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How to Create Your Sand Tray Miniature Collection · Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence

• 0:02
  Cathi Spooner: Welcome to Next Level Play Therapy, a weekly podcast dedicated to supporting the next generation of child and adolescent therapists to provide exceptional play therapy services.
• 0:14
  Cathi Spooner: We'll explore all things play therapy to elevate your work with children and adolescents using the therapeutic powers of play.
• 0:23
  Cathi Spooner: I'll discuss practical tips and ideas.
• 0:26
  Cathi Spooner: So you can provide a transformative experience for your young clients and make a real difference in their lives.
• 0:34
  Cathi Spooner: So get ready to take your play therapy skills to the next level and make a lasting impact in the lives of children, adolescents, and families.
• 0:44
  Cathi Spooner: Hey there, welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:53
  Cathi Spooner: Today I want to talk about how to develop your sand tray miniature collection.
• 1:02
  Cathi Spooner: So I, I love doing in person sand tray trainings when I got trained, uh, 20 plus years ago.
• 1:13
  Cathi Spooner: I, I didn't know much about this sand tray thing.
• 1:18
  Cathi Spooner: My colleague, friend, we shared an office together.
• 1:21
  Cathi Spooner: We were in the same group practice.
• 1:23
  Cathi Spooner: She had these, this sandbox and these little miniature things, and she seemed to know what she was doing.
• 1:32
  Cathi Spooner: So I asked her about it, and she told me about this sand tray training coming up, and it was, it was a little expensive, and it was three days, and I, I didn't know if I, you know, we don't make very much money, and I was thinking, Oh, I don't know if I want to invest the money, but she assured me that it was worth the investment.
• 1:55
  Cathi Spooner: So off I went and we were starting the sand tray training.
• 2:01
  Cathi Spooner: And I thought in my head, I was thinking, ah, this seems a little weird.
• 2:07
  Cathi Spooner: I don't know about this, but I trusted my friend.
• 2:11
  Cathi Spooner: So off I went and stayed through the training.
• 2:15
  Cathi Spooner: And I will tell you, by the end of that training, I was hooked.
• 2:22
  Cathi Spooner: I was also a firm believer by the end of that training, that you really only know the power of sand tray if you have gotten your hands in the sand tray, moving miniatures around, And experienced creating and processing the sand trays that you've, you've, uh, created along with those of some, some colleagues.
• 2:52
  Cathi Spooner: So that's why I'm a firm believer.
• 2:55
  Cathi Spooner: I've, I've done the online sand tray training.
• 2:59
  Cathi Spooner: They're good too.
• 2:59
  Cathi Spooner: And to me, if you really need to get some training to get started and your only option is to do an online.
• 3:08
  Cathi Spooner: I think that's good.
• 3:09
  Cathi Spooner: I do think at some point It's really important to do an in person sand tray training so that you really really understand.
• 3:19
  Cathi Spooner: And the other thing about the virtual trainings, it's nice, especially if you are doing some online counseling.
• 3:27
  Cathi Spooner: If you're doing a, like virtual play therapy sessions, it's nice to experience how it works virtually as well.
• 3:37
  Cathi Spooner: And at some point, if you're doing in person counseling sessions with your clients, and you want to use sand tray training.
• 3:46
  Cathi Spooner: I am a firm believer that it's important to, to go to an in person training where you're creating and processing and learning by creating and processing your own sand trays and the sand trays of others.
• 4:05
  Cathi Spooner: And so that's why I love doing the in person sand tray trainings.
• 4:09
  Cathi Spooner: At the end of this, I'm going to talk a little bit about some trainings that I have, a training I have coming up in person this month.
• 4:18
  Cathi Spooner: When I was thinking about topics for the live stream episode and the, in the podcast, I thought about a question that comes up all the time when I am doing these trainings.
• 4:35
  Cathi Spooner: And that is, how do I create my sand tray miniature collection?
• 4:41
  Cathi Spooner: And it's really overwhelming, not knowing where to start.
• 4:47
  Cathi Spooner: So that's why I thought this would be a good episode, would be useful to people about, um, how to create.
• 4:56
  Cathi Spooner: your sand tray miniature collection.
• 4:59
  Cathi Spooner: So let's get started.
• 5:01
  Cathi Spooner: If you are watching live today, I would love to see who's here.
• 5:07
  Cathi Spooner: Um, what your name is, what population you work with, where you work, what questions you have about sand tray miniatures.
