Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

Methods for Using Play in Counselling Children

In this activity, you will:

 Discuss ways in which play can be used to communicate with and counsel children

Facilitator’s notes:

This activity builds on the last one where participants learnt about the importance of play and

recreation activities in the general social, mental and emotional development of children. Healthy

children naturally want to play; and when they show signs of not wanting to play, a caregiver may

need to find out why. In this activity, you will get participants to explore the idea of using play as

a controlled means of counselling a child. Elements of play can be used in counselling to communicate

with the child, diagnose a problem and begin a healing process for the child.

Generally, a caregiver or home visitor can create a sense of belonging and integration in a group of

children by introducing a round of singing and dancing (if the group is culturally homogenous); or by

initiating group games like soccer or netball.

When individual children need personal counselling and have difficulty expressing themselves, however,

less direct techniques can be used. These include using toys to help a child act out a problem they

have; or getting a child to draw a picture to show what happened to them. These techniques are often

more effective in getting a child to communicate their problem, as they are less intrusive than

asking a child direct questions that they may find difficult to answer. Indirect counselling techniques

such as these also help children to distance themselves from their problem, which makes it easier for

them to express it. For example, a child may use a doll to show how a parent was very sick and died;

or a drawing of a crying dog to show their sadness. The techniques may also be used to get a child to

act out how their problems could be dealt with, but care should be taken so that the child stills feels

supported, and does not feel that they have to cope with their problems alone.

For this activity you will need:

 Sheets of blank paper

To facilitate this activity:

1 Using your notes, explain to the group how elements of play can be used in counselling children.

Then divide the group into smaller groups of about four people. Hand out pieces of blank paper

and get participants to draw a picture of an incident that happened to them. Emphasise that they

need not have good drawing skills to do this, as this is not an exercise in drawing technique, but a

study of the drawing’s content. They should spend no more than ten minutes on their drawings.

2 In their groups, each participant in turn will show their drawing to the others who will try to

interpret what the drawing expresses, rather than what it illustrates. For example, if someone

draws themselves sitting on a chair, participants could ask questions such as: Why do you look so

sad? Why is your body slumped? Were you feeling ill?

Activity 3

30 minutes

(^200) Unit 2, Module 2 Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children