Play to Blossom

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Play to Blossom

Offering child & family therapeutic services in Linlithgow, Bo'ness and surrounding areas. Grow, heal & blossom through the power of play.

Services include Play Therapy, SandStory Therapy, Parent-Child Attachment Play and Child Friendship Groups

06/01/2026

Is your child struggling but doesn’t know how to explain it?

Play therapy helps children heal, grow, and thrive - through play. At Play to Blossom, we meet children where they are, using evidence-based play therapy to support emotional regulation, self-esteem, and healthy coping skills.💛
👉 Message anna@playtoblossom to learn more or schedule an appointment.

04/01/2026

The return to school after Christmas can feel heavier than other transitions.
Weeks of connection, slower mornings, flexible routines and togetherness suddenly give way to separation, noise, structure and expectation.

If your child is showing more tears, worries, meltdowns or resistance right now, it isn’t a step backwards.
It’s a nervous system recalibrating from safety and connection back into demand.

You’re not doing anything wrong — and neither are they.

We’re sharing posts to help children transition back to school after the Christmas break.
Explore our recent posts and access our free downloadable resources to support regulation, reassurance and smoother mornings.

23/12/2025

Merry Christmas from Play to Blossom 🎄

As the year pauses, I just wanted to say thank you to all the children and families I’ve worked with. It’s been a real privilege to witness play, curiosity, feelings and growth unfold in so many different ways.

Wishing you a restful Christmas with space for play, connection and doing things at your own pace. See you in the New Year 🙂

Love from Anna xx

18/12/2025

Physical play is specifically important for developing gross motor skills but also activates and supports other areas of development and learning too. Examples of gross motor play include ball games, playing tag, negotiating obstacle courses, riding bikes and scooters, dancing, climbing, swinging and sliding, monkey bars, crawling, running, jumping and all sports. It is play that includes all the big muscles. The motor skills, and strength of children, develop and progress directly in relation to their access to this kind of play. Play-centres, parks, gyms and playgrounds are very important facilities for children.

Where children have physical bodily challenges to accessing motor play, physiotherapists and occupational therapists can help provide access and/or adaptations.

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16/12/2025

Children need to play and if allowed to they will. It is a vital part of their development and a huge contributor to emotional well-being. In the flow of child-led play there is relaxation, release of difficult feelings, learning and development. Local communities that value and provide play facilities, both indoor and outdoor, are underpinning the building blocks of so much in the lives of the children they serve.

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13/12/2025

Child-led play is naturally experimental and exploratory. Children who are allowed plenty of free play, enter a world of trying things out and responding to change. They get lots of opportunities to develop creative responses to issues and frustrations. Cooperative play with others can bring laughter and joy even if things don’t go to plan!

Where children have had difficult times, play therapy can support them to play-out and process their experiences and help get their development of resilience and their tools for well-being back on track

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10/12/2025

In play therapy, movement-based play gives children countless chances to practise balance in ways that feel joyful and natural. Whether they are wobbling on a cushion, darting across the room, or inventing a game that involves spinning, hopping, or stretching, their bodies are constantly learning.

These playful moments help strengthen the sensory and muscular systems that support physical balance and coordination. With a play therapist’s attuned presence and safe boundaries, children can explore movement freely, challenge themselves and discover what their bodies can do.

In this way, play therapy nurtures not only emotional wellbeing, but also the developing physical systems that help children feel steady, confident and grounded in their world.

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09/12/2025

In play therapy, children engage in rich cognitive work that directly supports the development of working memory, the mental space where they hold, organise and manipulate information.

During play, children remember sequences, keep track of roles, follow the unfolding logic of their story and juggle multiple ideas at once. Even simple activities like building, planning, or imaginative storytelling require the child to hold information in mind while also adapting to new possibilities.

Within the therapeutic relationship, this cognitive load is manageable because the child feels safe, supported and free to explore at their own pace. As children repeat, revise and expand their play, they strengthen neural pathways involved in attention, planning and flexible problem-solving.

The play therapist’s attuned presence helps the child tolerate challenge and recover from frustration. All of which reinforce working memory and broader executive functioning.

Through this process, play therapy nurtures the developing brain, enabling children to think more clearly, organise their experiences and approach the world with greater cognitive resilience.

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07/12/2025

In play therapy, we recognise that sharing and turn-taking do not come naturally to emotionally young children. These are developmental abilities that unfold gradually as children feel safe, regulated and connected.

Play provides the ideal space for this growth. Within the therapeutic relationship, the child is invited to explore at their own pace while experiencing clear, consistent boundaries. Over time, the child begins to practise waiting, negotiating, sharing materials and taking turns not because an adult instructs them to, but because the play itself creates authentic moments where these skills emerge.

Through the play therapist’s attuned presence, emotional containment and modelling of respectful interaction, children internalise these social skills in a way that feels organic, relational and rooted in their own sense of competence.

In this way, play therapy becomes a gentle, developmentally appropriate environment where social skills can take shape and flourish.

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06/12/2025

Play is one of the most powerful tools children have for building their memory systems. Through repetition, imagination, storytelling, and sensory exploration, children strengthen neural pathways that support working memory, long-term memory, and the ability to recall information under stress.

In Play Therapy, this happens naturally and safely. Children revisit themes, rehearse experiences, and make sense of their world at their own pace. This gentle, child-led process strengthens memory, supports emotional integration, and helps previously overwhelming experiences become organised and understood.

Play isn’t “just play” — it’s how the brain learns to remember.

03/12/2025

In Play Therapy, children learn how to be with others long before they learn how to talk about being with others.
Through shared play, turn-taking, problem-solving, and navigating big feelings in a safe therapeutic relationship, children develop the foundations of social cooperation:

✨ Understanding others’ perspectives
✨ Practising negotiation and compromise
✨ Building trust through consistent relational safety
✨ Learning empathy through symbolic and imaginary play

Play is the rehearsal space for real-world relationships.

📖 “Children learn to cooperate, negotiate and compromise through play long before they can articulate these skills in words.”
— Dr. Stuart Brown, Play Researcher & Founder of the National Institute for Play

Play Therapy uses these natural developmental processes to support children who struggle with relationships, connection or communication—meeting them where they are, at their pace, with acceptance at the centre.

02/12/2025

In Play Therapy, we know that movement is medicine for the developing body and brain. When children climb, jump, push, pull, balance, and explore, they’re not “just playing” — they’re building the foundations for lifelong physical confidence.

Through play, children develop:

🟢 Core strength & stability
🟢 Gross-motor skills (running, climbing, balancing)
🟢 Fine-motor control (gripping, manipulating toys, drawing)
🟢 Coordination & spatial awareness
🟢 Confidence in their own bodies — essential for emotional regulation

Unstructured, child-led play gives children the freedom to test their limits safely, tune into their sensory world, and build resilience in a way that feels joyful and natural.

“Play is the work of childhood.” — Jean Piaget

At BAPT, we champion play as a powerful therapeutic tool — strengthening not just bodies, but relationships, self-esteem, and emotional wellbeing.

Address

Linlithgow

Telephone

+447939834319

Website

http://www.playtoblossom.co.uk/

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