ChildPlayWorks

29/10/2026

Making Space for Feelings

When children experience big feelings, our natural instinct is often to help, reassure or find a way to make things better.

But sometimes, what children need most is not an immediate solution. It's an adult who can stay alongside them, listen and acknowledge what they're experiencing.

In Child-Centred Play Therapy, acceptance and empathic understanding are central to the therapeutic relationship. Children are supported to express and explore their feelings without judgement or pressure to change how they feel.

Making space for feelings doesn't mean stepping away from our responsibility to provide comfort, guidance or appropriate boundaries. It means recognising that children's feelings deserve to be heard and understood.

💭 What might change when we allow children to experience their feelings without rushing to fix them?

📷 Photo: Kelli McClintock / Unsplash

29/10/2026

Why do children's choices matter?

Having opportunities to make choices is an important part of children's growing independence.

When children are given meaningful, age-appropriate choices, they can explore their preferences, express their ideas and develop confidence in their own abilities.

But supporting choice doesn't mean removing boundaries. Children can have a voice while adults continue to provide the guidance, care and limits they need.

Even small, everyday choices can communicate respect for children's ideas and growing capabilities.

💭 Where might we offer children more opportunities to have a say in the decisions that affect them?

Swipe through our carousel to explore why children's choices matter.

📷 Photo: Ayla Meinberg / Unsplash

28/10/2026

🧸 What makes a Child-Centred Play Therapy playroom different from an ordinary playroom?

It's not simply the toys or the colourful surroundings.

In Child-Centred Play Therapy (CCPT), the playroom is thoughtfully prepared. Materials are carefully selected to offer children different opportunities for play, exploration and expression.

Children can choose what and how they play, within appropriate therapeutic limits.
But while the environment supports these opportunities, it's the accepting, empathic relationship between the child and therapist that remains at the heart of CCPT.

Our latest LEARN carousel takes a closer look inside the CCPT playroom and explores why the space matters.

💭 What might a thoughtfully prepared space make possible for a child?

22/10/2026

💚 REFLECT | Acceptance and Limits

Accepting a child's feelings doesn't mean accepting every behaviour.

In Child-Centred Play Therapy (CCPT), children are met with empathy, respect and unconditional positive regard. Their feelings and experiences are accepted, while appropriate therapeutic limits help maintain safety and support the therapeutic relationship.

A child can feel angry, frustrated or disappointed and still be met with understanding, even when a particular action needs to be limited.

This distinction extends beyond the playroom and offers something valuable for parents, teachers and anyone supporting children to reflect on.

Acceptance and appropriate limits can exist together.

💭 How can we communicate acceptance of a child while still holding appropriate limits?

📷 Photo: Kateryna Hliznitsova / Unsplash

21/10/2026

💬 Communication goes beyond words.

Children don't always need words to express themselves. Through play, movement, gestures and creativity, they can communicate and explore their experiences in ways that feel natural to them.

In Child-Centred Play Therapy (CCPT), the therapist pays close attention to these expressions without imposing an adult interpretation.

By tracking children's play, reflecting feelings and responding with empathy, the therapist communicates understanding and acceptance while allowing the child to lead.

For parents, teachers and others who spend time with children, this offers a valuable reminder: we don't always need to explain or interpret what a child is doing. Sometimes, being curious, attentive and present is a meaningful place to begin.

💚 What might we notice when we give children space to express themselves in their own way?

Swipe through to explore how communication extends beyond spoken words.

20/10/2026

LEARN | Does the play therapist just watch the child play?

It's a question people sometimes have about Child-Centred Play Therapy (CCPT).

If the child leads the play, what is the therapist actually doing?

In CCPT, following the child's lead doesn't mean sitting back and doing nothing.

The therapist is actively engaged through attentive presence, empathy, tracking the child's play, reflecting feelings and respecting the child's choices.

Rather than directing the play or deciding what the child should explore, the therapist provides a consistent, accepting therapeutic relationship in which the child can express themselves at their own pace.

And while the child leads, appropriate therapeutic limits remain an important part of the process.

There is more happening in the playroom than might first meet the eye.

