Trauma is complicated and can be difficult to treat, as each child has different experiences and needs. It can help to come from different angles and types of resources to help children process their experiences. This article will highlight games that can be beneficial for kids with trauma. Some of these games tackle trauma head-on and others take a back-door approach, allowing children to process their experiences through role-play and storytelling. They include psychoeducation, forming a trauma narrative from a TF-CBT lens, developing coping mechanisms, and understanding the body's response to stress.
Before diving in with these games, I highly recommend starting with a solid foundation of coping skills to prepare the kids emotionally for dealing with trauma. It also provides time to establish rapport in the therapeutic relationship. Children will be less likely to be vulnerable and real if they do not feel secure in the safety of the relationship. It is also important to be trained in the method you are using, such as TF-CBT, EMDR, or play therapy.
by Pathways to Peace
I Can't Unsee It is a book about a little girl who sees something horrible happen. She struggles to sleep at night and then can't focus in school. She struggles with intrusive thoughts as well as some dissociation. She learns how to process emotions and how her brain tries to repress memories to help her cope. As she works through her trauma narrative, her symptoms are relieved. The game helps children process their own traumatic stories, helps them learn new skills, and makes them more aware of their bodies' response to trauma. This resource is available in hard copy or online for telehealth.
This is a psychoeducational game to help children recover from trauma. It focuses on TF-CBT and EMDR. This resource is great for helping kids become familiar with terminology and typical symptoms related to trauma.
by Play Mary
To be honest, I was a little disturbed by this one at first glance, but after playing it and thinking it through, I think it could be a powerful tool for kids with trauma. Poor Joy is torn up pretty badly in this image. She has injuries to her arms, abdomen, legs, and face. The game has the child clean her injuries, apply ointments and creams, remove barbs, check her heart, and apply bandages and cold compresses. It could open up some deep discussion of inner wounds that need to be tended to. The variety of treatments could relate to various interventions, coping mechanisms, and thought processes that need to be addressed for healing from trauma. Joy does not look joyful in this picture. The imagery can open the door for discussion of how trauma can feel like it is stealing your joy, but healing can bring it back. Finally, it can also allow the child to look at Joy as their inner child who needs healing. The act of tending to her wounds could be cathartic.
by Pathways to Peace
This game helps children process their trauma narrative in bite-sized pieces by discussing it a little bit at a time. It focuses on self-talk to help identify stuck points that are causing emotional distress. Kids can then use CBT skills to rescript unhealthy thought patterns. The game also offers some comic relief because trauma work is heavy!
by Gentle Observations
This one is not a game, but very helpful. These discussion cards help kids recognize self-talk statements that may be related to dissociation. It can help build awareness and triggers to help kids recognize the signs of dissociation. This is a good place to look if you are looking for printable supplements such as safety plans, checklists, symptom trackers, etc. She offers quite a few different resources related to trauma.
by Pathways to Peace
Teddy's Leaky Bucket is a book and game to help children heal from emotional wounds. The story is about a boy who experiences emotional pain from rejection by friends, betrayal, and changes in his family at home. He feels down and sluggish due to his emotional wounds. He learns the process of healing and can recover from his wounds, and in the end, can help others as well. The game helps children process their own experiences and start the healing process as well.
by Pathways to Peace
This game helps children process emotions through storytelling. The camp scene provides a metaphor for kids to process themes such as being lost in the woods, dealing with an intruder, self-protection, a survival kit, and more. The goal is to process themes rather than directly discuss trauma narratives.
by Trauma Therapist
This resource uses the familiar Red Light Green Light game to teach children about body safety. It helps them identify if something is a good touch, bad touch, or something confusing. It helps them recognize when to seek help from a trusted adult. It aligns with TF-CBT.
by Pathways to Peace
Submerged is a game to help children recognize the dissociation and repression of memories. Game cards cover many different topics as well, such as anger as a secondary emotion, feeling sluggish, depression, anxiety, and huge reactions to small problems.
by Pathways to Peace Counseling
Dino Stories is another storytelling game. This one is better for younger children and offers some acting-out prompts. The dinosaur metaphor includes family dynamics, safety themes, processing big emotions, and allows kids to explore ways to overcome challenges.
Related Post: Creative Ways to Use Dolls in Play Therapy
by Talicor
This one is a game about becoming aware of emotions and overcoming anxiety. It allows kids to form monsters from playdough, then stomp them and put them in jail when they land on a monster stomp space. I love the concept! The metaphor works nicely, as abusers are often viewed as monsters. This allows children to have the feeling of stomping on their abusers, feeling like victors instead of victims.
by Pathways to Peace
This game helps children develop a survivor mindset rather than succumbing to victimhood. They will be challenged to recognize that trauma does not define them, that life still has a purpose, and that the future can be bright and full of life. Kids will learn about resilience and imagine what they desire their future to be like.
by Kim Lange, Emotionanigans
Inner Critters is a printable card set with different characters. This one is also not a game, per se, but a collection of expressive arts cards. The child can select cards to represent different people in their lives for storytelling, or they can create a game out of the cards. The set includes an index of characters as well as a therapist guide to using the resource. Ultimately, you can get creative in using these cards in many different ways.
by Pathways to Peace
While this game is not specific to trauma, it can be a helpful metaphor and allows children to mentally construct a picture of what they want their lives to be like in the future. Some of the art prompts can be used metaphorically to consider how to reconstruct a damaged piece of art, such as painting over an old work of art. Prompts include erasing past mistakes, brushing things off, colorful emotions, self-protection, and more.
In conclusion, there are many games to help children process trauma. Do you have favorites that are not listed here? I'd love to hear about them. You might also consider getting training in play therapy if you haven't already. There are so many play interventions to help children process trauma as well. I enjoy using puppets, sandtray therapy, dolls, dinosaurs, playdough, and many other interventions as well. Games are powerful tools, but there are also many other playful interventions.
Don't miss the other posts in this series of games to use in therapy:
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