Play therapy toy list
The three playroom toy categories behind the UNT Center for Play Therapy list, with real picks for each, plus books for therapists.
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Where this list comes from
The University of North Texas Center for Play Therapy publishes a recommended toy list for playrooms. Its playroom page sorts toys into three broad categories, adapted from Garry Landreth’s textbook Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship (4th edition).
The Center’s reminder, quoting Landreth, is that toys “should be selected, not collected.” Its criteria favor toys that are durable, simple, and easy to operate, and a room that stays orderly and predictable.
The picks below are one real product for many of the items the list names. Therapist Toys is not affiliated with UNT, and the Center does not endorse any product here.
The categories
- Real-life & nurturing: doll families, a dollhouse, a baby bottle, puppets, animal families, cars, play money and a cash register, kitchen food, a medical kit, and a phone.
- Acting-out & aggressive release: a bop bag, toy soldiers, scary or aggressive puppets and animals such as an alligator or shark, a rubber knife, a foam sword, and handcuffs.
- Creative expression & emotional release: sand, water, paints, craft materials, clay, musical instruments, a magic wand, and dress-up clothes.
- Books for therapists: Landreth’s own text and other play therapy books.
Real-life & nurturing
11 picksToys that stand for things in a child’s real world: families, homes, food, money, doctors, and phones.
Beverly Hills
Sweet Li’l Family Bendable Dollhouse Figures (set of 9)
Grandparents, parents, a boy, a girl, a toddler, and twin babies. Heads, arms, and legs bend and pose; 1:12 scale.
Beverly Hills Doll Collection
African American Family, 9-Piece Dollhouse Set
Grandpa, grandma, dad, mom, brother, sister, toddler, and twin babies, with movable heads, arms, and legs.
Melissa & Doug
Mine to Love Baby Food & Bottle Play Set
8-piece doll feeding set: disappearing milk and orange-juice bottles, a bib, a divided dish, and pretend food.
Fun Express
Multicultural Hand Puppets, set of 8 (14 in)
Set of eight 14-inch plush puppets with working mouths, embroidered faces, and sewn-on clothing.
Small Police Officer Puppet
9-inch hand puppet with a working mouth, sewn-on clothes, an embroidered face, and yarn hair.
ValeforToy
54-Piece Mini Wild Animal Figures
32 different wild animals about 2.2 in tall, plus fences, grass, and a palm tree.
Green Toys
Dump Truck
Toy dump truck with a working dumper and no metal axles; made from recycled plastic milk containers. Dishwasher safe.
Learning Resources
Pretend & Play Calculator Cash Register
Toy register with a solar calculator, a drawer that rings, a card scanner, and a receipt pad; 73-piece set with a play credit card.
Learning Resources
Farmer’s Market Color Sorting Set
25 play fruits and vegetables in 5 colors, with 5 sorting baskets.
Melissa & Doug
Get Well Doctor Kit (25 pieces)
Stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, thermometer, syringe, hearing tester, and more, stored in a tote.
Mentari
Wooden Mobile Phone
Solid-wood pretend phone with 12 squishy buttons and a wrist cord.
Acting-out & aggressive release
5 picksUNT’s list names toys that let a child show anger or fear safely. (The list also includes non-realistic toy guns in colored plastic; this page leaves them out.)
JOYIN
Inflatable Bopper, 47 in (2-pack)
Two inflatable punching bags that bounce back; the base is filled with water to keep them upright.
BMC Toys
Classic Plastic Army Men (40 pieces)
40 olive-drab soldier figures, up to 2.5 in tall. Made in the USA.
Folkmanis
Shark Hand Puppet
Plush shark hand puppet, 22 × 6 × 5 in.
Folkmanis
Gray Wolf Hand Puppet
Plush gray wolf hand puppet, 22 × 8 × 11 in, with a movable mouth.
Liberty Imports
Foam Swords (8-pack)
Eight soft EVA-foam swords, about 17 in long, with rounded tips.
Creative expression & emotional release
6 picksOpen-ended materials a child can shape and reshape: sand, clay, paint, and instruments.
Play Therapy Supply
Basic Wooden Sand Tray with Lid
Exterior 19.5 × 28.5 × 3.5 in; knot-free solid pine with dovetail corners and a stay-in-place lid; handmade in the USA. Holds about 25 lb of sand. Recommended for dry use only.
Sandtastik
Sparkling White Sand, 25 lb
Sparkling white play sand, 25 lb (11.3 kg).
Play Therapy Supply
Sandtray Play Therapy Basic Starter Kit (100+ pieces)
100+ miniatures, including two families, a knight set, two opening houses, a bridge, and a wishing well.
Kinetic Sand
Kinetic Sand, 2 lb
Moldable play sand that sticks to itself and doesn’t dry out.
Play-Doh
Modeling Compound, 10-pack
Ten 2-oz cans in ten colors. Contains wheat.
Crayola
Washable Kids Paint (6 count)
Washable project paint with resealable caps; washes off skin and most washable clothing.
Books for therapists
5 picksTexts on play therapy, starting with the book the categories come from.
Garry L. Landreth
Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship (4th edition)
Routledge paperback, 480 pages, on Child-Centered Play Therapy. The UNT toy categories above are adapted from this book.
Terry Kottman & Kristin K. Meany-Walen
Doing Play Therapy: From Building the Relationship to Facilitating Change
Guilford Press paperback, 394 pages. Covers the play therapy process from beginning to end across several approaches.
Rise VanFleet, Andrea E. Sywulak & Cynthia Caparosa Sniscak
Child-Centered Play Therapy
Guilford Press, 236 pages, on how to conduct nondirective, child-centered play therapy.
Amanda K. Crowder et al.
DBT, CBT, and Play Therapy Toolbox for Children and Adolescents
PESI paperback, 254 pages, with over 200 worksheets and activities.
Tracy Turner-Bumberry
2, 4, 6, 8 This Is How We Regulate
PESI paperback, 192 pages: 75 play therapy activities aimed at mindfulness and self-regulation.