About ten minutes if useful. Pause, repeat, change or finish anytime.
Say this, or use your own words
Where could our tiny visitor stay?
More words, only if useful: Something tiny has arrived. Where could it stay? You can make a place, tell me about one, or show me what to draw. It could be a cave, a room in the clouds, or somewhere nobody has thought of yet. Shall we start with one part?
Ready in a moment
A blank page, the empty play-board aid, or no materials. An adult can be the maker. No small loose toy is needed.
A loose play path
- 0–2 minutes: Offer the invitation once. Wait for a choice, including a different idea or no play today. Ask whether the visitor wants a place to rest, play or something else; do not assign its needs for the child.
- 2–5 minutes: Make one chosen part. A mark can be a doorway, a named patch can be a room, or a spoken description can make the whole place. Ask permission before adding adult marks.
- 5–8 minutes: Invite the visitor into that imagined part. Ask one useful question: ‘How does it know this is its place?’ Follow the child's answer into play rather than testing the name of a shape.
- 8–10 minutes: Offer keep, change or finish. If another start would be fun later, keep the page only with the child's agreement; a story can be remembered without taking a photo.
Choose the useful route
- Draw or arrange: Use one broad mark on a flat page for a place. A child might put a doorway beside a sleeping patch, then trace an imagined arrival with a finger. Make it as simple as they choose; there is no required number of rooms, marks or characters.
- Tell, sign or point: Offer two spoken place ideas, or two large drawings the adult names, with ‘your own place’ available. The child's established sign, AAC or clear point can choose. Confirm the meaning gently; the adult then follows that exact direction and names their own making help.
- Small start or no materials: Sit comfortably and imagine just one resting spot. Say ‘I can be the visitor; where shall I wait?’ Act only in the pretend story, without moving into the child's personal space. One choice followed by a quiet stop is a useful play start.
Two ideas to borrow or change
- Transport: A child invents a bus waiting room for a round visitor. A line becomes its door; the adult asks where it waits and uses the child's named patch. This is a made-up bus place, not a trip the child actually took.
- Space: The visitor wants a cloud room with a dark quiet corner. The child points to an empty part and asks the adult to leave it blank. A deliberately chosen empty place can carry meaning; untouched space alone does not tell us what they chose.
Notice, then choose the next move
Notice an actual choice and how the child communicates its meaning. If the adult supplied the whole place, invite a smaller choice next time; do not record adult invention as the child's.
Later, with or without this session: Return to this place if available, or start a fresh one. Ask ‘Who might visit?’ No remembered first session is needed.
More play, only if wanted: Invite another willing play partner to make a separate visitor. Agree whether the two places connect; sharing is optional.
Optional aid: A place of my own · exact text alternative
Adult intention: Give an imagined place a purpose and make one child-owned choice.
All starts · Parent guide · Play helper · Sources and limits
© NeuroForgeIO Pty Ltd 2026 · CC BY 4.0. Adapt freely with credit.