- 1Play, art, and tactile activities are widely used to help children engage in therapy alongside or instead of talk-based methods
- 2Select assessment tools based on the client's background, presenting issue, and your training to use them
- 3Therapists should administer tools in a comfortable environment with clear instructions to obtain reliable results
Effective therapy depends on matching the right tool to the right client. With children and adolescents, many therapists use games, art, and tactile activities alongside conversation to build comfort and engagement. Many therapists also use online booking to let clients self-schedule sessions at times that work for both parties.
This guide covers 10 essential therapy tools that mental health professionals use to build rapport, assess emotional states, and guide clients through treatment, along with guidance on selecting and administering them effectively.
How to Use Therapy Tools
Gather relevant information about the patient
Before selecting a therapy tool, collect the patient's medical history, current mental health concerns, family background, and developmental stage. This background ensures you choose tools that match the client's cognitive level and therapeutic needs rather than defaulting to a one-size-fits-all approach.
Choose the right tools for evaluation
Select assessment and engagement tools based on the specific issue being addressed. Common options include psychometric tests, structured interviews, questionnaires, self-report scales, and observation techniques. For children, play-based and art-based activities are often used alongside formal instruments to support engagement.
Administer the tool properly
Set up a comfortable, distraction-free environment and provide clear, age-appropriate instructions. Proper administration is critical for obtaining accurate results -- rushed or poorly explained assessments produce unreliable data that can lead to misdiagnosis.
Analyze the results
Interpret assessment results in the context of the client's history and presenting concerns. Use findings to confirm or refine your diagnosis and to develop a treatment plan with measurable goals.
The Best Tools for Therapists
Traditional Board Games
Familiar board games like Connect Four, Candy Land, and Jenga are staples in child therapy because children already know the rules and enjoy playing. This familiarity lowers anxiety and creates a natural bridge between everyday life and the therapeutic setting. During gameplay, therapists can observe social skills, frustration tolerance, and cognitive patterns without the pressure of direct questioning.
Counseling Games
Purpose-built therapeutic games address specific issues such as anger management, social skills, and emotional vocabulary. Dr. Richard Gardner pioneered this category in 1973 with the "Talking, Feeling and Doing" game, and hundreds of specialized games now exist. These games are designed to elicit therapeutic conversations through structured prompts, making them more clinically targeted than general board games.
Therapy Workbooks
Therapeutic workbooks use a psycho-educational approach with structured activities, worksheets, and exercises that address specific emotional and behavioral issues. Their take-home format extends therapy beyond the session -- clients complete exercises between appointments, which reinforces concepts and gives the therapist measurable progress indicators.
Drawing Supplies
Art materials such as pencils, crayons, markers, and stickers give children a nonverbal outlet for expressing emotions they cannot yet articulate. Drawings can also open a conversation: asking a child to describe what they drew often brings up topics they would not raise if asked directly.
Play Dough
Play dough provides sensory engagement that reduces tension and anxiety through the physical acts of molding, stretching, and squishing. Many therapists use it to give children who struggle with verbal expression something to do with their hands, which can make conversation feel less intense. It is simple, inexpensive, and easy to keep on hand.
Toys
Dolls, action figures, vehicles, and other toys enable children to re-enact scenarios from their lives in a safe, controlled environment. This "play therapy" approach lets therapists observe how children process family dynamics, peer conflicts, and traumatic events without requiring them to describe these experiences directly.
Puppets
Puppets serve as stand-ins for role-playing, allowing children to project their feelings onto a character rather than speaking about themselves directly. That distance can make it easier for children who find first-person disclosure difficult to express feelings.
Doll House
Doll houses symbolize shelter, safety, and family -- themes that are central to most child therapy. Both boys and girls use doll houses to act out household dynamics, express fears about home life, and practice problem-solving in a miniature environment. Therapists interpret this play in the context of everything else they know about the child, not as stand-alone evidence.
Smartphone Apps
Therapeutic apps extend therapy tools beyond the office, providing guided exercises, mood tracking, and coping skill practice between sessions. For adolescents who are already device-oriented, apps offer an engagement format that feels natural rather than clinical. Many apps target anxiety, depression, mindfulness, and behavioral activation, but their evidence base and privacy practices vary widely, so review both before recommending one. The American Psychiatric Association's App Evaluation Model is one framework for that review.
Puzzles
Puzzles offer a focused task with a clear finish, which can give children a sense of accomplishment. Working through a puzzle step by step can also be a concrete way to talk about breaking large problems into smaller pieces.
Practice Administration: Scheduling and Reminders
Scheduling software handles the administrative side of a practice, such as booking consultations and keeping a regular weekly slot for each client. It is not a clinical tool. SchedulingKit, for example, provides a booking page synced with Google, Outlook, or Apple calendars, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet links, SMS reminders to clients who opt in (Standard plan and up), and recurring weekly bookings (Pro plan and up). It does not include intake forms, clinical notes, treatment plans, or insurance billing. SchedulingKit is not HIPAA compliant and does not sign Business Associate Agreements (BAAs), so HIPAA-covered practices should use a HIPAA-compliant practice management system for client scheduling. See scheduling for therapists.
Primary References
- Association for Play Therapy (a4pt.org): definitions, training, and credentialing for play therapy.
- AERA, APA, and NCME, Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (2014): professional standards for administering and interpreting tests.
- American Psychiatric Association, App Evaluation Model (psychiatry.org): a framework for evaluating mental health apps.
- Gardner, R. A., The Talking, Feeling, and Doing Game (1973): the counseling game described above.
Conclusion
Therapy tools are most effective when matched to the client's age, presenting issue, and therapeutic goals. By maintaining a diverse toolkit that includes both traditional play items and modern digital resources, therapists can engage a wider range of clients and adapt their approach session by session. To reduce missed sessions, therapists should also consider setting up automated appointment reminders for their clients.
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