The importance of play

Hospital staff have to allocate their limited resources to the children's medical care, therefore, play often has to be at the bottom of their priorities.

The children spend long periods of time in the hospital with nothing to do. Not only can play & excursions be fun activities - times to laugh, make friends and forget their worries - but play can also be therapeutic.

Play has been described as a life-line for children who are ill. Play can enable children to work through their troubles in a scaled down, controllable world. Through play they can make sense of what they have experienced and what they feel. Play can foster the courage and confidence for children to reach back for what was never given or that they had lost - they can regain their lost childhood. Group excursions can bread close friendships with children in similar situations, or who have recovered from similar illnesses.