• 5:19
  Cathi Spooner: Are you using sand tray?
• 5:21
  Cathi Spooner: What are your thoughts about sand tray?
• 5:23
  Cathi Spooner: So let's, let's have a conversation.
• 5:26
  Cathi Spooner: If you're watching on the replay, I would still love to know who's watching, what your questions are, uh, what population you work with.
• 5:35
  Cathi Spooner: So go ahead and post that in the comments.
• 5:38
  Cathi Spooner: I'd love to see who's watching.
• 5:40
  Cathi Spooner: Um, What's what you guys are doing as far as your sand tray miniature collection.
• 5:48
  Cathi Spooner: For those of you on the podcast absolutely I would love to hear from you as well.
• 5:53
  Cathi Spooner: Send me an email.
• 5:55
  Cathi Spooner: If you find the information useful please share it across your social media platforms if you're listening on the podcast I would love to get your feedback.
• 6:06
  Cathi Spooner: So if you would leave a review wherever you're listening to podcasts that would be awesome.
• 6:15
  Cathi Spooner: So let us get started.
• 6:18
  Cathi Spooner: The first thing that always, to me, the question is, that always comes up is what, what should I have in my sand tray miniature collection?
• 6:31
  Cathi Spooner: Like where do I get started?
• 6:34
  Cathi Spooner: Because a lot of times the feedback that I get, and I remember this, I remember asking all these questions, which is what should I buy?
• 6:44
  Cathi Spooner: What should I not buy?
• 6:45
  Cathi Spooner: Where can I get these things?
• 6:47
  Cathi Spooner: What should I look for?
• 6:49
  Cathi Spooner: Um, what kind of miniature should I have?
• 6:53
  Cathi Spooner: All of these are really important questions because if you're in the play therapy arena and you have a playroom, you know that all toys are not created equal.
• 7:06
  Cathi Spooner: The toys need to have a therapeutic value to them because we're helping children access the therapeutic powers of play.
• 7:16
  Cathi Spooner: The same is true for your sand tray miniatures.
• 7:19
  Cathi Spooner: All miniatures are not necessarily created equal.
• 7:22
  Cathi Spooner: You want to make sure that you are, at least in the beginning when you don't have a very big collection, you want to make sure the ones that you're getting are therapeutic in nature.
• 7:36
  Cathi Spooner: And so having, having an idea of where to start I found can be really useful.
• 7:43
  Cathi Spooner: So we have real true Karen on Instagram, psychodrama trainer here.
• 7:49
  Cathi Spooner: I worked with sand tray years with adults using a combination with psychodrama.
• 7:55
  Cathi Spooner: Only work with adults, just interested in what you have to say.
• 7:59
  Cathi Spooner: Well, welcome.
• 8:00
  Cathi Spooner: I think we follow each other on Instagram because I've seen some of your posts.
• 8:05
  Cathi Spooner: Yeah, I use sand tray with adults all the time.
• 8:09
  Cathi Spooner: Especially when I'm working with client, adult clients, and I want to help them really access some of those early attachment wounds and trauma.
• 8:20
  Cathi Spooner: It is a really powerful way to do that.
• 8:24
  Cathi Spooner: And when I was working, um, with adolescence in a residential facility, we used psychodrama.
• 8:32
  Cathi Spooner: So I, I love that.
• 8:34
  Cathi Spooner: I love psychodrama with families when I'm doing family therapy using play therapy.
• 8:41
  Cathi Spooner: I think that's a really powerful way to help family members kind of work through some of their trauma that they're, they're working through in play therapy.
• 8:52
  Cathi Spooner: I think we use a lot of puppets with kids and use kind of psychodromo through puppet play.
• 8:59
  Cathi Spooner: So yeah, I, all the expressive arts and sand tray therapy is one of the expressive arts and one of the things that's nice about expressive arts is you can really kind of bypass the cognitive left brain processes where people, um, may not be able to articulate what is going on through implicit memory experiences, otherwise known as the unconscious.
• 9:30
  Cathi Spooner: And sand tray is a great way to do that.
• 9:33
  Cathi Spooner: And so to me, that's one of the really important things about making sure you have miniatures.
• 9:42
  Cathi Spooner: in your sand tray collection that help clients access that.
• 9:47
  Cathi Spooner: The other part is knowing what to do with that.
