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Turn To The Sun

Play Therapy

Gallery

This gallery shares glimpses into the world of Play Therapy — from carefully chosen toys and symbolic figures to the welcoming environment of The Sunflower House. Each image offers insight into how therapeutic spaces and materials support children in exploring and expressing their inner worlds.

The gallery categories are: Toys & Props, Symbols & Metaphors, and Nature & Surroundings.

Toys & Props

From superhero figures to sensory objects, these tools support children's self-expression, storytelling, and symbolic play.

* Click or tap any image to view it in more detail.

  • A blue stuffed octopus toy with a plaster on its head, surrounded by toy medical equipment including scissors, thermometer, and bandages, placed on a yellow patterned table.

    Happy Octopus

    Medical play is a common theme in therapy, helping children explore fears, experiences, or roles related to care and healing. This cheerful octopus becomes both patient and play companion.

    Tags for this image

    • medical play
    • healing
    • emotional expression
    • role play

    Toys & Props

  • A shelf crowded with a variety of small play figures including animals, people, vehicles, and fantasy characters like superheroes and dolls.

    Play Figures on Shelf

    A wide range of symbolic figures used in Play Therapy, offering children diverse representations of people, professions, fantasy characters, animals, and community roles. These figures support storytelling, identity exploration, and imaginative play.

    Tags for this image

    • symbolic play
    • identity
    • people
    • community
    • superheroes
    • imagination

    Toys & Props

  • Six superhero action figures standing in a line on a bright yellow table outdoors, including Spider-Man, Hulk, and Iron Man

    Superhero Action Figures

    Superheroes often appear in children's play as symbols of strength, bravery, or hidden struggles. In therapy, they can help children explore big feelings in a safe and imaginative way.

    Tags for this image

    • superheroes
    • symbolic play

    Toys & Props

    Instagram

  • A baby doll lying on a small purple wooden bed, against a floral background

    Baby Doll on Bed

    This baby doll is part of the Play Therapy space, inviting nurturing and caregiving themes. It allows children to project emotions and explore relational roles in a safe, symbolic way.

    Tags for this image

    • baby doll
    • nurturing
    • symbolic play
    • caregiving

    Toys & Props

  • A colourful plastic dollhouse playset featuring two toy pandas inside different rooms including a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and living area

    Miniature Panda House

    Miniature homes like this encourage storytelling, role play, and emotional expression. Children often use play families and tiny settings to explore relationships, routines, and feelings in a safe, manageable world.

    Tags for this image

    • dollhouse play
    • symbolic play
    • relationships
    • family
    • storytelling

    Toys & Props

Symbols & Metaphors

Children often use play to express experiences and emotions symbolically — these images show how everyday objects can hold deeper meaning.

* Click or tap any image to view it in more detail.

  • A collection of colourful rainbow-coloured figurines — adults, children, pets — arranged in front of a wooden rainbow with colourful scarves in the background

    Rainbow Family Figures

    These colourful figures are often used in Play Therapy to represent families, relationships, and emotions. Children may use them symbolically to express inner worlds and dynamics they can't yet articulate in words.

    Tags for this image

    • identity
    • families
    • metaphor
    • colour

    Symbols & Metaphors

  • A dinosaur and shark face a Joker figure sitting behind a red scarf with flames, surrounded by bright coloured scarves representing sea and land

    Dinosaur, Shark & Joker Scene

    This scene blends symbolic elements of danger and confrontation. Children may use these figures — a dinosaur, a shark, and a villain — to act out intense feelings, challenges, or experiences that are difficult to name directly.

    Tags for this image

    • conflict
    • danger
    • imaginative play

    Symbols & Metaphors

    Instagram

  • A plush purple octopus with a sad face and a toy bandage on its head, surrounded by toy medical instruments like scissors, thermometer, and syringe, on a yellow playmat

    Sad Octopus

    This sad octopus represents emotional expression during medical play — a common theme in Play Therapy where children explore experiences of injury, care, and recovery through role play and empathy.

    Tags for this image

    • medical play
    • emotions
    • empathy
    • expressive play

    Symbols & Metaphors

Nature & Surroundings

Play Therapy often draws on the environment — light, air, greenery — to support a sense of safety, rhythm, and connection.

* Click or tap any image to view it in more detail.

  • A painted black jug with sunflowers placed on a yellow table, in front of a blue wall with a heart-shaped decoration and white door

    Sunflowers in Front

    Sunflowers outside The Sunflower House, symbolising warmth, welcome, and the beauty of natural surroundings used in therapeutic settings.

    Tags for this image

    • sunflowers
    • therapy space
    • nature
    • welcome

    Nature & Surroundings

    The Sunflower House

  • A wooden shelf unit inside the therapy room with open cubbies containing toys, books, and soft props. The floor is covered with blue foam gym matting.

    Shelf Space in Therapy Room

    A glimpse into the therapy room at The Sunflower House, showing shelves filled with creative resources — from toy figures and books to sensory items and soft furnishings. The blue foam flooring is textured but firm, helping ground the space with subtle cushioning underfoot.

    Tags for this image

    • therapy space
    • toys
    • soft furnishings
    • texture
    • light

    Nature & Surroundings

  • A colourful anatomical model of a human brain resting on a wooden stand on a patterned grey and white tablecloth

    Brain Model

    This model of the human brain is part of the therapy space and can be used in psychoeducation with children, helping them understand emotions, memory, and how their brains work — often empowering them to name and regulate big feelings.

    Tags for this image

    • brain
    • psychoeducation
    • feelings
    • props

    Nature & Surroundings

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