Keeping family life on track through childhood cancer
Camp Quality asked parents with experience of childhood cancer what helped them keep going – the routines and boundaries that made everyday life more manageable during a deeply disruptive time.
10 Fun Activities to Keep Kids Smiling During Hospital Stays
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Any parent will tell you. When you have a kid who is bored or distraught, the art of distraction is crucial. And there’s not much more boring or distressing for a child than an extended hospital stay. Here’s some suggestions on ways you can fill the time and make long dark days a little bit brighter for your child. These activities for kids in hospital will help you keep them entertained!
Arts and crafts
There’s more to life than watching YouTube on a tablet which will get old, fast. Arts and crafts engage the body AND distract the mind.
Gather a box of assorted scraps for creative play. Your arts and crafts box could include:
- Pencils, pens and crayons
- Stickers
- Clay
- Cotton wool balls
- Pipe cleaners
- Sticky tape
- Glue
- Egg cartons
- Cardboard
- Coloured paper
- Toilet roll cores
- Scraps of fabric and faux fur
- Child-safe scissors.
Let your child go free-range or assign them a project. Try some ideas from the Camp Quality ‘Happiness Hub’.
Storytelling
Who doesn’t love a good story? Aside from finally going home, there’s no better way for your child to transport to a place outside the confines of their hospital room than with their imagination.
Tell stories from your childhood (kids love that!), and read, read, read. When you run out of puff, head to our Campfire Storytime page and let the Camp Quality ambassadors do the hard work!
Hospital puppet playdates
There are few advantages to being in hospital. But one unique experience kids facing cancer love is a bedside visit from the beloved Camp Quality Puppets.
Entertaining children in hospital is not easy but the Camp Quality Puppets are guaranteed to put a smile on the face of any child that can do with a lift. They are the experts when it comes to filling the room with positivity and big belly laughs.
There’s a reason we say, “laughter is the best medicine”. These hospital puppet playdates ease children’s anxiety and make everyone (even mum and dad!) feel a little less overwhelmed by it all.
Visit the Hospital Puppet Playdates page for more information.
Virtual visits and video calls
Just as disheartening as the illness and the pain of treatment is the isolation children experience when they are in hospital. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, staying connected to the outside world is easier than ever!
- Set up video calls with family and friends. You can even enlist your child’s teacher to do a call with your child’s entire class!
- Add some fun to the calls by setting up a virtual playdate so you child can hang out with their friends and enjoy a shared activity
- Check out the Happiness Hub for ideas.
Puzzles and mind games
Just because kids in hospital miss out on school, it doesn’t mean they can’t expand their minds during their stay. Puzzles are an engaging pastime that will keep your child mentally active. We suggest:
- Word puzzles such as crosswords, anagrams and word searches
- Games such as Scrabble, checkers, Monopoly and Boggle
- Jigsaws
- Maths games and activity books
- Colouring in, connect-the-dots
- The Wiki Game.
Scavenger hunt
With the charge nurse’s permission, set up a scavenger hunt that can be done in the hospital room or across the whole ward.
Hide coins, baubles or toys and write a list of clues. Make them hard, and this one is good for hours of amusement.
Try using the Activity Corner to prompt some ideas for themes.
Music appreciation
Create a playlist of songs for mini dance parties or quiet listening sessions. Come up with dance routines to go with different music genres.
Create playlists around themes and explore musical eras.
Yoga and meditation
Cancer and the pain of treatment can be extremely stressful and scary. Use the principles of yoga and meditation to help your child relax during the toughest time of their young life.
- Breathing exercises can help reduce anxiety
- Gentle seated stretches can help children relax and unwind
- Try guided meditation videos and audio to control anxiety and reduce stress.
Camp Quality employs a number of Child Life Therapists at several hospitals around the country. They use medical play techniques to help children find some calm in the storm of cancer treatment which can lead to a reduced need for tranquilisers and other medications.
Ask staff at your hospital about the availability of Child Life Therapists and learn more about what they do.
Journalling
Writing a journal or creating a photo or video montage of their cancer journey can help children process their experience – and have something amazing they can look back on when they are well!
Childhood cancer is a horrible experience for everyone involved, but it’s not without its brighter notes, so encourage your child to document their undeniably special (if not entirely pleasant) experience.
Learn something!
For older children especially, a long hospital stay presents an amazing opportunity to learn a language or a musical instrument.
Do the lessons with them and when you come out, you can form a family band or travel to a foreign country, knowing how to speak like a local!
A long hospital stay for anyone, but especially a child, is exhausting, depressing and it can be abysmally boring.
However, the time bonding with your child can be incredibly positive and there are ways you can make beautiful memories your child will remember forever. Browse the Happiness Hub and look into Hospital Puppet Playdates and Child Life Therapy.
You might be surprised just how much fun, positivity and laughter you can bring back into the life of your child patient and their siblings’ lives.
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