Learn Beginning
Sand Tray Therapy

Let me teach you how to do Sand Tray Therapy the way I teach counseling graduate school students at a major counseling university!

I encourage my sand tray therapy students to start with simple tools to begin sand tray therapy. Sand tray therapy takes a lot of training and experience.

However, having some basic ingredients in the Creative Counseling room can help you learn more about this tool and then seek out additional sand tray therapy training.

Materials for Sand Tray Therapy Training:

1. Rectangular Cooking Tray Tin

2. Clean White Play Sand

3. Beginning Plastic Miniatures in Bags (Army Men, Dinosaurs, Jungle Animals, Farm Animals, Bugs, Sea Animals)

4. Blue Spray Paint

Directions for Sand Tray Therapy Training:

1. Spray the inside bottom and sides of the cooking tin blue. Allow to dry. This will represent water. You now have a basic sand tray therapy starter tray!

2. Add the clean play sand to the sand tray therapy tray.

3. Place thesand tray therapy miniatures in clear plastic bins or clear plastic shoe boxes. Label each sand tray therapy miniature genre with a label maker.

4. Children, and adult, sand tray therapy clients often like to touch the sand. Allow the sand tray therapy client to touch and play in the sand with the miniatures. Boys will like to create war scenes with the army men. Girls will be attracted to the farm animal horses.

5. Ask the sand tray therapy client if they would like to create a picture in the sand tray. This is the same process as asking the sand tray therapy client to draw a picture.

6. For school counseling I use the sand tray therapy part to re-enact bullying issues the sand tray therapy client might be dealing with.

I also use it as a tool to help sand tray therapy clients, or students, re-enact a scene to make it a more positive one, for instance, "What would you have done differently, or what would you do next time?".

7. I urge you to seek additional sand tray therapy training if you see that you have clients that want to use sand tray therapy. A Creative Counselor seeks additional training based on the needs of the sand tray therapy client.

8. Continue to build your sand tray therapy collection slowly. A good sand tray therapy collection is not built overnight. Also use clip art miniatures for the sand tray therapy process.

How to do the Sand Tray to Sand Tray Therapy 

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Disclaimer: This website and its content is intended for trained licensed mental health professionals and school certified mental health professionals to use for their clients / students at their own discretion.

*If you ignore the disclaimer above are using these techniques on yourself and you feel any discomfort or upset it is highly suggested that you seek out a licensed  mental health professional immediately.

"Beyond Art Therapy" is the concept from Dr. Stangline that combines all creative fields in therapy. It is not the traditional "art therapy" but goes beyond to include sand tray therapy, play therapy, mindfulness, meditation, color therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and a vast majority of other therapies.

For any other type of mental health emergency call your local 911 / Police Number immediately.

Dr. Stangline does not offer advice / suggestions to anyone who is not a professional mental health provider, or a student who is studying this field and has questions about mental health programs of study.