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Sandtray Practice: Weaving Together Verbal and Visual Languages

by Kelly Massey
September/October 2015
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Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/sandtray-practice-weaving-together-verbal-and-visual-languages/5022536/

A note: Because we are educators, rather than therapists, our role in this process is to allow the children to construct meaning. Only a qualified therapist should attempt to analyze a child’s artwork. If a child’s story or imagery is consistently disturbing or violent, please recommend the services of a qualified professional.

In an attempt to draw play and storytelling into our art studio or atelier, I’ve introduced sandtrays as a core studio practice this year and have found it to be a richly satisfying experience for the children. Sandtray Practice is an adaptation of Sandtray Therapy, an art therapy technique in which clients arrange small materials and figures in a tray of sand to create a symbolic landscape. In traditional sandtray therapy, the therapist facilitates healing through this non-verbal medium. 

In what I am calling sandtray practice, students simply construct their own meaning through the arrangement of visual materials in a tray of sand. My goal in introducing this practice was to allow space in the atelier for play and storytelling; this has been more successful than I even dreamed. Not only do the children remain focused in this activity for much longer than the average art experience, they are able to ...

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