6 - 9 Years
At this age you may use play to initiate discussions and you may want to consider;
- Using toy telephones, puppets, dolls, dolls houses etc. This can help you to gain an understanding of the child’s lived experiences including their life at home and their key relationships.
- Using play-doh to mould shapes, build scenes etc can help set the scene for a child to talk to you
- Free drawing can help children communicate a message to you or can give you an indication as to how they might be feeling.
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- Using puppets to explain professional roles to children may help to identify a person the child can talk to about their worries. It may also help to dispel any myths they may have about particular roles (e.g. police will come if you do something bad)
Example
Link to NSPCC ‘Talk to Me’ Tool