The Toolkit

The tool kit is structured to promote the emotional wellbeing of the child through a wide range of creative and sensory experiences. The toolkit is engaging and helps facilitate expressive and exploratory play free from prescribed structure.

The toolkit contains:

art and craft materials including paint, chalks, crayons, collage materials and clay
music and movement ribbons and fans
musical instruments such as drums, glockenspiels, shakers
role play props such as dolls, swords, doctors kit, handcuffs, walkie talkies, dressing up clothes
A range of hand and finger puppets
sand tray and a range of small world miniatures including natural stones and shells
lego
building blocks
Russian dolls
range of sensory toys
small range of non-prescriptive games such as dominoes, Jenga, Pop-up-Pirate

Each part of the toolkit helps to facilitate children’s expression. This may be through encouraging sensory connection with the body, aiding projective or symbolic play, or encouraging a release of pent up emotions.

Music, dance and movement can help facilitate communication, allow expression of feelings through the whole body, and use rhythms for regulation.

Art and Clay allow for self-expression and can give rise to exploring feelings more deeply in a safe way. Painting and clay can also satisfy early level sensory play.

Drama and puppets increase self-expression, imagination and social skills as well as building confidence and exploring challenges indirectly either through projective play or role play. Children often use them as a safe way to release fears, anger and frustration.

The sand tray can be highly therapeutic from a sensory perspective, it can also help children explore their deeper, often non-verbalised, unresolved issues.

The children are free to choose how they use the toolkit. Some children use a different medium each week, others prefer to express themselves weekly with drawing and painting. Others prefer to talk or tell stories.

Toys create the emotional distance which make it possible for children to explore their pain and bring about healing.

I also use creative visualisations, relaxation techniques and therapeutic story telling in my work.