Dollhouse Play Invitations complete therapy resource page

Play Therapy · PT-04

Dollhouse Play Invitations

Offer optional everyday and imaginative starting points that a child can follow, change, or ignore.

Clinician-created · specialist review required
Developmental range: Ages 5-12; clinician-facilitated10-30 minutesCardsAdult professional use

For clinician-facilitated use

This is a professional resource, not a child-facing online service. A licensed clinician or other qualified adult must determine suitability, explain and adapt the activity, and supervise its use. Do not direct a child to access this webpage independently or enter client information.

Download for facilitated useView collection

The full-resolution WebP includes print-safe margins and should be downloaded by an adult professional. Read the guidance below before using the page.

How to use it

  1. Choose an invitation, use a blank card, or begin play without a card.
  2. Keep, change, combine, or ignore any part of the scene.
  3. Let characters pause, leave, get help, change roles, or create a different ending.
  4. Stop or move to another kind of play whenever you want.

Reflection prompts

  • Would you like to say anything about the scene, or let the play speak for itself?
  • What choices should the characters have next?

Facilitator guidance

Use cards as optional openings, never as prompts to recreate suspected or known trauma. Follow the child's lead, avoid leading questions and symbolic interpretation, and separate therapeutic observation from formal safeguarding assessment.

Adaptations & accessibility

  • Use neutral everyday, fantasy, or setting-only cards with no problem introduced.
  • Offer miniatures, flat pieces, digital scenes, drawing, or verbal storytelling.
  • Reduce sensory complexity and ensure accessible reach and movement.

Professional-use review

Enhanced licensed play-therapy and safeguarding review required before use; do not direct trauma reenactment or infer disclosure, culpability, or diagnosis from dollhouse play alone.

This clinician-created resource is published for professional evaluation. Before client use, the treating clinician or other qualified adult must determine whether it is appropriate and complete every specialist, accessibility, safeguarding, and local-policy review named above. Publication does not represent individualized clinical approval.