Action Tips: Volunteer for Kids in Hospital Beds

A great way to help people combat illness is to lift their spirits. Staying in a hospital means sitting in the same room for long periods of time. If you’re visiting a child in the hospital, you can save them from boredom and loneliness with these ideas.

• Have a movie marathon. Bring in a used or cheap portable DVD player and some qualities movies or TV shows.
• Go game-crazy. Get board games and puzzles like Monopoly, Jenga or Scrabble. It will test young minds while having a blast at the same time.
• Get out of bed! Escaping the hospital bed is a mood-booster. Take your hospital buddy around the floors, mingle with some other patients, and perhaps even challenge a few to some wheelchair races.
• Be an editor. Kids are bound to have a lot of thoughts while they’re in the hospital, so encourage them to write their own stories or autobiographies. You can help with editing, spelling, and grammar.
• Write letters to Troops. Have patients draw pictures or write letters to the troops overseas.
• Entertain your eyes. Good books always distract bookworms from their own lives. Go to a book store and shower them with hysterical graphic novels and quick reads. If you want to play Mother Goose for a day, go to different rooms and read to the kiddies, or set up a story time in a common area.
• Get crafty. Show a kid how to origami or cut out cool paper decorations. Make their area the most fun in the hospital.
• Bring in a therapy dog. A unique way to curb hospital depression, dogs always make the youngsters cheery (unless if they have an allergy). If you’re licensed, arrange with the hospital to bring your puppy in for a playtime.

Want another way to brighten a day? Show these ill kids they're heroes!  GO