Play Therapy for Children in Loudoun County
View the videos below for tangible examples of what play therapy can actually look like in session, from child-centered play in the sand to creative games and activities that help children work through anxiety, anger, trauma, and other difficult experiences.
Watch Examples of Play Therapy
with a Young Child (3-7 yr)
In this video, you’ll see the play therapy play of a child who woke up during eye surgery, along with examples of darker trauma themes that can emerge in the playroom.
Details have been changed to protect the privacy and identity of the children. We want the examples to give you a sense of how play therapy can help
What is Play Therapy?
For adults, therapy often begins with conversation. For children, talking may only tell us part of the story.
Play gives children another language.
Through toys, games, pretend play, art, sand tray, movement, and other creative experiences, children can explore feelings and experiences that may be difficult to put into words.
Sometimes the therapist follows the child’s lead. Other times, the therapist introduces activities to help a child explore, practice, or work through something specific. Both approaches can be powerful.
How Can Playing Actually Help My Child?
This is a reasonable question, especially when your child is struggling with something that feels very real.
Children are still developing the ability to understand complicated emotions, connect them to experiences, and put them into words.
Ask why they are anxious, angry, or acting differently and you may get a very genuine:
“I don’t know.”
Play allows therapy to happen without requiring a child to explain everything first.
Watch Examples of Play Therapy
with an Older Child
In this video, I walk you through a handful of real play therapy games and activities designed to help older children engage, express
themselves, and build skills in ways that feel natural, creative, and
developmentally appropriate.
What Can Play Therapy
Help With?
We don’t choose an approach based only on a diagnosis. We look at the whole child, including their age, personality, experiences, relationships, strengths, and the ways they naturally connect.
Families come to us for many different reasons. Sometimes there has been an obvious change or difficult event. Other times, parents simply know that something doesn’t feel right.
Play therapy may be helpful for children experiencing:
Anxiety, worries, or fears
Big emotions or frequent meltdowns
Grief and loss
Trauma or frightening experiences
Divorce, separation, or changes within the family
School stress or school avoidance
Friendship and social difficulties
Low self-esteem or lack of confidence
Medical experiences or chronic illness
Anger or behavioral changes
Trouble expressing feelings
Stress related to neurodivergence or feeling different from peers
Not Every Child Communicates the Same Way
One child walks into our playroom and immediately begins creating an elaborate world with figures.
Another heads straight for the art supplies.
Another wants to play a game.
Another builds something in the sand.
And another sits quietly and watches for a while before deciding whether this new person and new space feel safe enough.
There isn’t one “right” way to do therapy with a child.
Our therapists use a variety of play-based, creative, relational, and evidence-informed approaches so that therapy can fit the child rather than expecting the child to fit the therapy.
