Fun Things for Children to do While in The Hospital!
If there are two things in the world that are more incompatible then oil and water, it is children and hospitals. Children want to run free and play and hospitals are restricting and boring. Even though your child has to be in the hospital right now to deal with their cancer, that doesn’t mean that they have to give up playing and enjoying themselves. It can be difficult for the staff and for you to come up with fun things for your child to do, so here we are going to offer some suggestions that are inexpensive and fun for everyone.
Keeping in mind that when we are talking about entertaining children in the hospital we are looking at children between the ages of 3 and 20. We know that it isn’t possible for just any toy to make it onto the floor because it isn’t safe due to the germs that come with it and the compromised immune systems. Coming up with safe alternatives can be a challenge. Here are a number of recommendations to help your child feel like a kid and “enjoy” their time in the hospital.
The key is to spark imagination, yours and theirs. To take them out of the hospital in their mind, even if it is only for a little while. For the younger bunch, ages between 3 and 5, what they enjoy the most are toys that they can pretend with. For about $5 you can get a set of HotWheels cars or army guys, dinosaurs and other little critters. Bring those to the hospital and turn the hospital bed into a wild safari adventure or a race course full of twist and turns. For the little girls, for about the same price you can get Littlest Pet Shop animals or Polly Pockets. Water paint books, crayons and color books are always a plus as well.
For kids between the ages of about 6 to 10 there are a number of ideas. First you can have a slumber party in the room. If there are siblings have them come, rent a movie, turn the lights off, get what ever snacky foods your child is able to eat, bring a flash light and tell ghost stories.
In this day and age, kids at this age are all about electronics. If they have a gameboy or something similar bring it in. Right now you can get new games from places like Target for about $10.00. MP3’s are the other big items that kids enjoy. If they don’t currently have an iPod or MP3 player there are smaller MP3 players called Coby’s and the smaller ones cost about $20.00. Take their favorite CDs and download them so that they can listen to their favorite music while they are in bed. You might also consider arranging a play date with one of your child’s friends in the hospital.
Looking at the older kids, 11 to 15 and 16 to 20 year olds the game boys and MP3 players are even more important, simply because they provide an escape for kids this age. There are also portable DVD players, which allow them to watch their favorite movies when ever they want.
There are the old fashion games that you can get now for a fairly reasonable price. These games include Pente, Checkers, Backgammon, Chess, Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, Don’t Spill the Beans and the list goes on. Games like Memory are also fun and they can be played with regular cards if you don’t want to buy a Memory game.
For the children that are more artistically inclined you may want to consider getting finger paints, sponges, paint brushes and construction paper. There are a number of really cool stamp kits as well. A few different colors of ink, some funky stamps and colored pencils or markers and they can create cards or posters for friends and family.
One of my favorites is string art. You can get a couple of different colors of foam paper, take tacks and form a circle in the foam, or a square shape. With a couple different colors of yarn and they can lace the yarn back and forth and around on the tacks, creating a colorful and unique design.
There is also the option of bringing a laptop to the hospital. Check with your hospital to see if they have laptops available or if it safe for you to bring in yours for your older child. Most hospitals offer internet, and this can help the teenagers keep in contact with their friends online or create a webpage about their journey.
With the older kids, 15 and over, it’s important that they are able to remain connected to the life they have when they are not in the hospital. Though they may be to old for the slumber party idea, you can still arrange “play dates” for kids this age, just don’t call it that. But try to get their friends to come and see them. First talk to your child and make sure they are okay with their friends coming.
I think the most important thing you can do for your child when they are in the hospital is to focus on who they are and not on the cancer. To help keep them entertained remember who they are when they are not in the hospital. Then you have to try to bring they things they enjoy into the hospital room.