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The author demonstrates how the matter of playing is a central concern of child clinicians inasmuch as it is very informative about the patient’s psychic vitality. Through play, most children appreciate encountering situations that they can master and repeat as much as they want. The restless child substitutes this playing repetition for restless repetition. Group therapy can shed light on the child’s psychological layout through the relationship between the self and the object that nourishes this restlessness. This article suggests qualifying the notion of “pre-transitional area,” the place where the patient takes shelter and waits for it to be transformed into a real playing area.