ABSTRACT
Play is important for children’s emotional health and well-being. Children learn in a variety of ways but they learn more effectively when they learn through play (McInnes, Howard, Miles, & Crowley, 2009).When children engage in play they demonstrate increased meta-cognition and self-regulation (Whitebread, 2010). They make sense of the world around them, trying out and trying on roles, identities, and experiences. The concept that play is ‘not real’ offers dramatic distance and, to a certain extent, frees participants from the consequences of their actions. Play protects children from the fear of failure and acts as a defense mechanism for self-efficacy and esteem. Play is also a means by which children can express worries and concerns, and communicate their understanding of the world (Haight, Black, Ostler, and Sheridan, 2006). In their play, children may feel more comfortable discussing thoughts and feelings and, as such, play is an effective resource for counselors and therapists to draw on to understand children’s degrees of well-being. The
inherent therapeutic potential of play, apart from therapy, manifests in spontaneous play situations also, particularly when children have experienced traumatic events (Webb, 2007).
