emotional skills necessary to process traumatic experiences. By designing trauma-responsive guided play experiences, educators can establish safe, positive, and playful interactions and begin to respond to all children’ s needs.
Teachers assume multiple roles during guided play. While children lead the playful activities, educators are active participants who purposefully encourage children to broaden that play and work toward specific learning and developmental goals. They do this by
› Observing children and noting common threads that develop during play( Tijnagel-Schoenaker 2017)
› Listening to children’ s conversations, so they can recognize areas of interest, questions, and misconceptions( Wien 2013)
› Curating materials and setting up the environment to support children’ s playful investigations( McDonald 2018)
› Anticipating questions that children might have during their play( Lillard 2013)
› Thinking about how to help children answer those questions and deepen their understanding( Lillard 2013; Toub et al. 2016)
› Documenting and analyzing information to identify patterns( Wien 2013)
These steps are particularly important when guiding children who experience trauma( Erdman & Colker, with Winter 2020)— both collectively and individually. For example, in the vignette, Ms. Lori observed Marco’ s avoidance and curated materials specifically for him. She used open-ended questions to scaffold his re-engagement with play and with his peers, noting the progress he made in social and emotional growth. For the whole group, she thoughtfully offered props and books to help all the children process their community’ s disaster. She also observed their group play and answered any questions they had.
It is important to note that teachers are not therapists. When children’ s trauma responses exceed an educator’ s strategies and resources, teachers can work with program administrators to connect families with appropriate mental health and support services available within the school or the community( Erdman & Colker, with Winter 2020). They also may work within a team of mental health professionals, pediatricians, and / or school counselors to help children process trauma( Norman et al. 2021). Ms. Lori partnered with Marco’ s parents by discussing changes they had observed in both his classroom behavior and his behavior at home, including nightmares. She reassured them that the themes appearing in his play were likely his way of processing and working through these experiences. Ms. Lori also encouraged the family to contact their doctor or a mental health professional if their concerns continued or increased.
Implementing Trauma-Responsive Guided Play
Building choice and structure into guided play requires a careful balance. Too much structure eliminates the agency that makes guided play so effective; too little can overwhelm children who need predictability( Toub et al. 2016). Yet children affected by traumatic experiences may need additional supports.
Toward this end, educators can establish clear, consistent routines of what to expect, such as how play begins, how long it lasts, what the clean-up process looks like, and how transitions will occur( Erdman & Colker, with Winter 2020; Fields & Davis 2025). Within this predictable structure, teachers can offer meaningful choices; for example, asking“ Would you like to start in the art area, the block area, or the quiet reading space?” instead of“ You can play anywhere.” These choices can continue throughout the play experience to help children develop self-awareness and coping strategies(“ I notice you’ re feeling frustrated with that puzzle. Would you like to try a different puzzle,
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