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Preparation / Resource Clinical practice

Build a scene

Arrange figures in the sand. There is no right scene to make.

This is a reference tool, not a replacement for EMDR therapy. EMDR must be delivered by a trained clinician. If you are using these tools outside of therapy and become distressed, stop, ground yourself, and contact a mental health professional.

Keeps your choices. You can return to this guide at any time.

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Settings

Sound

Headphones needed for left-right separation.

Settings saved on this device

Choose a figure, then tap the sand to place it. Your scene stays only on this page. Save an image before leaving; the image cannot be reopened as an editable scene here.

Leave this scene?

The scene will not be saved when you leave. You can stay or save an image before leaving.

Keyboard controls: focus the canvas, then press Enter or Space to place a figure chosen from the palette at the center of the tray. With a figure selected, use the arrow keys to move it (hold Shift for larger steps), plus and minus to resize it, the square bracket keys to rotate it, Delete or Backspace to remove it, and Escape to deselect.

Sand:
Water:
Rock:
People
Animals
Objects
Home
Shelter & Symbols
Clinical sources

Clinical sources

Sandtray

What the evidence supports

Research on a complete therapy does not establish that an isolated activity or this website produces the same outcomes. EMDR includes assessment, preparation, memory work and follow-up with a trained clinician. Its mechanisms are still being studied.

These pages compile published sources. An independent clinical review of this site and a trial of its tools are not documented here. Labels describe the technique’s use context; they are not an efficacy certification.

VA: EMDR evidence and limitations · NICE: recommendations by age and context

  • Lowenfeld, M. (1939). The World Technique. Allen & Unwin — original sand play therapy framework.
  • Kalff, D. (1980). Sandplay: A Psychotherapeutic Approach to the Psyche. Sigo Press — Jungian sandplay development.
  • Homeyer, L. E., & Sweeney, D. S. (2016). Sandtray Therapy: A Practical Manual, 3rd ed. Routledge.
How to use this activity and clinical context

What this is

A digital sandtray you can use in the browser. Pick a figure from the palette — currently a small set of archetypal people and symbolic shelter objects — and tap the sand to place it. The figures are 3D models that sit on the sand surface; you can move them around, rotate the whole tray with two fingers to see from another angle, and build a scene that represents whatever feels important right now: how things feel, a memory, a worry, a safe place, something you can’t quite put into words.

Sandtray therapy has been used since the 1930s (Margaret Lowenfeld’s “World Technique”) and developed into Jungian sandplay by Dora Kalff. It’s particularly useful when words feel inadequate — for children, for traumatic material that’s hard to speak about, or when you just want to externalize something and look at it from the outside.

When to use it

  • Clinicians: As an expressive tool in Phase 2 preparation, or at any point when a client needs a non-verbal way in. A scene built, looked at, and discussed can surface material that interview would not. Useful for children, adolescents, and adults who describe themselves as “not good with words.”
  • Families: At home as a calming, creative activity. Let your child build a scene of their safe place, their family, their feelings today. You don’t have to interpret — sometimes the building is the therapy.

Clinical notes

Nothing you place is saved. When you close or refresh the page, the scene is gone — this is intentional. The process of choosing, placing, and arranging is the point, not a record.

The figure library is intentionally small in v1 — a handful of archetypal people and a few shelter/symbol objects from the open-source KayKit library. Traditional sandtray therapy relies on hundreds of physical miniatures across rich categorical variety (people, animals, nature, vehicles, mythological figures, etc.), and a physical tray remains the richer option for in-session clinical work. This digital version is most useful when a physical tray isn’t available — for home practice, telehealth, or quick scene-building — and the figure set will grow as we add more 3D models.

How to use it

  1. Carve the sand. Drag one finger across empty sand to press grooves into it. Real light catches the ridges so the sand feels tangible.
  2. Place a figure. Tap a figure button in the palette below the tray, then tap the sand where you want it. The figure lands as a small 3D model — a knight, a mage, a traveler, a treasure chest, a doorway — that you can arrange like a toy on a real sandtray.
  3. Move a figure. Drag any placed figure to slide it across the sand.
  4. Remove a figure. Double-tap (or double-click) it.
  5. Walk around the tray. Pinch-twist with two fingers to rotate the camera. The sand, the carvings, and the figures all rotate together — the tray turns, not the figures.
  6. Step back. Tap Step back to widen the view and see the whole tray from farther away. Tap it again to return.
  7. Level the sand. Tap Level the sand to reset the surface without removing figures.
  8. Clear everything. Tap Clear tray to remove all figures and level the sand.
  9. Save a picture. Tap Save image to download a PNG of the current tray.

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