• 9:49
  Cathi Spooner: And I'll talk a little bit about that at the end with the training I have coming up And, um, having the miniatures to me is the, is the first step.
• 10:01
  Cathi Spooner: So here's, here's some of my tips for getting started.
• 10:06
  Cathi Spooner: So the, the first tip that I have is really focus on the needs of your population.
• 10:13
  Cathi Spooner: So if you if you're working with adults or adolescents or children think you want to think about, um, where they are developmentally and what what areas that they're kind of struggling with.
• 10:32
  Cathi Spooner: I think in the beginning if you start with some of the basic figures like trees, fences, water fountains, you have some like fighting figures and All of these would be good.
• 10:49
  Cathi Spooner: No matter what population you're working with.
• 10:51
  Cathi Spooner: These are kind of staples like army figures knights Um, some mythical creatures like wizards or fairies or dragons.
• 11:03
  Cathi Spooner: You want to be able to have some animals, some sea life, um, insects, houses and vehicles and maybe some police or firefighters, some like rescue figures.
• 11:19
  Cathi Spooner: If you can, if you can get at least a few miniatures from each of those collections that that's a good place to start.
• 11:30
  Cathi Spooner: And in my previous live stream episode, um, I did not last week's.
• 11:37
  Cathi Spooner: The week before that.
• 11:38
  Cathi Spooner: So two weeks ago, I talked a lot more about the different categories and what to have in the categories.
• 11:44
  Cathi Spooner: So if you want some more information about that, then you can go watch the live stream episode from a couple of weeks ago, or if you're listening to the podcast, it'll be a couple of weeks ago.
• 11:57
  Cathi Spooner: If you're the easiest place to find some of the replays is you could pop over to my YouTube channel at Cathi Spooner Renewing Hearts Trainer Training.
• 12:09
  Cathi Spooner: If you are watching on Instagram, you could go in my grid, um, LinkedIn.
• 12:14
  Cathi Spooner: It is probably a little easier to go over to my YouTube channel.
• 12:19
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so I go in a lot more depth over there.
• 12:24
  Cathi Spooner: So the other thing is think about the population that you work with.
• 12:29
  Cathi Spooner: So for example, if you, if you work with children, the likelihood you have children who, um, have experience, have parents who are maybe going through divorce or kind of in the process are already divorced.
• 12:47
  Cathi Spooner: It's oftentimes a good idea to get brides and grooms, you know, like the cake toppers.
• 12:54
  Cathi Spooner: Um, you can get, if you can get them separated instead of.
• 12:59
  Cathi Spooner: together, then it allows the ability for children to use and work, use those miniatures separately because their parents are aren't together anymore.
• 13:13
  Cathi Spooner: Um, the, the brides and grooms oftentimes for children are symbolic of parents when you think about it makes sense because they're, they're married.
• 13:23
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and so whatever, like your, the population that you're working with, if you're with children and their, their parents are divorced, just make sure that you, get some of those.
• 13:36
  Cathi Spooner: Those are always good if you can find them.
• 13:39
  Cathi Spooner: Amazon is always a good place to get some if you're, if you're having a hard time finding things in, in stores.
• 13:45
  Cathi Spooner: Um, if you work with children who are court involved or maybe have had a lot of interaction with police, maybe parents have an addiction and they've experienced police coming to their home.
• 14:01
  Cathi Spooner: It's always a good idea to have representation of the legal justice system.
• 14:08
  Cathi Spooner: If you can, courtrooms are a little hard to get, but you can use blocks.
• 14:13
  Cathi Spooner: Kids can use blocks to create that.
• 14:15
  Cathi Spooner: So just think about the population that you work with.
• 14:20
  Cathi Spooner: You may want to have like one or two of those miniatures available.
• 14:25
  Cathi Spooner: The thing is, if you, each of the categories, if you have at least a few from each category, children will be able to find what they need to work through whatever it is that they need to work through.
• 14:42
  Cathi Spooner: That's true of adolescents and adults as well.
• 14:48
  Cathi Spooner: I think the main thing that I like to encourage people who are just working on getting their sand tray miniature collection started is it's okay to start small.
• 15:03
  Cathi Spooner: Um, A lot of times you can, you can get starter kits, um, that still feel a little expensive, but you, you get at least a few items from each category and then you can always build from there.
• 15:19
  Cathi Spooner: So you don't need to get everything all at once because your clients will be able to use what you have to get what they need in order to work through whatever it is that they need to work through.
