All forms of art therapy offer an opportunity to communicate without words. The images that arise during this kind of communication make it possible to safely express one's feelings. Parents don't always allow children to talk about their experiences. In such cases, children can't understand their emotions, tell them apart, or name them. Art therapy methods create conditions for the nonverbal expression of feelings, for reflecting one's understanding of what's happening. The art therapist acts as a mediator of communication between family members. Interpersonal and intrapersonal conflicts become clearly visible in the images created.
The quality of interaction between children and parents shows up during an art therapy session in their gestures, facial expressions, posture, movement, and verbal expression. Joint activity between children and parents opens the way to a better understanding of children's needs. After art therapy sessions, adults' sensitivity toward children increases. Thanks to working together, parents and children can learn new forms of interaction. There are certain expectations in the relationship between parents and children, and certain learned patterns of behavior.
Moments when a parent follows the child's play, joining in without directing their
activity, create the chance for new forms of interaction to emerge. The absence of parental interference in the child's activity becomes an experience of trusting interaction. In some cases, this kind of work is a unique experience, appearing for the first time in the relationship between child and parent.
In the interaction between parents and a child, it's important to note moments of both joint activity and separate activity, which correspond to the experience of merging and separation.
Working together involves taking turns, and trains patience, the ability to hold back and manage one's emotions. The mechanisms of interaction between parent and child are activated during joint visual art activities.
Art therapy for children. How to prepare for the work
Each age of a child corresponds to a particular stage of development in their communicative abilities, emotional sphere, and cognitive sphere. The ability to engage in activity characterizes different phases of a child's mental development. Accordingly, the types of art therapy used need to be chosen individually for each child.
If early age is characterized by making scribbles and exploring the properties of materials, later on this develops into smearing paint with a brush, splattering, and brush strokes.
The next stage is copying and creating simple shapes. Then pictograms emerge, which can replace words, explain, or add to them. With a high level of communicative ability, it becomes possible to create symbolic images and self-expression through a developed composition.
Working on the floor makes it easier to follow the child's activity. If the parent and child
sit next to each other on chairs, this keeps them engaged in interaction and strengthens a sense of trust and safety.
Using trays, boxes, and sheets of paper sets boundaries and helps keep expression within certain limits. The very type of activity chosen for art therapy with children will set natural boundaries. It's advisable to teach parents to interact with the child during the work through gestures, avoiding verbal instructions. This helps reduce impulsive displays of emotion.
If it's necessary to bring a family group closer together, you can use a large sheet of paper for joint work.
Materials suitable for the work include not only the ones commonly used in creative work, but unconventional ones too, such as dough with food coloring. Materials are chosen with the child's age and developmental level in mind. Materials should be familiar to children and shouldn't cause them fear.
Limits and restrictions during a session are tied to parental supervision (the parent follows the child's actions) and to the careful use of materials.
Introducing a ritual to mark the beginning and end of the session has a very good effect on willingness to engage in the work. Using the same melody, actions, and greetings at every session as a signal for the start and end of the process helps strengthen a sense of safety and predictability.
Art therapy — exercises
1. Scribbles — a very good exercise, accessible for children of almost any age and level of preparation. It can be used with children from four years old, both in group work with relatives and individually. Draw with crayons, pencils, or markers.
Children usually agree readily to draw, because scribbling doesn't require any drawing technique. If a parent and child, or a family group, are drawing together, it's important to pay attention to whose contribution is larger. Drawing should be done without hesitation, giving everyone a chance to take part. The sheet of paper can be turned, and you can draw in any direction. You can add details to another participant's lines, but not erase or paint over them. The drawing should go around the circle 2–3 times. Once the process is complete, you can make up a story based on the drawing.
Each group member's contribution to the drawing can say a lot about what's happening within the family.
2. The ball of yarn — If it's hard for a child to start drawing, you can choose the technique of drawing with thread. By unwinding a ball of yarn, you can create shapes and lines without fear of making mistakes. When working in a group, the ball of yarn passes to the next participant in turn. The lines laid out by the previous participant are kept. As with scribble drawing, finish by making up a story.
3. Drawing a house — The child draws a house on a large sheet of paper and “moves in” the toys found in the office. You can draw several houses and have different residents live in them, who communicate with each other and visit one another. This technique allows you to clarify conflict situations in communication, and to identify family groups and stable bonds.
This art therapy technique for children allows a child's communicative competence to be improved in a playful way.
4. Change the picture — The child draws whatever worries them, troubles them, or makes them feel afraid. Then they're invited to change the picture so that the fear goes away. For example, drawing themselves with a weapon that will help them win.
5. Photo album — For this technique, you'll need family photos and an album. The child arranges the photographs in chronological order, then writes captions, and adds drawings if they wish. This helps clarify the child's feelings connected to a particular event in the family's life.