What might become possible when a child is given space to lead, while an adult remains fully present?

Swipe through to explore the therapist's role in child-led play.

📖 Learn more about CCPT:
https://ccptinternational.org/learn-about-ccpt

Photo: Getty Images / Unsplash

15/10/2026

ONE MONTH TO GO | The Art of Relationship

There’s just one month to go until our three-day professional development workshop in Cambridge:

The Art of Relationship – Theoretical Foundations of Child-Centred Play Therapy

📅 16–18 November 2026
📍 Bridges Church & Community Centre, 28 Duke Street, Cambridge

Gain valuable insights into the world of Child-Centred Play Therapy (CCPT) and enhance your professional skills.

This engaging, hands-on foundational workshop combines evidence-informed learning with practical strategies to help you refresh your practice, deepen your confidence and strengthen your relationships with children.

Explore ways to support children’s emotional regulation, deepen understanding and foster meaningful change through the child-centred approach to relationships.
Leave inspired, equipped and empowered to make a difference in children’s lives through the child-centred approach to relationships.

This is an introductory professional development workshop and does not, on its own, equip participants to undertake therapeutic CCPT work. After attending, participants can complete the two-day online component of Workshop I(ii) — keep an eye out for our 2027 dates.

Registrations are open.

📄 Workshop brochure:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/611efbcbd952f463bda0da40/t/6a8d0d8758a2c150bf584a0d/1787628935410/Workshop+I%28i%29+-+November+2026.pdf

🔗 Register:
https://www.childplayworks.com/register

Photo: Getty Images / Unsplash

ChildPlayWorks provides specialist Child Centred Play Therapy for New Zealand children who need support. We are a New Zealand-based and internationally recognised expert training provider in Child Centred Play Therapy (CCPT).

14/10/2026

REFLECT | Children are people.

“Children are people.”
— Garry Landreth

A simple statement, but an important one.

Within his child-centred approach, Garry Landreth emphasises seeing children as people who are unique and worthy of respect.

When we begin from that place, we can become curious about the child’s experience—their feelings, perspectives, interests and ways of expressing themselves—rather than seeing only what adults want to change.

What might change when we meet a child’s experience with the same respect we would want for our own?

— ChildPlayWorks

Source: Garry L. Landreth, Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship
Photo: Joshua Earle / Unsplash

13/10/2026

DISCOVER | Relationships in the Classroom

What happens when teachers are supported to respond to children through connection and empathy?

A 2025 study by Agarwal and colleagues explored Child–Teacher Relationship Therapy (CTRT), an approach informed by principles and skills drawn from Child-Centred Play Therapy (CCPT).

The study involved 18 teachers and 18 children in US Head Start preschool programmes.

Following the intervention, participating teachers reported improvements in children’s social–emotional competencies, more positive teacher–child relationships and fewer behavioural difficulties.

These are encouraging findings, although the study was small and did not include a comparison group. Further research is needed to understand the effects of CTRT more fully.

At the heart of this research is an important consideration: the relationships children experience with the adults around them.

How might the way we respond to a child influence the relationship we build with them?

📖 Read the research:
Agarwal, S. M., Tapia, J. L., Jr., Follari, L., & Ray, D. C. (2025). Regulating through relationship: Child–teacher relationship therapy with preschool teachers. International Journal of Play Therapy, 34(4), 145–157.

https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000242

Photo: Curated Lifestyle / Unsplash

09/10/2026

Learning through experience

Professional learning can be more than hearing about an approach. Sometimes it is through practising, reflecting and experiencing the learning for ourselves that ideas begin to come to life.

In this carousel, participants in ChildPlayWorks training share some of what they valued about the practical elements of their learning — from putting theory into action, to building confidence, to hearing how CCPT principles can be reflected in the way we respond.

We’re grateful to the participants who take the time to share their reflections with us. Their feedback helps us continue thinking carefully about how we create meaningful, experiential learning opportunities.

Swipe through to hear from some of our learning community.

To explore upcoming ChildPlayWorks professional development and workshops, visit:
https://www.childplayworks.com/play-therapy-nz-training

Photo: [Photographer] / Unsplash