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The dream-like, open-endedprocess ofplay therapy has much in common with the family therapy style of the authors. This paper provides a partial list of similarities between play therapy and family therapy. It reviews methods for using play with families and considers the question of indications and contraindications for play therapy with families. Clinical examples are utilized to illustrate throughout the paper.A large blended family was negotiating a second stage identity crisis. They were wrestling with the complex problem of becoming a new family while simultaneously retaining their two-family identification. The two parents were widowed in the past three years. Mother had five children, ages three to 16, and father's sons were 10 and 13. Both families were still grieving the unexpected, shocking deaths of the two lost spouses and parents. In the first interview with the family, there was considerable awkwardness about their presenting complaint: petty stealing by mother's 15-year-old son. It was not long before the three-and five-year-old children began to act out the group's restlessness. One of the co-therapists left the conference room and returned with a large box of toys, magic markers, a large drawing pad and some clay. The interview came alive instantaneously. The younger children immersed themselves in play. A free flowing give-and-take developed in the interview. One of the therapists helped the three year old with a drawing. Father kneaded a fistful of clay. The mother, a 15-year-old sister and the five-year-old son worked together on a tower of blocks. The three year old's drawing was of a rocketship which reminded the 15 year old of how he was feeling.The opportunity to play had diffused the family's focused concern. The toys catalyzed the interview process, changing it from a cautious, conscientious experience into one that was gratifying for all members of the family. At the end of the session, when everyone was filing out, mother and father came last. The mother shook the therapist's hand and said simply, "Thanks for the toys."We had been doing play therapy with the whole family. The open ended, nonrational quality of this interview is the quality of psychotherapy that interests us most. While we steer away from abstract, theoretical descriptions of psychotherapy theory and technique, there are patterns which emerge in our work which we try to conceptualize.

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