Playing with Children In The Quiet Space

TELLING A TALE THE DRAMA THERAPY WAY

2010-08-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

Learning Possibilities: waiting your turn, sharing with others, improving memory and developing creativity.

Materials you can use:

1. Small cloth in the middle of the table or on the floor.

2. Pages of pictures or photographs of people, places, animals and interesting things torn or cut out from old magazines. Players choose about three pictures each (depending on the number of players and the TIME you have to play)

3 One Dice.

How to Play

Spread out all the pages, photos & pictures on the cloth.

Turn Taking

Choose pictures in turns to avoid problems with duplicate choices. First round, one by one the participants choose one picture. Then round 2 & 3 follow the same instructions.

For the first turn try going clockwise. The second turn go anti-clockwise. After that you could throw a dice to see who goes first, one time the HIGHEST throw start another time the lowest starts. It’s important to spend time on rules of orderly and fair turn taking.

The Story Begins:

1. Each player in turn shows their pictures and tells what they see in them. As they finish their turn, they place the pictures back on the small cloth. The first round of the game ends when all the pictures are back on the cloth.

The OLDEST or YOUNGEST person begins by taking ONE picture from the collection, NOT necessarily one they had chosen before. Then they START a GROUP STORY with NO more than 3 or 4 sentences which are connected in some way to their picture (be flexible here!).

N.B. Before the first player starts you (the parent) could use a standard beginning and say: ‘Once, a long time ago, in a far away place, there was a….’ and then the children tell their ideas for the continuation of the story. When they have finished they put down the picture in front of them, NOT back on to the cloth.

2. The next in turn continues the unfinished GROUP story, telling a few words or sentences about their picture. Each new storyteller chooses a new picture which will CONTINUE the storyline. Remember that there has to be a connection to the previous teller’s storyline! The sentences can be short, for a young child for example he may just say ‘the dog came in’ and that will be fine.

3. The END of the story…

When all the pictures are finished OR when your time limit has come to an end the last teller has his turn (equal turns for all) and ends the story, using ANY picture from the whole collection. If necessary for clarity the adult who began can end the stories with a good easy conclusion. OR the parent can say and so the STORY ended, with all its characters having had their say!!

If you want more activity, each participant can think of a name for the story and draw a picture to illustrate it. Then in turn they can share their title, each one being applauded by members of the family.

I hope you ENJOY telling your family tale, do let me know how it went for you! I'd like to hear some of the stories you told too, you can send them to me on the ITQS email, Pamela.

2010-04-18T07:48:00.000-07:00

JIGSAW PUZZLE GAME ITQS STYLE

AIMS OF PLAY

IMPROVING OUR SKILLS OF: SHARING

TURN TAKING

LISTENING

CONCENTRATION

IMAGINATION

RULES OF PLAY

1. Sit around a table or a tray on the floor.

2. Place all pieces of the puzzle face down (picture not seen).For example you can choose a puzzle with 4 pieces for each of the people playing: for example, 4 people playing choose a 16 piece puzzle.

3. Throw a dice to see who goes first, second etc.

4. One at a time, take a piece and place it unseen in front of you, with the picture still down. Do this until all the pieces are taken.

5. Without looking, give one of your pieces to each of the other players, keeping only one for yourself. Soon you will be given more pieces from the others to replace those you gave away. It’s good to give but NOT always easy to do so. Hopefully not knowing what you are giving or receiving makes it easier and more fun.

6. In turn each player turns over only ONE piece of his puzzle and shows it to all. He then says what he thinks it might be. Please note: No one else can tell or suggest during another's turn. Go round like this for as many times as it takes until all pieces are uncovered.

7 Hands up to answer the next question, "What do you think the puzzle is about?" Hear one at a time all the ideas offered.

8. Reverse playing order. One at a time put down a piece of your puzzle onto the center of the table or tray, see if you can join it to another piece, if not take it back until your turn comes around again, saying "I pass until my next turn." Keep going until the group puzzle is finished.

