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CONNETIX came into my life when I bought my first starter pack four years ago for my eldest son’s birthday. This pack was one of the first truly open-ended play resources we had in the home and they’ve been used everyday since then. They were the one resource that managed to sustain my son’s attention and focus more than anything else. That, coupled with their durability has meant that they are still being played with today, I knew we were onto something special.
I was in my first year of a Master of Child Play Therapy when I first discovered the therapeutic powers of play, and it was then that I realised just why these magnetic tiles were loved so deeply. Intuitively I could see that the play that was unfolding was beneficial, I just couldn’t yet put my finger on being able to explain why. Then I discovered the therapeutic powers of play and I couldn’t unsee the magic.
Briefly, the therapeutic powers of play are the mechanisms in play that initiate, facilitate or strengthen the therapeutic effect when working with children. Play acts as the agent of change.
So what are these powers and how can we use CONNETIX with our children to harness them?
Well, in summary, there are four essential categories of powers and twenty in total (Schaefer & Drewes, 2014). These categories will be listed below with some examples of individual powers and ideas for how CONNETIX can harness these powers.
Play offers children creative ways to solve problems, enhances resiliency, moral and psychological development, plus promotes self-regulation and self-esteem.
With open-ended play resources like CONNETIX children get to experience the frustration of their creations crashing (I promise this is positive), and then figure out solutions to their problems such as why their cube without a base keeps tumbling over. Whilst this can be difficult to witness as a parent at times and it can be tempting to jump in at the first sign of wobbles emerging, it is these experiences that develop these personal strengths in children. Children with high self-esteem have an internal belief that they can face challenges, try new things and believe in themselves. The more children get to figure things out and find solutions to their problems in play, the more they build their self-esteem.
When playing with CONNETIX and your children, try to offer just enough help so that they can do it by themselves. Each time we rescue children from the experience of challenges and problems we take away their opportunity to figure something out.
“You did it!”
“You figured it out”
“You found a solution”
“You’re not sure about that one”
“This one is getting tall”
“You don’t have a base on that one”
“You tried again”
“You weren’t expecting that to happen”
Play allows children to experience different characters and roles which can provide opportunities to ‘try on’ how it feels to be different. This can support the development of social skills such as perspective taking and empathic understanding. It also provides an opportunity for shared joy which can help to strengthen attachment in relationships.
There is no right or wrong way to play with open-ended play resources which is what makes them such an amazing resource. When more than one person has an idea for a creation, they’re often different. This opens-up opportunities for collaboration, negotiation and compromise. CONNETIX can be used to enhance communication skills, experience turn taking and the sharing of perspective and ideas.
Perhaps you’ve made suggestions of things that you could build and the vision in your mind is different to your child’s. This also commonly happens between siblings. Instead of refereeing the conflict between children when there’s a differing of ideas, try to facilitate a problem-solving conversation.
“Oscar, I hear you telling your sister she’s getting it wrong. I wonder if you could let her know your plan.”
“Lily, it sounds like Oscar is making something different to what you have in mind. I wonder if you could tell him what you’d like to make.”
“I wonder if you guys could figure it out or if you need some help”.
Leading on nicely from relationship building, play also facilitates and enhances communication. Play is a child’s primary language, which makes it the most developmentally appropriate way of communicating with them.
Play can be used to allow for both direct and indirect teaching, and supports self-expression as children often don’t have or aren’t able to use words in more concrete forms of expression.
CONNETIX social media channels are adorned with passionate and talented creators who beautifully showcase this power at work. CONNETIX are used in direct teaching with concepts like maths equations, literacy, shape and colour matching, sequencing, emotion identification ideas and so much more. In addition to this, there is also an abundance of indirect learning that happens. Take for example, the first time a child notices that the way the light hits a tile creates a reflection, when they realise that not all triangles are equal or that a square without a base cannot retain its shape.
Through the use of CONNETIX children offer a glimpse of their internal world; their creations can reflect their interpretations and make sense of the world around them, provide insight into their interests and practice their communication skills.
I have three children and the way that they create with CONNETIX is completely different. This one resource is used by all of my children and they all reveal to me very different things about their interests and their internal world. For example, one child has a strong interest in sports and cars so naturally they often use CONNETIX to build things like a soccer field, a car garage, a hotel with and an underground car park. Another child has an interest in make believe and fantasy, they build things like aquariums, castles and schools. Another child is a keen explorer and is captivated by the way CONNETIX click together, reflect light and how they fall down when pushed. As parents if we can slow down to observe children in these moments they can really communicate lots of information about their inner worlds.
Play is fun, it’s non-prescriptive, it cannot be wrong. When children (and adults) are in a state of play, it allows them to experience feelings of joy and delight which can lead to a greater sense of wellbeing and less distress.
Play can also be used to enact and make sense of more tricky emotions. For example, I’ve observed CONNETIX to be used to create physical representations of a family who have a FIFO (fly-in-fly-out) parent. The child would often build a plane and separate houses, using figurines to demonstrate where each family member lived.
Play is such a complex topic, whilst it may be difficult to land on a universal definition of play, I think we can all agree when we see it. Understanding the therapeutic powers of play and keeping them in mind when using open-ended play resources like CONNETIX can help to deepen relationships with children and share in their innate wisdom and delight.
Sarah Bolitho is a master’s qualified Child Play Therapist and Certified Practicing Counsellor who specialises in working with children under nine years old and their families. Sarah owns and practices in a private clinic in Perth, Western Australia offering children and families individual and family therapy to improve psychosocial and emotional wellness, strengthen relationships and heal from adversity. Sarah also has an online community at @securefoundations where she provides insights and awareness to boost parental confidence and knowledge. For the parents that want to go deeper into understanding themselves, their children and their relationships she hosts the parenting on purpose club, a membership for growth minded parents to find their inner wisdom.
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