• 15:37
  Cathi Spooner: So if you start small with just a few miniatures from each category, then it allows you to work on use more of an intentional approach to what you're purchasing and adding to your collection rather than trying to get everything because you feel like you don't have enough and you, you want to get everything so nothing gets missed out.
• 16:05
  Cathi Spooner: If you take encouragement from the fact that like just get a few from each category, your clients will get what they need, then that'll help take some pressure off so that you can see how your clients are using the miniatures that you have.
• 16:25
  Cathi Spooner: And then kind of see where you may want to expand next with your miniatures.
• 16:32
  Cathi Spooner: So that, at least in my mind, will hopefully take some pressure off trying to feel like you have to get everything all at once.
• 16:43
  Cathi Spooner: Okay, so I have full disclosure if you've listened to any of my previous livestream episodes or or watch the replays or listen to the podcast.
• 16:55
  Cathi Spooner: You will know that I have two dogs And my husband just left for work And now my dogs are in the, the room with me.
• 17:07
  Cathi Spooner: They like to come hang out in here with me.
• 17:09
  Cathi Spooner: So what does that mean for you guys?
• 17:11
  Cathi Spooner: And why, why would I tell you I have dogs other than they're super cute?
• 17:16
  Cathi Spooner: They like to dig in the carpet or they make these roll around on the carpet and make these.
• 17:23
  Cathi Spooner: moany sounds that if you, if you don't know they're in their room, it may sound like I'm, I'm doing something questionable in the background.
• 17:34
  Cathi Spooner: So I have, I have Luna to the right of me.
• 17:39
  Cathi Spooner: She's about ready to start rolling around and moaning.
• 17:42
  Cathi Spooner: And Lily's gonna, she's my little dog.
• 17:44
  Cathi Spooner: Lily's going to walk in and out.
• 17:47
  Cathi Spooner: So if you hear any strange, that's good, Karen, because they're so far, they're a little quiet.
• 17:53
  Cathi Spooner: Okay.
• 17:53
  Cathi Spooner: Luna's about ready to get kind of noisy.
• 17:56
  Cathi Spooner: I can see her starting to get ready to roll around.
• 18:00
  Cathi Spooner: And sometimes if you're watching the video, sometimes you can see them walking, you'll see Luna, you'll see her little tail kind of in the background in some of my videos.
• 18:11
  Cathi Spooner: It's really funny.
• 18:13
  Cathi Spooner: Anyways, So just, just be aware.
• 18:18
  Cathi Spooner: The next thing that I think is helpful to think about when you're working on building your sand tray miniature collection, and you're kind of worried about finances time, it can be a little overwhelming thinking about how much money you're spending creating your sand tray miniature collection.
• 18:45
  Cathi Spooner: If you're a play therapist, that'll include your playroom.
• 18:48
  Cathi Spooner: It'll feel a little overwhelming.
• 18:51
  Cathi Spooner: So I'm all about trying to save money and save time.
• 18:59
  Cathi Spooner: And so here are some tips that I have shared.
• 19:04
  Cathi Spooner: I share these all the time in my sand tray miniature collection.
• 19:08
  Cathi Spooner: Um, in my sand tray trainings.
• 19:11
  Cathi Spooner: And I also have a PDF.
• 19:14
  Cathi Spooner: So if you want to hop over to my website, I have a whole free PDF on the categories and some tips.
• 19:23
  Cathi Spooner: My one of one of the places I love getting sand tray miniatures to me, it's a little bit like going on a treasure hunt.
• 19:35
  Cathi Spooner: When I go to the secondhand stores or thrift shops, we're in the summertime now.
• 19:42
  Cathi Spooner: So this is prime yard sale season where you can I have found so many good miniatures and sand in yard sales.
• 19:55
  Cathi Spooner: So here in the United States, we call them yard sales or garage sales.
• 20:00
  Cathi Spooner: My husband's from the northeast in the United States.
• 20:02
  Cathi Spooner: So in his yard, his neck of the woods, they called them tag sales because you put tags on your, your item.
• 20:10
  Cathi Spooner: So for those of you outside of the United States, this is where we, we sell our used things, things that we don't want anymore.
• 20:19
  Cathi Spooner: We, we sell them really, really cheap.
• 20:23
  Cathi Spooner: So the idea is one man's one person's junk is another person's treasure.
• 20:28
  Cathi Spooner: And when it comes to sand tray miniatures, It is a treasure hunt.
