Family Enhancement & Play Therapy Center-

Offering general information on play therapy to parents and therapists, this site includes a parents' page, play therapy ideas, information on recommended books and manuals, and other play therapy links.  A recipie for homemade play-doh is included on the play therapy ideas page!

This site features links to other play therapy sites, information on current play therapy research and practice (including play therapy practice guidelines), and branch directories organized by state.  Of particular interest are the community forums, where registered users can post topics for discussion related to play therapy, research, jobs, and current issues in the field.

Part of the Handcrafters Village website, this page has over 30 links to kids' crafts.  Ideas include how to make kites, suncatchers, clay, fingerpaint, and beads using everyday household items.  These craft ideas can be helpful for school counselors with limited resources for supplies.

Need to know the words for "Miss Mary Mack" or "Say Say My Playmate"?  What about the rules for Four Square or Tetherball?  This website has all of that information and more!  Hundreds of games are listed and categorized by skills used (i.e., ball games, chasing games, mental games, sensing games).  Additionally, there are tons of rhymes for jumprope or hand-clapping games.

This link is to Scholastic's Kids Fun Online site.  It is an interactive website with several computer games including Harry Potter's Wizard Challenge, Goosebumps Ghost Hunts, and Captain Underpants' Arcade.  There is also a card factory, and book reviews and coloring pages.  The contents of this site may be a rewarding way to tie the reading curriculum into counseling.

In addition to interactive games and art fun, this website includes sections called "Dealing with it" and "Your life" which discuss common dilemmas of middle-schoolers (for example, the current topic is how to deal with fading friendships).  These sections may be non-threatening ways to introduce developmental topics into the counseling session.

True to its name, this website offers games and activities for children up to 10 years of age.  An added feature of this site is that it is available in 6 languages (Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Korean, English, and French).

For those kids who require novelty, this site offers a new game EACH DAY!  While most of the games require language skills, some are more related to visual-perception (i.e., memory game).  The general site is most appropriate for high-schoolers, while the "Just for Kids" section is geared more for the elementary school population.  This site may be a helpful starter when talking about strategy use, frustration tolerance, problem solving, or teamwork.

This website  has a wealth of information on children's literature, including sections for poetry, stories, and readers' theater.  This site could be very useful when considering puppetry or creative dramatics as mediums for counseling, as there are several puppetry resources and links for scripts included.

While the entire Funology site is filled with great activities for kids, the "Abracadabra" section could be exceptionally useful for school counselors.  There are a bunch of magic tricks utilizing everyday household supplies.  As discussed in class, magic can be useful in boosting a student's self-esteem, in social skills training, and as a facillitation for discussion.

This site includes a magic & tricks section, as well as several short mystery cases.  If students listen carefully, they can figure out how to solve the mystery.  These short stories can be helpful when talking about the importance of listening to others, or as a discussion starter on related topics (for example, one story was about someone breaking into a store- this could lead to a conversation on stealing, consequences, or problem solving).