The Neuroscience Behind Play Therapy
Children’s brains are highly plastic and responsive to experience, especially during the early stages of development. Play stimulates multiple areas of the brain, including those involved in sensory processing, motor functions, emotions, and higher cognitive tasks. Neuroscience confirms that play therapy is a powerful tool that shapes the brain, builds emotional regulation, and fosters recovery from stress and trauma. This is because play helps to establish and reinforce synaptic connections and promote integration between different regions (Cozolino, 2010; Siegel, 2007).
Rewiring the Brain Through Play: Neuroplasticity in Action
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganise and form new neural connections. During early childhood, the brain is especially plastic, and experiences can leave lasting imprints.
Researcher Louis Cozolino (2010) outlined four essential factors that support neuroplasticity in therapy:
Empathic Attunement – The therapist’s sensitive, responsive presence provides the optimal emotional environment for change. In play therapy, this bond helps children feel safe and seen.
Emotional Arousal – A moderate level of emotion helps consolidate new learning. Because play is child-led, each child can find their ‘sweet spot’ of emotional engagement.
Integration of Emotion and Cognition – The blend of expressive play and mindful reflection allows the brain to link emotional and rational processes, creating more balanced responses (Siegel, 2007).
Creation of New Narratives – Through symbolic play, children reconstruct and reframe their experiences, developing healthier self-concepts and coping strategies.
In essence, play therapy helps children rewire their brains for better emotional regulation and resilience (Cozolino, 2010; Stewart, Field, & Echterling, 2016).
How the Brain Responds to Play
Play therapy engages key brain systems that are essential for growth and healing:
The Limbic System: Responsible for processing emotions, this system is activated during emotionally rich play, allowing children to revisit and reprocess trauma in a safe context (Perry, 2006).
Mirror Neurons: These special cells enable children to ‘feel felt’ by the therapist. When a therapist responds empathetically, the child’s brain registers this as emotional attunement, building trust and attachment (Lacoboni, 2012; Stewart et al., 2016).
The Prefrontal Cortex: Still developing in children, this area controls decision-making and impulse regulation. Therapeutic play strengthens this region by fostering self-reflection, patience, and problem-solving (Field, Beeson, & Jones, 2015).
The Right Hemisphere: Especially important in early childhood, this side of the brain processes non-verbal cues, emotional tone, and facial expressions (Schore, 2012).
Building Trust Through Oxytocin
You’ve likely heard of oxytocin, often referred to as the ‘bonding hormone’. Neuroscience reveals that oxytocin is released during moments of connection, such as when people laugh together or share affection. In play therapy, the child-therapist relationship is built on these very principles.
Through repeated warm, attuned interactions, oxytocin levels rise, reducing fear and strengthening trust. This hormonal response helps children feel safe enough to explore difficult emotions, leading to more open and transformative experiences in the therapy room (Feldman, 2012; Bartz, Zaki, Bolger, & Ochsner, 2011).
Expanding Awareness and Shifting Attention
In the same way that magicians manipulate attention to create illusions, play therapists skilfully guide children’s attention, not to trick them, but to foster healing. Using processes known as top-down (conscious focus) and bottom-up (automatic, emotion-driven responses) attention, therapists help children become more aware of their feelings, behaviours, and strengths (Buschman & Miller, 2007; Connor, Egeth, & Yantis, 2004).
In practical terms, this might look like:
Tracking a child’s actions and naming emotions as they arise.
Reflecting strengths and creativity to help reframe a child’s self-image.
Creating symbolic space for children to express the inexpressible.
These techniques enhance the child's awareness and self-understanding, often without the child realising how much deep work is occurring.
Why Play Therapy Works Better Than Talk Therapy for Children
Children process the world through movement, play, and metaphor. Unlike adults, their prefrontal cortex (the brain region needed for complex reasoning and verbal reflection) is still under construction. That’s why talk therapy often falls short for younger clients.
Play is a developmentally appropriate way for children to communicate, explore, and resolve issues. It bridges the gap between body and mind, thought and feeling.
As the authors write, “Play is the child’s language, and the brain’s language” (Stewart et al., 2016, p. 8).
Healing Happens in Relationships
Play therapy isn’t just about toys—it’s about relationships. Safe, consistent relationships support healthy brain development. In therapy, the child internalises the therapist’s calm, regulated presence, gradually learning to regulate their own emotions.
Through this process:
Hyperarousal from trauma is calmed.
Emotional wounds are expressed and reframed.
Children build resilience and new coping strategies.
As trauma specialist Bruce Perry (2006) states, “The most powerful intervention is a safe relationship.” In play therapy, children are building new brain pathways, developing emotional awareness, and creating a healthier narrative about who they are.
Understanding this science empowers therapists, parents, and educators to trust the process of play, not just as a tool for expression, but as a proven method for profound change.
References
Bartz, J. A., Zaki, J., Bolger, N., & Ochsner, K. N. (2011). Social effects of oxytocin in humans: Context and person matter. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(7), 301–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2011.05.002
Buschman, T. J., & Miller, E. K. (2007). Top-down versus bottom-up control of attention in the prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices. Science, 315(5820), 1860–1862. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1138071
Connor, C. E., Egeth, H. E., & Yantis, S. (2004). Visual attention: Bottom-up versus top-down. Current Biology, 14(18), R850–R852. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2004.09.041
Cozolino, L. (2010). The neuroscience of psychotherapy: Healing the social brain (2nd ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.
Feldman, R. (2012). Oxytocin and social affiliation in humans. Hormones and Behavior, 61(3), 380–391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2012.01.008
Field, T. A., Beeson, E. T., & Jones, L. K. (2015). The new ABCs: A practitioner’s guide to neuroscience-informed cognitive–behavior therapy. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 37(3), 206–220. https://doi.org/10.17744/mehc.37.3.04
Iacoboni, M. (2012). The human mirror neuron system and its role in imitation and empathy. In F. B. M. de Waal & P. F. Ferrari (Eds.), The primate mind: Built to connect with other minds (pp. 32–47). Harvard University Press.
Perry, B. D. (2006). Applying principles of neurodevelopment to clinical work with maltreated and traumatized children. In N. B. Webb (Ed.), Working with traumatized youth in child welfare (pp. 27–52). Guilford Press.
Schore, A. N. (2012). The science of the art of psychotherapy. W. W. Norton & Company.
Siegel, D. J. (2007). The mindful brain: Reflection and attunement in the cultivation of well-being. W. W. Norton & Company.
Stewart, A. L., Field, T. A., & Echterling, L. G. (2016). Neuroscience and the magic of play therapy. International Journal of Play Therapy, 25(1), 4–13. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000016
