6.5K Users Enrolled

Play TherapyCourse

Empower children to express, heal, and grow—through the transformative power of play.

Whether you're a teacher, parent, wellness practitioner, or someone considering a career supporting children’s emotional wellbeing, the Play Therapy Diploma Course offers a comprehensive introduction to this child-centred therapeutic approach.

Designed to deepen your understanding of how play can facilitate communication, build trust, and support emotional development, this course explores key techniques and principles used in non-clinical play-based support.

Course overview:

Certified

Accredited

9 Modules

Study Group Access

Earn reward points

What Will You Learn?

From encouraging emotional expression to helping children develop resilience, this course explores how play can be used as a powerful tool to support mental and emotional wellbeing.

In this inspiring course, you’ll explore the fundamentals of play therapy, uncovering its goals, rich history, and the theoretical foundations that guide this powerful approach. You’ll learn why play is often considered a child’s natural language—a unique and meaningful way for children to express emotions, navigate challenges, and solve problems.

As you progress, you’ll gain a deep understanding of how play-based techniques can support a child’s emotional regulation, resilience, communication, social interaction, confidence, and self-esteem. Through real-world applications and carefully designed lessons, you’ll see how therapeutic play nurtures core developmental skills in a safe and creative way.

This course introduces a variety of play therapy techniques such as sensory play, creative expression, role-play, storytelling, dramatic play, arts and crafts, sand tray, and symbolic play. You’ll also learn how to create a safe, supportive, and developmentally appropriate environment where children feel empowered to explore and express themselves freely.

You’ll delve into how play therapy can be especially helpful for children navigating trauma, stress, anxiety, grief, or developmental difficulties. The course offers insight into how children may respond to emotional or traumatic experiences and how to foster emotional safety and trust. You'll discover the importance of empathy, clear boundaries, and emotional attunement when working with children, ensuring your approach is compassionate and effective.

As part of your learning journey, you’ll also explore key elements of child psychology, including how self-esteem and emotional intelligence evolve through play. The course introduces essential psychological theories that form the basis of play therapy and explains how these insights can inform your practice.

You’ll gain vital knowledge on professional and ethical considerations when supporting children, including safeguarding and child protection awareness. Real-life case studies will help you apply theory to practice, while expert guidance will show you how to set up your own practice confidently and safely, always staying within your scope of knowledge.

Whether you're beginning your journey or deepening your existing skills, this course empowers you to support children in a nurturing, creative, and informed way through the transformative power of play therapy.

Your Path to Becoming a Play Therapist

This course does not qualify you to practise as a licensed play therapist. For professional registration, further study through a recognised academic and clinical training programme is required. Information on next steps, if you wish to pursue a formal qualification or career as a licensed play therapist, is included within the course.

This course is ideal for complete beginners who are curious about the field of play therapy—whether you're considering a future career in this area or have a child attending play therapy and wish to better understand the process.

While a recognised postgraduate qualification is required to practise professionally as a registered play therapist, this course offers valuable foundational knowledge. It can help you explore the field, assess whether this path is right for you, and gain a deeper appreciation for the role of play in supporting emotional wellbeing.

By the end of the course, you’ll have a clearer understanding of what play therapy involves and be better equipped to take the next steps in your personal or professional development.

Play Therapy as a Career

To become a professionally registered play therapist in the UK, you will typically need to:

Complete an approved postgraduate qualification in play therapy
Be registered with a recognised body such as the British Association of Play Therapists (BAPT) or Play Therapy UK (PTUK)
Pass checks by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) (or equivalent in your region)

This introductory course does not qualify you to practise as a play therapist but serves as an accessible first step toward understanding the field and considering further study.

