As a parent, you may feel at your wits end in trying to support your child struggling with ADHD. Maybe you notice that your child is falling behind in school, struggling to pay attention, and may not listen to you at home. They may get up and run around when it is not appropriate, talk excessively, or have difficulty falling asleep. Due to their hyperactive nature, children with anxiety often require many outlets and creative ways to release their energy. A short 30 minute break for recess during the school day often is not enough, and can leave a child with ADHD feeling frustrated. ADHD counseling for children can help teach you as a concerned parent, and your child healthy coping skills and ways to relax their body and mind.
What is play therapy for ADHD at Wisdom Within Counseling?
As a team of holistic child therapists, we integrate expressive play, art, music, and outdoor therapies into sessions for children with ADHD. We strongly believe that these modalities allow children to grow and flourish in healthy ways. Play is the language of the child, so play therapy allows the counselor to immerse themself into the child’s world. Through the use of puppets, art, story books, action figures etc. the therapist can begin to understand the child’s lens of the world around them. Play therapy and toys also allow the therapist to communicate with the child in a way that makes sense to them. ADHD counseling for children through the use of play and expressive art can leave your child feeling empowered,
Fostering Connection Through Play Therapy
Children learn how to navigate the world around them through early relationships with their parents and caregivers. Safe, secure attachments are important in order for a child to feel comfortable exploring their environment and meeting new people.
As a parent, you most likely work full-time and don’t get to enjoy the pleasure of spending quality time with your little one. As a result, you feel distant from them. Or, maybe there is a divorce in the family and you don’t get to see your child as often as you’d like to. Through play therapy, you can learn ways to foster connection and strong emotional bonds between you and your child.
1. Secret Handshake
One simple way to have a stronger relationship with your child is to create a secret handshake together. Take turns adding in different gestures like high fives, hand clasps, finger wiggles, even hugs. Make the handshake long enough that it feels important and unique, but short enough that you can both remember it. Do your secret handshake before your child has to make a transition like going to school for the day, or before going to bed at night.
2. Invisible Boo-boos
This activity is not only great for forming deeper connections with your child, but it also teaches them trust and effective emotional regulation strategies. Invisible boo-boos allows you to offer empathy to your child’s internal struggles, specifically those they might not know how to express. Start by asking your child how they feel on the inside today. Ask them if they have any hurt inside that can’t be seen. Offer to place a bandaid anywhere on the body that will help their invisible boo-boo heal.
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Movement Activities for Children with ADHD
Being one of the most common symptoms of ADHD, hyperactivity in children can be overwhelming for parents, teachers, and a child’s peers. However, once you find effective ways to channel your child’s energy, you will find that they appear much more happy, restful, and adept to tackle their day. Movement activities are increasingly beneficial for a child with ADHD to explore novel ways of releasing hyperactivity, improving their physical health, emotional management, and overall mood.
3. The Floor is Lava
This is a game your child may already know, however they may be thrilled once they learn that mom or dad want to play too. The floor is lava mixes creativity, movement, connection and imagination resulting is an extremely positive experience for your child.
Gather materials such as blankets, pillows, stools, chairs, towels, and anything else you have readily available. Work with your child to set up an obstacle course and paths around the house. Pretend the floor is hot lava and that you have to navigate through the house without touching the floor. This is a great exercise to foster trust between you and your child as well. They made need your assistance hopping from one object to the next.
4. Push-up Contest
Often times, children with ADHD play in an aggressive way without meaning too. Maybe your teacher informed you that your child pushes and shoves their peers. This can be a sign that your child needs to activate their nervous system with this type of movement.
Push ups are a great way to release energy for a child with ADHD. Teach your child that they have to push the ground away from their body. Invite them to do a push up contest with you and see who can do the most. Count out loud as you try to beat one another. Play this game over the course of a week and keep a score card. Let your child win. This will provide them with a self-esteem boost and confidence!
Sensory Play for Children with ADHD and Anxiety
Sensory play is amazing for children with ADHD and anxiety. These activities engage the senses and allow a child to explore curiosity.
