Therapeutic Art PlayProgram
Creative spaces
for wellbeing and learning.
Informed by visual artworking,
art therapy practices, and education.
The TAP program is run and uses materials gathered from Aboriginal lands of the Eora nation, never ceded.
Agency, Creativity, and Care
Wellbeing and Learning
Therapeutic Art Play (TAP) is a transformative program blending visual arts, pedagogy, and art therapy. Founded in 2019, TAP creates an art-working space where agency and creativity flourish. Our principles and practices, were explored in award winning research in 2022, and have evolved into flexible frameworks that cater to participants in primary schools, OOSH programs, adult educational settings, and educational art therapy with private clients.
Meet the Facilitator
Georgia Freebody is a artist, teacher and art therapist local to the inner-west of Sydney, Australia. Georgia is passionate about facilitating creative spaces for the wellbeing of learners of all ages.
​Georgia has over 17 years teaching experience (with a focus on early education and the primary school art curriculum). She holds a professional registration as an art therapist with ANZACATA. Georgia is a visual artist and holds a current WWCC. The TAP program has a material risk assessment (updated biannually) and is run in accordance with the policies of the educational institutions and the ethical guidelines of ANZACATA.
Georgia's research study on Therapeutic Art Play won the Western Sydney medal of academic achievement for 2024. She works closely with children, teachers, family, and community to provide art working spaces for care and creativity. Georgia is currently crafting a highly skilled team of artist facilitators to enable TAP to move into more and different settings.
What is the TAP Program
The TAP program creates visual arts spaces to play, no matter how that play manifests.
All play is welcome.
TAP is an open-ended, self-directed, art play space allowing for multi disciplinary experiential learning.
Students, staff, teachers, and the facilitator make art together creating a space for communication, understanding, problem-solving, the development of skills for collaboration and reflection.
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The facilitator meets with children, teachers, and staff, taking cues from their interests, play, and programs.
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Mindfully sourced materials are brought into the space to create an invitation to play.
The infants/toddlers/children/adults touch, manoeuvre, and interact with the art materials. They drag their fingers through the sand, water, leaves, they squeeze and push the clay, making their marks and noticing their interactions with the world around them.
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As we art work together we create bonds and empathy, we solve problems, build resilience and process experiences.
Reflecting with each other and the facilitator develops critically reflective skills and all this is supported by the reflective reports made by the TAP facilitator and delivered on your unique web portal.
These reflective reports are fine tuned to your needs and can contain:
- · a naturalistic observation or ‘learning story’,
- · quotes or voices of the participants, (wordclouds or descriptions of communications).
- · links to the Learning outcomes, or the principals of the EYLF,
- · ideas for extension,
- · questions for critical reflection, and
- · photographs from the artworking experience.
Services Provided
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Therapeutic Art Play workshop (individual, group, or class: in class with teaching/learning team).
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Sourcing and prepping materials.
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Travel (to and from site)
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Meeting, team training and development (workshops in-service and planning),
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Reflective reports on workshops
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Social media management, programming
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Exhibition organization and curation, meetings towards:
idea generation.
concept development.
design development
Post-opening activities (flyer design, online, social media, and community invites, didactics, house-sheet).
Curation, installation,
deinstallation.
Pricing and fine tuning the TAP Program for you
A core characteristic of TAP Program is that it is creative in how it can be flexible and fine tuned to fit the specific needs of each different setting. An initial, complimentary consultation acts to establish how we can meet your needs with therapeutic art play, these insights would lead to a quote being provided.
Early Learning
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When working in infant and toddler rooms, often the attention is on sensory experiences and exploration. Participants can drift quickly into and out of the invitation to play rapidly. Facilitating an invitation to play that can be revisited or accessed repeatedly for short periods can be valuable. Through repeat exposure to the invitation, materials, or playspace, children feel safe and build expertise.
