The integration of expressive activities in play groups with preadolescents encourages them to reach more deeply into their own resources, enabling them to handle future challenges more effectively. Developmental and therapeutic rationale, along with research support, is given for the integration of creative activities into a humanistic play group format for this population. Developmentally responsive activities that foster self-expression and interaction are described in detail to allow practitioners to incorporate them into their own work with this population. (Contains 2 figures.)