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Play Therapy: A History
Part 3: Why is Play Therapy Still Relevant?
Part 4: Key Elements Worth Knowing About
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 1 Assessment

Part 1: Advantages of Play Therapy
Part 2: Who Uses Play Therapy?
Part 3: Getting to Know Your Clients
Part 4: Becoming a Professional Play Therapist
Part 5: What to Do Next
Part 6: Summary
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 2 Assessment

Part 1: An Introduction to Types of Play Therapy
Part 2: Dramatic Role Playing as Therapy
Part 3: Art in Play Therapy
Part 4: Creating the Right Environment for Play Therapy
Part 5: Stories and Story Telling
Part 6: Sandpits and Creative Mosaics for Play Therapy
Part 7: Summary
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 3 Assessment

Part 1: What is Self-Esteem?
Part 2: Self-Esteem in Child Psychology
Part 3: Play Therapy for Improving Self-Esteem
Part 4: What Can the Parents Do?
Part 5: Your Role as a Play Therapist
Part 6: How to Provide Therapy for Self-Esteem
Part 7: Techniques Used in Play Therapy
Part 8: Summary
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 4 Assessment

Part 1: What Constitutes a Traumatic Experience for Your Client?
Part 2: Advantages of Play Therapy for Those Who Suffer from Trauma
Part 3: What is Effective Therapy?
Part 4: Summary
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 5 Assessment

Part 1: Research Endeavours in Play Therapy
Part 2: Efficacy and Effectiveness
Part 3: Current Scope of Play Therapy
Part 4: Variety of Symptoms
Part 5: Why Play Therapy is Safe and Effective
Part 6: Summary
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 6 Assessment

Part 1: Things to Do
Part 2: Things to Avoid
Part 3: Summary
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 7 Assessment

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Children Referred with Highly Disruptive Behaviour
Part 3: Case Results for Anton
Part 4: Case Results for Berto
Part 5: Play Therapist Case Studies
Part 6: Summary
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 8 Assessment

Part 1: What Did We Learn?
Part 2: Next Steps
Part 3: Summary
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 9 Assessment

The Play Therapy Course will take you up to 150 hours to complete, working from home. There is no time limit for completing this course, it can be studied in your own time at your own pace.

This is a Level 3 course and will give you 150 CPD (Continued Professional Development) points.

Upon completion of your course assessments, you receive 2 certificates. A certificate from the Centre of Excellence and a CPD certificate displaying the number of CPD points earned from the course.

Many Centre of Excellence courses are Fully Accredited by the world’s leading professional membership association for natural medicine – The Complementary Medical Association (The CMA).

You can apply to join The CMA as a Student Member while you are still studying, and if you do so, you will be eligible to use the post-nominal letters CMA after your name.

Upon graduation from a qualifying course, you will be eligible to apply for CMA Membership, and this will give you numerous professional benefits, including being able to use the letters MCMA after your name – Member of The Complementary Medical Association. This will demonstrate your commitment to excellence and professionalism in the natural healthcare field.

Register with The CMA as a Student or fully qualified Practitioner via the CMA website. You will be asked to submit your certificate of graduation and proof of insurance.

The CMA’s recommended insurers are Westminster global.

This course is endorsed by the Quality Licence Scheme. Therefore, upon successful completion of this course, learners can also receive a certificate of achievement from Quality Licence Scheme and a Learner Unit Summary, which lists the details of all the units the learner has completed as part of the course. (This certificate is optional and costs an additional £25).

The Quality Licence Scheme is part of the Skills and Education Group, a charitable organisation that unites education and skills-orientated organisations that share similar values and objectives. With more than 100 years of collective experience, the Skills and Education Group’s strategic partnerships create opportunities to inform, influence and represent the wider education and skills sector.

The Skills and Education Group also includes two nationally recognised awarding organisations; Skills and Education Group Awards and Skills and Education Group Access. Through their awarding organisations they have developed a reputation for providing high-quality qualifications and assessments for the education and skills sector. They are committed to helping employers, organisations and learners cultivate the relevant skills for learning, skills for employment, and skills for life.

Their knowledge and experience of working within the awarding sector enables them to work with training providers, through the Quality Licence Scheme, to help them develop high-quality courses and/or training programmes for the non-regulated market.

Accredited courses trusted by
millions worldwide

FAQs

There is no time limit for completing your course it can be studied in your own time at your own pace.

All of our courses vary in length but most of our courses will take you between 50 - 250 hours to complete. The length of this course can be found in the Accreditations section above.

Once purchased your course is located in your Learning Centre on our website. Please log in using the same email address that you used when you purchased your course.

You can purchase a printed copy of your course materials at the checkout or from within your Learning Centre at any time after purchasing your course.