A Toulouse child psychiatry team imagined and designed a board game to encourage speech and reflection in the age of screens.
Therapeutic play Kaleidophone was imagined by the ConsultAdo team from Sector 3 of child psychiatry in Toulouse (Occitanie region), in a suicidal crisis service where adolescents often arrive exhausted of words or saturated with silence. For these young people caught in acting out, withdrawal or silent anger, the team has developed a mediation support capable of allowing words to circulate more freely than in a face-to-face interview.
From this clinical questioning was born a cooperative board game at the crossroads of care and play: Kaleidophone. Its name evokes the kaleidoscope, an object that brings forth meaning from movement and light. The game board uses all the codes of the smartphone (icons, emojis, quick set-up and interactions, simple visuals, freedom of association). A die then refers to « applications » (loneliness, the body, emotions, limits, the group, the family, the future, etc.) associated with “ situations », which explore the dimensions of adolescent experience (self-esteem, intimacy, social relationships, etc.). These cards contain propositions or questions that open the discussion: “You spend time choosing the right angle and filter for your selfie. Few reactions after its publication. What are you feeling in this moment? » or“Your best friend is asking you for help with the math test tomorrow morning at 10 p.m. because she hasn’t studied. What is your answer? »The caregiver accompanies the game, without interpreting, with kindness, so that the word circulates.
Above all, the Kaleidophone brings about a notable symbolic reversal around the smartphone, the central object of adolescent bonding which often crystallizes tensions with adults. The game diverts the codes for the benefit of the link. Adolescents become the “knowing», bearers of meaning and knowledge about their own world and the device legitimizes their words. The first feedback is enthusiastic: young people talk about “a space where we talk to each other, without it being serious» and professionals note a peaceful interview dynamic, an easier connection which favors the meeting.
In 2025, the Kaléidophone game was the winner of the ArseaaLab call for innovation, an association which manages the 3e child psychiatry sector of Haute-Garonne, for its clinical, creative and collective dimension. Born from the field, this game evolves so that, card after card, adolescent speech regains its 1,001 facets, its diversity and its spontaneity. It should be offered to the general public from September 2026.
Contact: Alexandre Castanet, Marie Siméon, Nurses; a.castanet@arseaa.org.
