From emotion-themed art projects to dramatic play, discover practical tips and activities from our Art Therapist, Nieves Canavese to help children express their feelings creatively
Introduction
Creative expression empowers children to explore, normalise and become comfortable in feeling and expressing their emotions, which is a vital aspect of healthy childhood development. Exploring emotional expression through engaging in a range of targeted expressive creative modalities i.e. art, voice and sound, movement, play therapy and storytelling helps to foster social communication skills, confidence, self-esteem and resilience leading to a strong sense of identity and personal autonomy.
Understanding Emotional Expression in Children
One of the primary roles of Art Therapists is to invite, facilitate and guide art interventions to help children understand, interpret and form connections between their non-verbal communication i.e. facial gestures, body language and expression of feelings with their verbal language skills. Art Therapy also supports children who may not have the verbal capacity to communicate what is going on for them in words alone, as is the case in verbalising complex feelings or having experienced internalised pre-verbal trauma.
In addition, other children may present with low confidence and self-esteem for a multitude of reasons or have a history of being bullied and therefore feel disempowered to use their voice to express themselves for fear of judgement, incrimination, or not being heard. Here the Art Therapist creates a safe therapeutic space to gently guide the child/ren through creative processes that explore and reveal any arising thoughts and feelings, while also resourcing them with tools to help safely discharge and self-regulate their emotions.
The Role and Benefits of Art in Emotional Expression
The artmaking process acts as an unconscious non-verbal exploratory means of developing increased self-awareness and forming ongoing connections with self and others at an expressive and sensory somatic level. Here the Art Therapist strategically targets the child’s presenting problems by choosing specific art materials and complementary creative processes that will invite the child to gently open up, share and safely express their emotions.
For example, after spending some weeks exploring various therapeutic drawing techniques using controlled art materials namely: coloured pencils and felt-tipped pens, followed by oil and soft pastels, I observed that ‘Client A’ was ready to progress onto exploring her internalised hurt, sad and angry feelings associated with recently experiencing childhood schoolyard bullying, via engaging in a calming and self-soothing painting activity.
Acrylic paints were introduced as the medium to explore ‘Client A’s’ emotions. The sensory smooth, thick, and gliding nature of the paint freed ‘Client A’ to get in touch with her deep embodied feelings while still maintaining a sense of control over the placement and flow of the paint.
Furthermore, as ‘Client A’ immersed herself into the joyful space of creative flow, she began to open up and share deeply about a recent bullying experience that left her feeling damaged. As we continued to unpack and tease out ‘Client A’s experience, she momentarily stopped painting to show me a flattened fresh white tissue which she metaphorically referred to as what it visually feels like to be bullied. She made a point of expressing how fresh, white and wrinkle-free the tissue looked. However, upon being bullied the tissue crumbled up and turned in on itself hoping to shield and protect itself as it was being tormented. Upon feeling safe, the tissue began to gently open up again but now cautious of who it can trust. Upon closer examination, there lay the evidence of a multitude of wrinkles that ‘Client A’ perceived as the irreparable damage left behind and awful reminder of being bullied.
This example illustrates how the process of artmaking is instrumental in helping children to visually communicate and externalise what’s going on within their internal world. As the therapeutically witnessed artwork acts as a metaphorical reflective mirror that helps children see, process and make sense of themselves, their experiences and the world around them. Given that, Art Therapy therefore has the capacity to transcend developmental barriers so that children can communicate in a unique, personal and strengths-based way, leading to self-compassion, understanding, healing and ultimately the integration of healthy emotional expression.
Activities & tips to help your children to express their emotions
- Emotion-Themed Art Projects: Encourage children to create art based on the specific emotions and feelings that they are currently experiencing i.e. drawn or collaged self-portrait artworks. Parents and educators can also assist their child/ren to create a coloured sensory based body scan by prompting them to choose colours to illustrate where their child is feeling different identified emotions within their body.
- Narrative Storytelling: helps children to narrate their emotions, feelings and experiences through visual, written, recorded and dramatic stories. Children and parents and educators can also work together to positively alter and rewrite a negative experience so that it has a positive outcome (tip: Google 'Heroes Journey').
- Dramatic Play: Children love to dress up and act out their feelings and emotions and problem solve by taking on different personas e.g. mums, dads and babies; doctors and nurses; superheroes etc. Parents and educators should encourage safe imaginary play where children are free to act out different characters and problem solve any internal conflicts or what is going on in their world within a contained and supervised environment.
- 3D Building Block Sculpture Work, Clay Work, and Sand Play / Tray: Encouraging children to engage in sensory tactile activities leads them to get in touch with their embodied emotions and outwardly express their feelings in a gentle and controlled way. For example, they can create a 3D model of how they see themselves using Playdough or modelling clay or create symbolic sculptures of what each of their emotions looks and feels like. Children also enjoy adding paint to further emotionally define their clay sculptures.
Others enjoy creating kinetic sand, 3D building block, or cardboard sculptures and smashing them apart to express and wash away unhelpful, negative, or resolved emotions. Lastly, parents and educators can also create their own sensory bins specifically tailored to suit children with ASD.
Trigger Warning: Children with a history of sexual abuse should refrain from engaging in clay work or sand play/tray unless guided by a qualified Art or Play Therapist who is trained in Trauma Informed Care. - Waterplay: Supervised warm water play helps to calm, self-sooth and self-regulate emotions. Water play is extremely helpful in self-managing emotions for children with ASD and/or ADHD.
Collaborating with Art Therapists
Art Therapy is an integrative therapy that uses a client-centred, strengths-based humanistic approach. It is successfully enhanced when supported in collaboration within a holistic multidisciplinary team, including parents/caregivers, educators, medical staff, and other allied health workers.
References:
- ANZACATA Art Therapy Professional Practice and Code of Ethics, https://www.anzacata.org/ethics-and-standards
- Malchiodi, C. A. (2020). Trauma and Expressive Arts Therapy: Brain, Body and Imagination in the Healing Process, Guilford Publications.
- Why Creativity Matters in Caregiving: Expressing Emotions Through Art
healthcentre.nz/why-creativity-matters-in-caregiving-expressing-emotions-through-art/