​It can be energising, validating, and exciting for students to artwork and be in a creative flow state together. This can be powerful when teachers take part in artworking, displaying vulnerability and creative processing. Even more profoundly for infants and very young children, witnessing primary care givers interacting with materials enables security and safety. When adults artwork attuned with infants it can provide them with opportunities to bond, building an empathic connection and understanding of the capacities and sensory experiences of the children in their care. This also provides opportunity to develop reflexive and critically reflective teaching practices
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Primary Schools
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​TAP can move creative artworking into before school, recess, lunchtime, afterschool with groups resembling ’art clubs’ (this is a space to allow for autonomy and self initiated, intrinsically motivated, ongoing projects) TAP can move into classrooms and work with whole class teaching/learning groups (these often look and feel like ‘art lessons’, however with little or no directives and a focus on process-art, these have overview and introduction to materials or technique, time to artwork, and then ‘exhibition’ and reflective overview. TAP also provides primary settings with the option for drop in studio spaces.
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Out Of School Hours
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OOSH can be very welcoming to TAP Participants, having been at school all day, are often ready for self initiated art working. The art materials provide a sensory, embodied focus and with the practice of rituals of respect to contain the artworking, a culture of agency and autonomy can be quickly established. TAP in OOSH feels like one large artclub allowing for drift and ongoing projects. At times one large invitation to play splits into small pods of different materials. Children and staff accessing materials and making spaces for themselves to artwork is empowering when held and encouraged by the facilitator.
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Adult learning
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TAP is currently informing workshops for pre-service teachers​ in Primary and Early Childhood enabling future teachers to facilitate spaces for autonomy and creativity for their students. With a layered focus on the development of well being and learning, as well as a focus on facilitating spaces for well being and learning using visual arts. Using an invitation to play with a progressive introduction of materials to highlight change provide agency, encourage deeply noticing, kickstart an embodied sensory response, and illustrate the experience of change and material agency.
Private clients
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Small groups or family workshops of Therapeutic Art Play can enhance our learning skills and develop our strategies for well being, with the added bonus of fun, joyful, sensory experiences for bonding understanding, empathy and connection.
These sessions, while still open ended, can be focused on problem solving, building resilience, freedom to choose and play, space to notice deeply and reflect, and the nurturing of collaborative skills and sharing and building ideas
Workshops
Testimonials
Amanda Niland
Georgia is a wonderful artist, therapist and educator. Her sessions are so much fun for children and adults, and such a safe space to be yourself. Georgia's creativity inspires everyone to dive in, play and make art
​Natasha Beaumont
​Georgia is a remarkable therapeutic arts practitioner with deep expertise in the visual arts. She guides young people's exploration of the visual arts with gentle humour and an open, accepting and highly intuitive approach. My students rave about her classes. Highly recommend!
​Sharon Alexander
I am thrilled to share my experience with Georgia Freebody, who has made a remarkable impact since starting her art play program at our centre in Lilyfield. Her innovative approach has truly transformed our overall curriculum, seamlessly aligning with our centre’s philosophy and pedagogical methods.
Georgia's dedication is evident not only in her program implementation but also in her ability to curate three consecutive and highly successful art exhibitions within our local community. These events served as a beautiful showcase of our children's artwork, allowing their creativity to shine and engaging the community in a meaningful way.
What sets Georgia apart is her kindness, dedication and compassion. She is incredibly easy to work with and fosters an environment where creativity flourishes. Her focus on the children's individual needs and her commitment to helping them achieve their overall outcomes is inspiring. She is a strong advocate for our children as well as our teaching teams and personally I have grown a great deal as an early childhood educator post my collaboration with Georgia.
I highly recommend Georgia Freebody to any organization looking to enhance their art programs and enrich the lives of children through creative expression. Her artistic vision and nurturing spirit make her an invaluable asset to any educational setting.
​Georgia Frew
​Having watched Georgia facilitate her Therapeutic Art Play Program over the course of a term in an OOSH setting, I can confidently say that all children involved were positively impacted by her warmth, encouragement and support. She created a safe space for all kinds of playful expression and championed whatever direction the children chose to explore. You could tell immediately that she was attentive and invested in every young artist and was always striving to create a positive environment for everyone around her.
Georgia Freebody
0413329981
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TAP Program |Georgia Freebody 2024 | Do Not Copy
