client to reflect on their experience and their mask. Ask client to create their own representation of their mask. Client can chose to create their inside feelings on the inside of the mask and what feelings they present to others on the outside. Discuss with client how this divide feels and the psychological challenges we may face with hiding our feelings.

 

My Family

Material: Pencil, seven to ten small pieces of paper.

Objective: Family dynamics.

Activity: Ask client to place pencil in their non-dominant hand. Therapist asks client to close her eyes during activity. Next the therapist hands the papers to the client and asks the client to chose one paper for each mentioned person as activity takes place. The client is given 8 seconds to create on the paper. The therapist chooses a small number of people to present to the client. For example the therapist may chose to name the client's mother, father, brother, sister, dentist, teacher, cat, and cousin during the activity. After the client has completed her drawings for each mentioned person the therapist and client review the drawings. Look for similarities and differences.

 

Chained To

Materials: Paper, markers, pastels, crayons.

Objective: Exploration of connections in one's life, boundaries, relationships, co-dependency.

Activity: Ask client to draw something or someone they are "chained to".

 

Adapted from Bucharlter, S. (2009). Art therapy techniques and applications. London, UK & Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publisher.

 

Leaving the Past

Materials: Air-drying clay, small objects.

Objective: Self-awareness, relief, sense of control.

Activity: Ask client to create a clay mosaic representing feelings and things in their past they would like to leave behind.

 

Adapted from Bucharlter, S. (2009). Art therapy techniques and applications. London, UK & Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publisher.

 

Favourite Place

Materials: Paper, markers, crayons, oil pastels, paint.

Objective: Hope, increase positive feelings.

Activity: Ask clients to visualize their most favourite place in the world. This can be an existing place or a made-up place. Next have the client draw their visualization onto a mural.

 

Adapted from Bucharlter, S. (2009). Art therapy techniques and applications. London, UK & Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publisher.

 

Good At Game

Materials: Glass stones, playdoh.

Objective: Positive self-talk, positive self-esteem.

Activity: Open a can of Playdoh for each participant. Begin by instructing the client to take one little chunk of Playdoh and put it to the side. Roll the rest into a ball. Then press both thumbs into the middle (to begin to hollow out a center) and mold it into a shape that looks like a cup or a nest. Then take the leftover Playdoh (that which was put aside) and place it in front of the client. Instruct the client to roll it into a ball and then flatten it into the shape of a pancake. Invite the client to create facial features for the flat circle of PlayDoh using stones, coins, etc. from the treasure chest. When the face is finished, have the client fill up the rest of the PlayDoh (shaped like a cup or nest) with treasures. Put the lid/face on top of the cupped piece, covering up the treasures. The client has now created a rough Playdoh person. The therapist points out that the Playdoh person doesn’t look very interesting from the outside. Since you can’t tell a lot about this person from the outside, she has to be opened up. She has to tell us about all the things that make her special. Model pulling out one treasure at a time from the PlayDoh person’s body while making a statement that begins with “I am good at...”. The therapist should model statements like “I am good at laughing”, “I am good at dressing myself”, “I am good at listening.” It is important that the client begins to realize that skills and abilities that she may take for granted are part of what make her unique and special. The child then has a turn to make a “Good-At” Statement for each of the treasures in his/her Playdoh person.

Processing Questions:
What could you tell about the Playdoh person from the outside?
What was inside the Playdoh person and how is that like the things inside you?
Was it hard to think of things that you’re good at?
How did it feel to say nice things about yourself?

 

Adatped from Paris and Me (2003). Featured technique. Retrieved from http://www.parisandme.com/technique.html