5. Cooking Together
Cooking a meal with your child serves as a great opportunity for connection, challenge, problem-solving, and learning. It also allows your child to engage all five senses throughout the process. Ask your child to pick out a simple recipe. It can be a meal or you can bake a dessert together. Read the recipe together and have your child gather all the necessary utensils and ingredients from the kitchen. Encourage your child to pour the ingredients themself. Teach them how to measure, crack an egg, stir the batter, and play with the flour. It is okay to get messy! Once the food is done, sit down and enjoy the meal together. Ask your child what their favorite part of cooking was.
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6. Finger Painting
Creating a picture with finger-paints can be a very empowering activity for a child. It teaches them what they can create with their hands without using any brushes or other materials. It also stimulates their mind and body. The physical act of touching the paint can be calming for a child with an over-regulated nervous system. Gather a canvas or piece of card stock paper and use washable paint. lay newspaper or a tablecloth down on a surface first. Have your child use their fingers to create a tree with all different color leaves, or a garden with flowers.
ADHD counseling for children at Wisdom Within can provide your child with opportunities for sensory play exploration. Our therapists love using paints, sensory toys, kinetic sand, play dough, and musical instruments to engage a child’s sense and help them cope with anxiety.
Arts and Crafts Help Soothe the Nervous System of an Anxious Child
Drawing, painting, and crafting light up the parts of our brain that are connected to feelings. Creating art helps children feel more in tune with their emotional selves and release their feelings in a healthy way.
7. Draw Your World
This is an awesome activity to gain insight into how your child currently views their world. There is no wrong way to create this image, as children interpret their surroundings differently from one another.
Use materials such as crayons, markers, or paint. Draw a big circle on a blank sheet of paper. Instruct your child to create their world inside the circle. This can include pictures of friends, family, pets, food, activities, places, or things they like to do. If your child doesn’t enjoy drawing, you can cut out clippings from magazines or books and paste them into the circle.
8. Create a Worry Jar
Worries and anxiety can consume a child that does not have effective coping skills or self-regulation strategies. A worry jar can help your little one to let go of big life events that they have no control over.
For materials, gather a glass jar with a lid, colored paper, scissors, stickers, paint, glitter, buttons, feathers, or anything else your child may want to decorate with. Explain that you are going to create a family worry jar. Cut the colored paper into small strips, and decorate the jar to your liking. Each person in the family will take a strip of paper and write down their worry on it, then put it in the jar. Once a worry is in the jar, explain to your child that they do not have to fear it anymore since it is trapped and put away on the shelf.
Relaxation and Breathing Techniques for Children with ADHD and Anxiety
Hyperactive or overly anxious children often do not now how to calm their bodies and minds. Relaxation and breathing techniques can soothe your child’s nervous system and help them foster greater control over a stressful situation. Teaching your child to be aware of their breathing can also help them to feel more restful at night time, and drift off to sleep in a peaceful, seamless manner.
9. Bubble Breaths
This is a great activity to teach young children how to take a deep, full breath. Bubble breaths also emphasize the exhale, which sends the message to our body and brain that we are safe. All you need is a bubble wand and bubble solution.
Teach your child to dip the wand into the solution, inhale deep through the nose, and exhale long enough to blow the air out the mouth and toward the bubble wand. The goal is to make the exhale longer than the inhale. The number or size of the bubbles blown does not matter, but rather the activity teaches children to take soothing, deep breaths.
10. Loving-Kindness Meditation
It is important for children to receive messages and affirmations that they are loved, cared for, and valued. When we send ourselves and others compassion, we tend to feel happier and more grateful. A loving-kindness meditation helps a child to develop a positive self-image and self-esteem. It is an amazing activity to do with your child in the morning before school, when they are having a hard day, or at night before bed.
Have your child rest their eyes and relax their body in whatever position is comfortable for them. Ask your child to repeat each thought you say out loud after you:
“May I be safe.
May I be loved.
May I be happy and healthy.
May I be strong.”
You can even encourage your child to share these kind messages with friends and peers.
At Wisdom Within Counseling, we specialize in supporting children with anxiety and ADHD. We integrate a variety of playful, expressive therapies to help children gain confidence and develop emotional coping tools. We provide art, music, play, and mind-body therapies to teach children to connect with their inner wisdom and live positive, empowering lives. We would love to support you and your child.