9. If someone else sees that the player who says "he can't go" actually COULD use his piece, he may ask: "Do you want some advice"? If the answer is yes, he tells his sibling in WORDS (he may not put the piece into the puzzle for another) where he should try tp place the puzzle part.

10. Ask a final question: "Why do we do puzzles?" You may even want to talk about real life puzzles that we sometimes have, for example how to solve the problem between me and my friend, or how can I get the new toy I want? Perhaps the other players may ideas how to help solve someone else's problem. Can anyone tell us how they once solved a problem, little by little, piece by piece?

11. I like to encourage applause from all the players when someone succeeds in putting in a new piece.

Let's play …..Please let me know how you enjoyed the game and I will try to answer any questions you have. Regards, Pamela.

2010-04-01T06:38:00.000-07:00

EGG CARTON ITQS GAME

Aims of game:

Building of positive self image

All ages (3 – 8 approx.) can succeed.

Giving and receiving positive feedback & encouragement

Helping others

Concentration and self control

Notes for parents:

ITQS games keep winning or competing down to a minimum.

Each child should feel special, simply by the fact that he is attempting to play.

Every child should get good feedback from the family when he tries hard.

Those who finish the game will feel their own accomplishments and success.

All ITQS games encourage the building of ' Trust, Care and Quiet,' whilst we play, and allow flexibility and creativity to have their place.

Materials needed for play:

Empty egg cartons of all sizes; colouring crayons; large pieces of coloured paper (you can colour white paper with the 4 colours); 3 small (rolled up paper) balls. Before the game starts some of you may wish to colour some of the indents of the egg cartons with 4 different colours, for example, red, yellow, blue & green. Some parts of the carton remain uncoloured.

How to Play:

Place the egg cartons on the floor with the indented side up, with the colours showing. Place pieces of coloured paper around the egg boxes on the floor. This time, the game can start with the youngest player going first and so on until the eldest player has the last turn.

In turn, each player has 3 ball throws to try to get a goal, a goal is when his ball lands on a piece of coloured paper or inside an indent (coloured or not) in the egg boxes.

The child can say which colours he got and if old enough to do so he can remember how many of each colour he scores till the end of the game. An adult or each child can write down the number of each colour scored by every player on a small separate piece of paper.

ONLY the child who has just finished throwing collects up the 3 balls and gives them to the next player, it is very important that others allow him to do so and no one else touches a ball out of turn. This way no one feels rushed or cheated from his turn or pace and self confidence grows.

Goals and "nearly" goals are all given a cheer or clap by the other supporters!

If you are able, in order for NO failure to be felt in this game, a rule can be added that any player who does not have one positive result with any of his 3 balls is allowed to continue throwing until at least ONE of his throws reaches a target.

Play the game for as many rounds as you have time always making sure the players have equal turns before you end.

Each child has his own score and colours written down for him at the end of the game

I hope you all enjoy this game, and please let me know if you have any questions.

Warm Regards, Pamela

2010-03-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

Family Playing

Playing with our children can be a wonderful and fun experience for us all, OR it can be a big pain and a headache!

I have spent over 25 years playing with children and their families, from babies upwards, in educational settings, in the paediatric ward at the hospital, in the Child Development Center, in my Drama Therapy Clinic or in our “In The Quiet Space” (ITQS) Center in Tsfat. From my many years of experience, I know that play is one of the best and easiest ways to bond with others.

I try to use creative play and games to help enrich lives as well as adding to our joy of being together. This means taking the time to adapt the play to fit healthy social rules which keep us within acceptable and comfortable boundaries and limits, and help us concentrate and focus. The emphasis moves from competition to support and encouragement for participants whilst showing respect for the needs of others and ourselves.

In this column I hope to share some of my ideas about playing games. Many of the games will be familiar, but with a little flavour of my own drama therapy spice added for extra taste. In our Creative Workshops at ITQS we believe that by creating an atmosphere of trust, care and quiet we help to build up the self confidence and self image of our children, allowing them to really enjoy playing together.

I will also try to answer any questions you have about playing with your family. Please use our website or e-mail address to contact me.

Let’s PLAY …. Pamela