The Sunflower House
The Sunflower House was created to offer children a safe, calming, and thoughtfully designed play therapy space. Every element — from lighting to layout — supports emotional safety, creative expression, and child-led exploration.
How The Sunflower House Came to Be
From the moment I began working in school settings, I sensed something missing in the environments offered to the children and young people I worked with in play therapy sessions. Makeshift therapy “rooms” were often repurposed staff offices or neglected classroom corners—spaces that felt sterile or, worse, uncared for. Recognising how deeply a setting can shape emotional safety, I dreamed of a place designed from the ground up with young clients’ needs in mind. That vision became The Sunflower House.
A Space That Welcomes and Holds
Stepping inside The Sunflower House, you’re immediately embraced by its gentle warmth and quiet containment. Soft lighting and natural textures—wooden shelves, cushioned nooks—invite calm, encouraging children to settle in and open up at their own pace. Here, difficult themes can be explored through play without the distractions or harsh edges of a conventional office. Each material and layout choice is deliberate: low tables for sandtray work, art carts within reach, cozy beanbags for reading stories about big feelings. The space meets a range of sensory needs, with blankets in one corner, and simple fidgets tucked into baskets.
Supporting Sensory Needs Through Design
Toys, art supplies, lighting, and textures are selected to meet a range of sensory needs — helping overstimulated children settle, and under-responsive children engage. When sand, art, puppets, dolls, and creative props are always at hand in predictable places, “the language” of play therapy flows more naturally. Children don’t need to negotiate “Can we use the kitchen set here?” — they simply step into the play and begin.
A Different Role for the Therapist
In a room designed for play, the therapist’s role shifts more fluidly from director (in a school setting) to companion and observer, fostering child-led exploration.
The Outdoor Annex
Beyond the walls lies an outdoor annex, where a child-sized play kitchen becomes the stage for practicing real-life routines, and a shallow water-and-sand trough offers tactile freedom. Children learn through hands-on discovery—pouring, moulding, pretending and working through their difficulties and learning how to regulate their emotional states with and not against the natural environment.
Designed for Healing and Growth
The Sunflower House brings to life the belief that healing and growth flourish most powerfully in spaces designed just for them.