The Winnicott Squiggle Game: A Vehicle for Communicating with the School-Aged Child

Abstract

The Squiggle Game, described by pediatrician/child psychiatrist D. W. Winnicott, is a pencil-and-paper technique for eliciting children's thoughts and feelings. Unlike drawing tests such as the Goodenough Draw-A-Person Test and the Bender-Gestalt Form Copying Test, the Squiggle Game has an entirely unstructured format. This allows maximal latitude for children to share ideas and feelings. Also, participation by the physician makes the approach fun, rather than simply another test or chore for the child. The Squiggle Game has wide applicability in the general practice of pediatrics. It is ideally suited to communicating with school-aged children who are often too young to articulate perceptions and feelings spontaneously, but are too old to be engrossed in play techniques utilizing doll houses, puppets, or other toys.