32: Role Play Toys
Note: Play Therapy Across the Lifespan is created to be heard. If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio so that you are able to appreciate the emotion and emphasis that cannot be captured by text alone. Transcripts may contain errors and differ slightly from the audio. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting it in print.
Prologue and Introduction
In episode 30, we talked about selecting toys, but in this one, I want to go deeper into just one category: role play toys. Whether your clients are three or thirty, they are working out events in their lives and how they make sense of them. They need tools that give them a way to take what is happening internally and represent it in an external form. Children might do this with dolls, a scene dramatized in a sandbox, or by dressing up as a character. Adolescents might do this by sharing with you a drawing or a meaningful song from their playlist. Adults might show you their experience in a sand tray or through a series of photos. By taking what is internal and making it external in some expressive form, clients can role-play what is, what they wish could be, and eventually make meaning and heal.
This is episode 32: Role Play Toys.
As your clients work through issues and trauma from real life, they need toys and representations from real life. Think about the kinds of things your clients do as part of life. School, carpools, sports, eating, sleeping, learning are often common things for kids in common times. What could you select for your play space for these things? These days, masks, hand sanitizer, and wipes may be real-life toys that are needed. While children may not always grasp the value of money, they are very aware that money has value and whoever has it has more power and social status, so toy money is important to include. Toys that can represent a child’s living arrangement are important, so if you have a client who resides in more than one place or has recently moved, it’s great if you have two dollhouse options.
So much of what happens with our clients happens in the context of relationships. You need toys that can be used for lots of different kinds of families. People from different ethnicities, that are different ages, and from different generations are helpful for clients assembling something that looks their own family structure. Families and dollhouses are often higher budget items in the playroom, but it is worth investing in. For those just starting out, you can use a wide variety and sizes of animals or puppets.
Speaking of puppets, they can be people or animals or other things. The late Dr. Charles Schaeffer reported play therapists’ 10 most useful puppets in the Play Therapy magazine in 2017. Do you know what they were?
Well, I have more from my interview with someone who loves to include puppets. I’ll share Dr. Schaeffer’s list with you after my conversation with Dr. Lee.
Interview with Dr. Kasie Lee
[The interview portion of this episode was not transcribed. To listen to the interview click the episode link at the top of the page.]
Conclusion
It is so great that we can have different opinions and ideas about how to use play therapy in our work, but we can still value and respect each other so much. I love this community! So, while I don’t get as excited about puppets, I know many of you do. And here is Dr. Schaeffer’s top 10 list of the most useful puppets that I promised to share with you.
10. Wizard
9. Snake
8. Alligator
7. Dinosaur
6. Dog
And now for the top 5…
5. Bird
4. Shark
3. Family
2. Turtle
1. Dragon
Do you have a family of puppets, a turtle, or a dragon in your playroom?
This brings us to the end of another Play Therapy Across the Lifespan episode. I hope you’ve gained some new ideas for role-play toys that you will include in your own playroom.
