Puppet Therapy for Children

Children have different ways of expressing emotions, especially after experiencing a traumatic event. One way to help kids cope with such life-changing events is through puppet therapy.

What is puppet therapy?

Puppet therapy is a useful and helpful technique used by therapists to help kids in communicating thoughts and expressing emotions. This technique has a very important role in cognitive behavioral play therapy. As communication tools, these puppets can be used by kids when acting out certain scenarios, conversations, or events that can help the experts understand what the children are going through. This technique is effective in many cases because many kids are more comfortable in expressing their emotions when they use a play thing or toy such as a puppet, than when communicating directly to an adult. Because kids can feel safer when playing with puppets, therapists can encourage them to mimic or re-enact traumatic events.

How it works

As part of play therapy that's specifically created for kids aged 3 to 12 years old, the child and a licensed and trained mental health professional spend time inside a playroom that's also termed as a counselling space. During the first sessions, the therapist invites the kid to play inside the room, in any way he or she wishes to as long as the kid doesn't hurt himself or herself, or anybody else. As the therapy progresses, the therapist becomes more directive and may ask the kid to play with certain toys, such as puppets, or join in certain games.

By creating a therapeutic environment with the help of puppets and other similar toys, a child's natural emotional healing abilities will come into play, just like when you admit a child into a hospital ward when dealing with a physical injury. Kids see things differently and may react to events or circumstances in a different way. Instead of saying everything in words, allowing a child to play with puppets will help him or her re-enact events through play scenarios. This will then also help the therapist understand the child more and provide the more appropriate treatment.

Benefits of puppet therapy for children

Puppet therapy as a clinical technique can help kids cope with traumatic events. During therapy sessions, these puppets facilitate healing from traumatic or stressful events. Puppet therapy can also allow a less constricting way of expressing emotions, encourage creative and new thoughts, help the kid develop new ways of behaving and thinking, enable the child to communicate problems to adults in a healthy manner, and allow the child to develop decision-making skills.