• 20:34
  Cathi Spooner: Um, I have gotten some good stuff at yard sales.
• 20:39
  Cathi Spooner: One of the funny stories I like to tell all the time is, so I was a little bit obsessed with building my sand tray miniature collection in, uh, you can't see my miniatures now cause I, I moved my, my sand tray training location to another place.
• 20:59
  Cathi Spooner: So, but if you watch some of my previous live streams where you'll see all my sand tray miniatures behind me, I have, I have a lot, uh, which is nice when I'm doing trainings cause then people have lots of access.
• 21:12
  Cathi Spooner: But anyway, so back when I was still working on building my sand tray miniature collection for like 15 years, I was super obsessed.
• 21:20
  Cathi Spooner: I'm still kind of obsessed, but I, I make myself behave now cause I really am running out of shelf space.
• 21:27
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so this is when my kids were little and you know, it, I don't know those of you in the United States, sometimes your whole neighborhood they'll do yard sales.
• 21:37
  Cathi Spooner: And so, uh, my neighborhood at the time was having a yard sale and my, my youngest son, I think he was like nine at the time, maybe.
• 21:47
  Cathi Spooner: He and his little buddy were each selling their toys.
• 21:52
  Cathi Spooner: So my son was selling his toys in our yard, our garage sale, yard sale space.
• 21:59
  Cathi Spooner: And his buddy down the street was selling at his space.
• 22:03
  Cathi Spooner: And he was like, mom, mom, you have to go.
• 22:06
  Cathi Spooner: My friend, you know, his friend's name.
• 22:10
  Cathi Spooner: He's selling his toys.
• 22:11
  Cathi Spooner: You really want to go mom because he's got some good ones.
• 22:13
  Cathi Spooner: You're going to want to buy them.
• 22:15
  Cathi Spooner: So I'm thinking, okay, so I go down there.
• 22:19
  Cathi Spooner: I probably, I, I bought that child out.
• 22:23
  Cathi Spooner: I, I probably say this is a yard sale.
• 22:25
  Cathi Spooner: So things are like a dollar here and there.
• 22:28
  Cathi Spooner: I, I probably spent like 40.
• 22:31
  Cathi Spooner: That kid hit the jackpot with me.
• 22:34
  Cathi Spooner: I must have bought all his miniatures.
• 22:37
  Cathi Spooner: He had good ones.
• 22:39
  Cathi Spooner: So you can those yard sales and now it's the summer season.
• 22:43
  Cathi Spooner: This is a great time to go to yard sales and get some miniature collection.
• 22:52
  Cathi Spooner: Things for your miniature collection.
• 22:53
  Cathi Spooner: People selling their Christmas village Um, items, you know, you can have this Christmas villages with fences and trees and houses and lights.
• 23:06
  Cathi Spooner: And nowadays we also have the Halloween villages.
• 23:11
  Cathi Spooner: There's in Michael's, which is a kind of a craft store here in the U.
• 23:15
  Cathi Spooner: S.
• 23:16
  Cathi Spooner: They sell like these fairy villages.
• 23:19
  Cathi Spooner: So people getting rid of those.
• 23:21
  Cathi Spooner: It's a great time to get some miniatures.
• 23:25
  Cathi Spooner: So yard sales, secondhand stores.
• 23:28
  Cathi Spooner: I've gotten some really good kind of, um, unique super cheap items.
• 23:35
  Cathi Spooner: I also got tons of little houses from secondhand stores.
• 23:40
  Cathi Spooner: The other thing is you can purchase like the kits, like you get these kits with animals, like farm animals, and it'll come with fences and trees or jungle animals.
• 23:52
  Cathi Spooner: It'll come with trees and.
• 23:54
  Cathi Spooner: Lots of different kinds of animals.
• 23:56
  Cathi Spooner: That's really nice.
• 23:57
  Cathi Spooner: So you could get those at here in the United States.
• 24:00
  Cathi Spooner: We have like Walmart or Target or dollar stores or the 5 dollar store you can get them super cheap.
• 24:09
  Cathi Spooner: The only thing that you have to think about when you get the, kits, especially they're really inexpensive one is sometimes they don't stand up very well.
• 24:18
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so if you're trying to display them on your shelves, they can fall over a lot.
• 24:24
  Cathi Spooner: That's just one, one kind of thing but you can, you can figure out how to arrange those so that it works out okay.
