More ways to connect. More room to explore.
Sometimes the best conversations begin with something unexpected.
Opening Play brings interactive games, creative exercises and guided Session Enhancements together in one place, giving therapists, counselors and coaches more ways to connect with teens and young adults. Whether you’re building rapport, exploring a challenge or helping someone see a familiar situation differently, there’s more than one way to begin.
14 days free. No card needed.
A little flexibility
You have an activity planned. Maybe it’s a worksheet, a reflection exercise or a conversation you’ve been hoping to revisit. Your client isn’t quite there today.
Maybe they’re giving you one-word answers. Maybe they’re having a hard time putting something into words. Maybe they’re perfectly happy to talk, just not about what you originally had in mind. That’s where a little flexibility can make a difference.
Therapy activities for teens and young adults don’t have to follow a single format. Sometimes a game creates an easy place to start. Sometimes a visual activity helps organize thoughts. Other times, a creative prompt opens a conversation neither of you expected.
The goal isn’t to make every moment feel like work. It’s to give your client more ways to take part.
Sometimes an activity is the way someone becomes comfortable enough to participate, express themselves or explore something they hadn’t considered before.
Three ways to approach it
Sometimes the easiest way to connect is to do something together. A matching game, a quick challenge or a little friendly competition creates chances for laughter, collaboration and conversation, without asking someone to talk about themselves right away.
You might notice how someone approaches a challenge, responds to an unexpected result or decides what to try next. Or you might simply have fun together. Both have value.
Music. Sports. Gaming. Fandoms. Fashion. Art. Whatever they’re into. The same topic can feel completely different when it’s tied to something meaningful to them.
A conversation about decision-making might begin with a favorite character. A discussion about persistence might start with a difficult level in a video game. Exploring values might look more like building a playlist than filling out a worksheet.
Not everyone wants to explain what they’re thinking right away. Sometimes it’s easier to point to something, arrange a few ideas, draw a picture or make a choice before finding the words.
Creative activities let clients take part without a perfectly formed answer. They can change their minds. Try something different. Leave something unfinished.
Keep exploring
There isn’t one perfect activity for every client, or even for the same client every week. Here are five more approaches worth keeping in your toolkit.
Use a visual scale, diagram or collection of objects to explore something that’s hard to describe. A client might find it easier to show which parts of life feel manageable than to answer, “How are things going?”
Instead of focusing only on what happened after a difficult situation, look at the smaller signals that appeared beforehand. What changed? What did they notice? Where might there have been a chance to respond differently?
Offer a few possible topics, prompts or activities and let your client decide where to begin. Having a choice can make taking part feel more collaborative.
Use a hypothetical decision, a fictional character or a real-world situation to explore different perspectives. Sometimes it’s easier to consider possibilities when the question isn’t immediately personal.
An activity doesn’t have to be new to be useful. Try the same exercise with different questions, categories or goals. What matters today may be different from what mattered a month ago.
The best therapy activities for teens and young adults leave room for the individual, the relationship and whatever the session brings.
Inside Opening Play
You don’t always need to reinvent an activity to make it more engaging. Opening Play brings familiar reflection approaches into interactive formats, alongside original creative activities designed to give you and your clients more ways to work together.
Screenshot
Reflection Wheel screenshot
Session Enhancement
A familiar exercise, made more flexible.
You may already use a Wheel of Life or a similar rating activity. With Opening Play’s Reflection Wheel, you can customize the categories to match what you’re exploring, whether that’s relationships, school, work, motivation, emotional well-being or something else entirely.
Your client rates each area visually, notices what stands out and decides which part deserves a closer look. It’s not about getting a perfect score. It’s about creating a picture of how things feel right now.
Screenshot
Bakery Basket screenshot
Session Enhancement
What would you like a little more of today?
Sometimes a reflection activity can be a little more unexpected. Bakery Basket invites clients to fill a basket with up to three labeled pastries representing qualities, intentions or supports that matter to them. You can use the built-in labels or write your own.
Maybe they want more confidence this week. Maybe they need rest, connection or a reminder to ask for support. Their choices open a conversation about what those things mean to them and how they might show up in everyday life.
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Stop the Slide screenshot
Session Enhancement
Notice the small signs before things get bigger.
It’s often easier to recognize a problem after it has already happened. Stop the Slide helps clients map the earlier signs that something may be heading in an unhelpful direction.
That might mean noticing a shift in attention, a pattern of avoidance or the first signs that responsibilities are piling up. From there, you can explore small adjustments that might help before the situation becomes harder to manage.
A little room for creativity
One thing that might surprise you
The teen who seems 13 going on 30 might absolutely love a drawing activity.
Not because they want to be treated like a little kid, but because creativity doesn’t have an age limit.
With Squiggle Scenes, clients use squiggle characters, places and things, their own drawings and word labels to create something of their own. They might represent their week, tell a story, explore two sides of a situation or simply enjoy making something together.
You can invite them to explain what they’ve created, but they don’t have to. Sometimes the conversation develops while they’re working. Sometimes it comes afterward. Sometimes the activity is simply a comfortable way to spend time together. There’s value in all three.
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Squiggle Scenes screenshot
Why the right activity matters
Adolescence and young adulthood bring a lot of change. Relationships evolve, expectations increase and questions about identity, independence and the future become more personal. Even when someone has plenty to say, finding the words in a session isn’t always easy.
Instead of beginning with a direct question, you might begin with a shared challenge, a visual prompt or something your client can shape for themselves. That small shift can change how the interaction feels.
You may notice their creativity, humor, curiosity, determination or the way they approach something unfamiliar. These moments add depth to your understanding without turning every interaction into an assessment.
You know your clients. You bring the training, experience, judgment and relationship that make your work meaningful. Opening Play isn’t here to tell you what a client’s choices mean. It’s here to offer more possibilities.
Every game includes a practitioner Playbook with ideas for noticing, exploring and extending the experience. Session Enhancements give you more ways to move into reflection when the moment feels right. Use what fits. Adapt what doesn’t. Let your client’s needs guide the direction.
Sometimes the most meaningful moment in a session isn’t the activity you planned. It’s what becomes possible once someone feels comfortable enough to take part.
Looking for a lighter place to start? Try our icebreakers for teens or therapy check-in questions.
Works wherever you meet
Opening Play runs in a web browser, with nothing to install. Use it on a shared device in person, or pull it up over video and share your screen.
Your clients never need an account.
Client names and answers are never saved.
More ways to connect. More room for the moments that matter. Explore interactive games, creative Session Enhancements and practitioner Playbooks, in person or over telehealth. 14 days free, no card needed.