Play

One of the most important parts of a child’s hospital journey is play. Play specialists and assistants across Bristol Children’s Hospital help children and young people prepare for procedures, distract from pain, and normalise medications and equipment. Underpinning it all, access to play allows patients to maintain normal childhood experiences.

As the Bristol Children’s Hospital Charity, we know first-hand how important play is for the 140,000 children who pass through its doors each year. 

Year-round, we support the incredible play team by funding resources from crayons and paint, high-tech gaming carts and interactive equipment, to specialist play staff. It’s thanks to amazing donors and fundraisers like you that gives every child the opportunity for some normality and fun while in hospital.

Oncology Play

Part of our support for the play team in Bristol Children’s Hospital is shaped by Sian, the Oncology Play Specialist, whose role we fund. 

She’s based in Starlight Ward, working with children and young people with cancer.

Sian will visit the bedside of patients who are too sick to leave their rooms, or children who have to stay isolated to protect them during treatment, to engage them in a wide variety of play. In the Starlight play room, she’ll hold group sessions, sometimes alongside the physiotherapy team or the Grand Appeal-funded music therapy team.

Meet Sian

“I have worked as part of the play team at Bristol Children’s Hospital for six years. I started as an Oncology Health Play Assistant in 2019 and then qualified as an Oncology Health Play Specialist in 2023, with The Grand Appeal funding my qualification. 

No day as an Oncology Health Play Specialist is the same!  

An integral part of my role is to create a welcoming and stimulating environment where children can play normally, fulfilling their emotional, social, and developmental needs. 

Play on Starlight Ward provides distraction from the invasive cancer treatments and procedures which our patients go through daily. This involves using various therapeutic play techniques as a distraction tool, helping to minimise the stress of hospitalisation, manage pain, anxiety or fear and support emotional and mental wellbeing. Preparation play helps families psychologically prepare for medical procedures, which allow children a greater sense of understanding and control. 

It is an honour to support children and young people and their families across the hospital. I feel very privileged to be part of the play team, helping children and young people adapt to hospital and prepare for, or distract from, treatment.” 

Sensory play

For children who have additional or sensory needs, play can look a little different. Often, play specialists or assistants will incorporate sensory play, which allows children to explore the world through touch and sound.

In 2019, we were proud to fund the refurbishment of the Sensory Play Room and a small sensory garden, located opposite the Activities Centre at Bristol Children’s Hospital. This tranquil room has a waterbed, LED lights, bubble tubes and a projector. It’s an oasis of calm for patients and parents alike, and sessions here are a great way to ease stress and anxiety. The room leads to a contained garden, which we renovated at the same time, so children could spend some time outside in a safe and monitored environment. Here, we installed an accessible swing, a range of sensory and tactile panels across the walls, and even an interactive water feature. The garden allows children to have some fun with a sensory exploration of their surroundings. 

The sensory room on Apollo 35 Ward, the adolescent ward, gives our young people something vital: a space to leave the hospital environment behind. It is trimmed with customisable LED lights that can bathe the room in different coloured lighting, so patients can adapt their environment to their mood. It has a colour-changing bubble tube, a sensory wall, beanbags to lounge on and an interactive floor projector for games. The room serves a huge range of purposes: not only providing a calm, sensory environment, but also somewhere patients can hang out, listen to music, play interactive games and socialise. The ward also has a sensory trolley, fitted with a range of equipment for patients who are being supported through a mental health crisis. 

In Caterpillar Ward, the general medicine ward, the play room serves a range of ages and abilities. There’s a play mat for babies and toddlers, as well as a starry-night light and projector to create a calming atmosphere. An Xbox and TV are fitted into the room for older patients, and the height-adjustable desks mean everyone can come to read, paint or draw. 

Other play rooms across the hospital have lots of toys and games with sensory needs in mind, with the expert play team utilitising them to their full potential. 

How can I request a play session?

Ward play rooms are open most of the time for children and parents to use when they want to play away from their beds, find toys and take part in play sessions. When the play rooms are not open, families are welcome to speak to a member of their ward’s play team to request toys or activities.  

Families can speak to their child’s play team member, healthcare specialist or nursing team if they’d like to find out what other options for play are available.

The play team aim to provide play resources around the clock by facilitating open play rooms, which you are welcome to use whenever they’re open. In the evening and on the weekend, the team also manage resource trolleys, making sure there’s always something to keep your little one engaged.