• 24:33
  Cathi Spooner: Um, the other thing is it in the in the fall here in the United States we're going to have Halloween and usually the craft stores in different places will have those Halloween collections, Halloween town, they start putting out Christmas town.
• 24:51
  Cathi Spooner: So if you go Um, you can shop during shopping during those holiday times.
• 24:55
  Cathi Spooner: If you can usually get items or that are kind of representative of that season.
• 25:02
  Cathi Spooner: So, for example, when you're looking at those Halloween towns, it's a great time to get tombstones and little coffins and, um, in, in Michaels, I'm sure some of the other craft stores as well over, you can get the little wooden coffins that are not painted, but you can open them and they're like a really good size to put things in.
• 25:31
  Cathi Spooner: And I think they're like a dollar.
• 25:33
  Cathi Spooner: They're so inexpensive that it's a really good time to get those.
• 25:39
  Cathi Spooner: Um, the other thing is, asking friends and family, uh, you know, when they're, they're getting rid of their kids toys, they have, you know, you have to explain to them what it is that you're asking for, what it is that you need.
• 25:56
  Cathi Spooner: Be really specific and just say, you know, these, these are the only things that I need.
• 26:01
  Cathi Spooner: I don't need everything.
• 26:03
  Cathi Spooner: So if you have these great, something like this, that would be awesome.
• 26:09
  Cathi Spooner: If not, then, you know, don't worry about it.
• 26:15
  Cathi Spooner: Otherwise, you're going to get inundated with things that you don't need, and then you'll be taking them off to the second hand store yourself.
• 26:24
  Cathi Spooner: When my kids were little, every six months, we went through all their toys.
• 26:30
  Cathi Spooner: We had three piles.
• 26:31
  Cathi Spooner: We had toys that I want to keep.
• 26:35
  Cathi Spooner: toys that I'm going to donate to mom and toys that we're going to donate to the second hand store or some or something like that.
• 26:46
  Cathi Spooner: So I got a lot of good toys from my kids.
• 26:51
  Cathi Spooner: So that was awesome.
• 26:54
  Cathi Spooner: So those are some things to think about.
• 26:56
  Cathi Spooner: Just some ways to save money so it's not overwhelming when you're getting started.
• 27:03
  Cathi Spooner: So those are my tips for today.
• 27:06
  Cathi Spooner: But let me let me do a quick re recap.
• 27:10
  Cathi Spooner: One is getting started building your sand tray miniature collection can be really overwhelming, especially financially.
• 27:21
  Cathi Spooner: Don't get discouraged.
• 27:23
  Cathi Spooner: When you're working with kids.
• 27:25
  Cathi Spooner: It's really the best way to the best to kind of focus on what they, what their needs are, what their interests are.
• 27:34
  Cathi Spooner: Nowadays, you know, the new, um, Inside Out 2 movie has come out.
• 27:40
  Cathi Spooner: So they're the, the new, uh, inside out miniature characters are now for sale.
• 27:47
  Cathi Spooner: The likelihood those will be useful.
• 27:49
  Cathi Spooner: Those are good even for adults.
• 27:51
  Cathi Spooner: Adolescents.
• 27:52
  Cathi Spooner: Those are good ones.
• 27:53
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so think about the issues also that your client population is typically experiencing and start there.
• 28:04
  Cathi Spooner: Just start with Um, a few items from each category.
• 28:11
  Cathi Spooner: I always say starting with animals, any kind of animals is always a good idea.
• 28:17
  Cathi Spooner: Children will use animals in a variety of ways.
• 28:20
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so start small and build from there.
• 28:26
  Cathi Spooner: Start with a few items from each category.
• 28:31
  Cathi Spooner: In your man, uh, sand tray miniature collection, you can start with, you know, get a starter kit and then build from there.
• 28:40
  Cathi Spooner: Or you can go and get a few miniatures from each category.
• 28:47
  Cathi Spooner: And just start small.
• 28:49
  Cathi Spooner: Your clients will get what they need.
• 28:52
  Cathi Spooner: And then the, the third thing is just some money saving tips, money saving, time saving.
• 29:01
  Cathi Spooner: Go ask friends and families.
• 29:04
  Cathi Spooner: Be very specific though.
• 29:06
  Cathi Spooner: Um, otherwise you'll get way too many things.
• 29:08
  Cathi Spooner: There are some, um, money saving ways that are not going to overwhelm you financially.
