Sandplay Therapy: Building Bridges to Healing

As a parent, you want to do everything you can to help your child. When they’re struggling, it can be heartbreaking to watch and you may feel helpless.

“If you have a neurodiverse child and are considering therapy, you may have heard of CBT and other talk therapies. However, these methods may not be suitable for everyone, especially those who are neurodiverse or have experienced trauma.”. Additionally, young children may struggle with traditional talking therapy methods.

But don’t worry, there are alternative approaches to therapy that can be just as beneficial. One approach that I find particularly helpful in my practice is Sandplay Therapy. It’s a unique and creative way to engage with your child and enhance communication.

This blog explores the concept and offers tips for using it to improve parent-child communication.

What is Sandplay Therapy?

Sandplay therapy is a form of therapy where children use a tray filled with sand and various miniature objects to create scenes and stories. It is often called the World Technique, originating from Margaret Lowenfeld (1890-1973) and further developed by Frau Dora M. Kalff (1904-1990). I trained in it many years ago at the Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education in London.

The purpose of sandplay therapy is to provide a safe therapeutic space for children to express and explore their thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Moreover, It allows them to communicate and process their inner world in a non-verbal and symbolic way. By playing with sand and manipulating objects, children can express and work through their inner struggles, conflicts, and longings, and the hope is to transform their inner world.

What Does the “Inner World” Mean?

The “inner world” is like the space inside our minds where we hold our thoughts, feelings, memories, and imagination. It’s where we process what’s happening around us and make sense of our experiences. For children, their inner world is shaped by how safe and connected they feel with the people around them, especially their caregivers and additionally their outer environment too.

Think of the “inner world” like a garden—when children feel safe, understood, and supported, their inner world grows rich and healthy, full of trust and creativity.

However, when children experience stress, fear, or disconnection, their inner garden might start to feel overgrown, tangled, or hard to navigate. Consequently, this can affect the way they relate to their outer world, making it harder for them to connect with others or handle challenges.

For instance, a child’s inner world might feel more tangled due to birth experiences, their natural temperament, moments of trauma, or even the everyday ups and downs of life. In particular, these factors can shape how they perceive themselves and respond to the world around them.

Moreover, it’s important to remember that these experiences are not a reflection of your parenting alone. Instead, they highlight how complex and unique each child’s inner world truly is. Therefore, as you reflect on this, try to approach yourself with compassion.

After all, parenting is a journey, and no parent or child is perfect.

What does Sandplay Therapy involve?

In Sandplay therapy, children, who often lack power or choice in their lives, are given an opportunity to take an active role in their healing process. The use of sand and symbols becomes a powerful tool for expression. Symbols act as vessels for the child’s emotions, allowing them to express and explore their feelings in a safe and non-verbal way. Through this process, children can relive and re-examine their experiences, aiding in understanding and acceptance over time.

Using a playful and empathetic approach, the therapist helps the child explore these emotions and experiences in a way that feels manageable and non-threatening. This process encourages the integration of thoughts and feelings, fostering a sense of balance and understanding. It also supports the development of essential skills like problem-solving, emotional regulation, and building self-esteem.

The Therapist’s Role

A therapist’s role is to observe and understand a child’s internal world—their thoughts, feelings, and experiences—and help them make sense of it all. Through the language of play, which comes naturally to children, the therapist provides a safe and supportive space for healing, self-discovery, and emotional growth.

At the heart of this work is the therapist’s ability to “hold” the child, both emotionally and metaphorically. This means providing a steady, nurturing presence that allows the child to feel safe as they navigate their inner world. By holding this space, the therapist helps the child process challenges, work through difficult feelings, and build resilience, all while honoring their unique pace and needs.

Who can Sandplay Therapy help?

Sandplay therapy is particularly helpful for children who struggle to express or talk about their feelings. Many children cannot verbalise emotional states, particularly in the face of trauma or neurodiversity. Furthermore, the emotional brain does not fully mature until around the age of twenty five, which means even older children and teenagers often find non-verbal approaches more accessible than talking therapies.

I recently completed a long piece of work with a child who had ADHD and other contributing difficulties. Sandplay helped them process their understanding of the world and work through challenges with focus, attention, and anxiety, allowing for a smooth transition to secondary school. It was a privilege to be part of that journey.

Sandplay is particularly beneficial for neurodivergent children because it is non-directive and sensory focused. Manipulating the sand is calming and tactile. It slows communication down, giving time and space to organise thoughts, which is genuinely helpful for children who struggle with impulse control. It allows children to represent their inner world symbolically when words are not yet available. And it builds executive functioning skills, planning, organising, and problem-solving, through the natural process of creating scenes and staying with narratives.

For children who have experienced trauma, sandplay offers a non-verbal outlet for feelings that cannot yet be spoken. It gives them a sense of control and agency in the therapy room, which can be particularly powerful when trauma has left them feeling powerless. And through the process of creating and interacting with the sand tray, children can begin to explore and process difficult experiences at their own pace.

When would Sandplay Therapy not be suitable

I think it is important to be honest about this. Not every approach suits every child.

Children with very severe cognitive impairments may find the symbolic nature of sandplay difficult to access. Some children with sensory sensitivities find the tactile experience of sand overwhelming, in which case other creative approaches may work better.

And sometimes a child is simply not ready for therapy. There are occasions when parent focused work is the right starting point, and the evidence shows that parent therapy can be just as effective as direct child work. You can read more about this in my blog Myth Busting Anxiety.

If your child shows little interest or engagement in the sandplay process, that is important information too. Most therapists, including me, have a range of therapeutic tools and will adapt the approach to what fits the child.

How you can use expressive play at home

As a parent you can use elements of this approach at home. Expressive play, using sand, toys and objects to create stories and act out emotions, is a powerful way to help children process fears and difficult experiences.

If your child has a fear, allow them to take control of the story and find a resolution. If they are afraid of monsters under the bed, suggest they create a story where they become the hero and defeat the monsters using their own ideas. You can also gently desensitise them by introducing humour. Intruders slipping on marbles. The scary thing made ridiculous. Children respond well to this and it can take the power out of a fear remarkably quickly.

Interested in working with me?

If you feel your child would benefit from sandplay therapy, or if you are not sure what the right approach might be and would like to think it through, please do get in touch.

I offer one to one therapy for children and young people using sandplay, the World technique, and a range of other creative and talking approaches. I also offer therapeutic support for parents and training and consultation for schools and organisations interested in creative therapeutic approaches.

You can reach me via my contact page.

Free resources

Understanding Your Child’s Guard Dog Brain explains what is happening in your child’s nervous system when big feelings and difficult experiences take over.

Holding in the Storm is about staying steady as a parent in the hard moments.

When Darkness Comes for support with anxiety and sleep difficulties at night.

All free to download.