• 29:17
  Cathi Spooner: Summertime is a great time to go to the yard sales and see what's available.
• 29:25
  Cathi Spooner: It's kind of like a treasure hunt.
• 29:26
  Cathi Spooner: It's kind of fun.
• 29:27
  Cathi Spooner: Um, shop seasonally like the Halloween town, the Christmas town shop at the second hand stores, buy the kits where you can get a bunch of them all together.
• 29:42
  Cathi Spooner: So that, that will at least help you get started.
• 29:47
  Cathi Spooner: So that is it for today.
• 29:50
  Cathi Spooner: If you're interested, so, um, in learning what to do.
• 29:55
  Cathi Spooner: So it's great to get your collection and get that started.
• 30:00
  Cathi Spooner: Knowing what to do with them to me is also key.
• 30:04
  Cathi Spooner: So now that you have your sand tray miniature collection, you have your sand tray.
• 30:09
  Cathi Spooner: What do you do with that?
• 30:10
  Cathi Spooner: How do you figure out what your clients are representing in their sand tray.
• 30:18
  Cathi Spooner: How do you know how to make sense of it?
• 30:21
  Cathi Spooner: Recognize the themes, understand what those themes mean?
• 30:26
  Cathi Spooner: And then what do you do with that?
• 30:28
  Cathi Spooner: What do you say?
• 30:30
  Cathi Spooner: What do you not say with your clients in order to effectively process what it is they are working through?
• 30:39
  Cathi Spooner: So that that unconscious because a lot of times they're not consciously gonna be aware of the depth of what's going on, especially when you're working with kids, because then you're helping them access those therapeutic powers of play.
• 30:57
  Cathi Spooner: And what do you do to help them work through whatever it is that they're working through?
• 31:04
  Cathi Spooner: And to me, that's where good sand tray training can be a game changer.
• 31:11
  Cathi Spooner: I know it was for me.
• 31:12
  Cathi Spooner: Um, prior to taking the training, I felt lost, overwhelmed and did not feel good about what I was doing.
• 31:22
  Cathi Spooner: I didn't feel like I was using, using it effectively.
• 31:25
  Cathi Spooner: Once I went to that sand tray training, it was a game changer.
• 31:29
  Cathi Spooner: I had a place to start.
• 31:31
  Cathi Spooner: I knew how to make sense of things and it made a real difference in the work that I was doing with clients as well.
• 31:40
  Cathi Spooner: So I have, uh, an in person sand tray training this month, um, July 20 and 21.
• 31:50
  Cathi Spooner: I am here in, the training's gonna be in southern Utah.
• 31:55
  Cathi Spooner: It's beautiful there.
• 31:57
  Cathi Spooner: So if you're interested in the training, it's called Sand Tray with Play the, uh, Sand Tray in Play Therapy with Children and Adolescents.
• 32:07
  Cathi Spooner: You can pop over to my website at RH play therapy training.com.
• 32:14
  Cathi Spooner: Go to the courses page, and then you'll, I have some other.
• 32:18
  Cathi Spooner: courses on, on my website.
• 32:21
  Cathi Spooner: If you're interested in the sand tray training, you'll want to look for the training that is Sand Tray in Play Therapy with Children and Adolescents.
• 32:31
  Cathi Spooner: I also have the free resource.
• 32:34
  Cathi Spooner: If you want to pop over to the free resources page, you can see where I have a free PDF for sand tray miniatures plus some other ones on there if you're interested.
• 32:46
  Cathi Spooner: And I will see you next time.
• 32:49
  Cathi Spooner: Bye for now.
• 32:54
  Cathi Spooner: Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 32:58
  Cathi Spooner: I hope you found the discussion valuable and gain new insights and ideas to support your work helping children, adolescents, and families heal.
• 33:08
  Cathi Spooner: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
• 33:13
  Cathi Spooner: Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
• 33:19
  Cathi Spooner: Remember play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
• 33:24
  Cathi Spooner: Whether you're a new play therapist or experienced, I encourage you to continue your learning journey to unlock the potential of play in your own work and relationships.
• 33:35
  Cathi Spooner: If you have any questions or topics, suggestions for future episodes, I'd love to hear from you.
• 33:42
  Cathi Spooner: Connect with me on social media and visit my website at Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training to stay updated on upcoming episodes, trainings, and resources.
• 33:55
  Cathi Spooner: Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 33:58
  Cathi Spooner: Until next time, keep playing, learning, and growing.