Girlguiding Resource

Project aims

This project has been developed in association with Nottingham

Hospitals Charity.

The aim of this activity pack is to:

Promote empathy for young people in hospital

Increase knowledge about Nottingham Children’s Hospital

Learn about the different kinds of treatment and support

(complementary therapy, play) that are available to

children in hospital

Encourage members of Girlguiding Nottinghamshire to

support the Big Appeal for Nottingham Children’s Hospital

by taking part in the Charity Challenge

Have fun!

Nottingham Hospitals Charity (registered charity 1165397) is at the heart of Nottingham’s hospitals – we raise money to fund new facilities, specialist equipment,

staff development and medical research at Queen’s Medical Centre (including Nottingham Children’s Hospital), City Hospital, Hayward House and Ropewalk House.

Completing the badge

There are activity ideas throughout this pack.

These activities are divided into five areas:

Learning About Nottingham Children’s Hospital

What is a Play Specialist?

Complementary Therapy

Brightening up the Children’s Hospital

Charity Challenge

The activities are divided into types: Learning How To Help, Craft, Skill, Quiz and Game.

The most appropriate challenge for the age group and type of activity that members enjoy can

be chosen from each section. Members are to complete at least one activity from each topic

to complete the badge.

Planning the Project

The Nottingham Children’s Hospital Resource will earn Rainbows, Brownies,

Guides and the Senior Section a badge. To earn the badge, you must complete four

activities—at least one from each section of the resource. Members will then

complete the badge by organising an activity from the Charity Challenge page.

Each activity can be adapted to work for all ages. There are multiple suggestions for

activities and the one which is most appropriate for the age group can be chosen,

or groups can do all of them if they prefer.

Social Media (Nottingham Hospitals Charity):

Nottingham Hospitals Charity

@NUHCharity / @nottmchildrens

#HelloRobin

Social Media (Girlguiding Nottinghamshire):

Girlguiding Nottinghamshire

@GirlguidingNott

We encourage units to share their progress with us on social media with updates

throughout the challenge. If possible, we’d love to see photos of what you have

made and of your unit taking part in the activities!

Our Facebook page is Nottingham Hospitals Charity and our Twitter handle is

NUHCharity. Please encourage members to like and follow us to get the latest

updates from the charity and to see how other members of Girlguiding

Nottinghamshire are getting on!

Remember, if you decide to post your photos on Facebook and Twitter, make sure you have the correct photo permissions in place, as photos should not be posted on social media without these permissions.

Nottingham Children’s Hospital cares for more than 60,000 children

each year from all over the East Midlands.

It is based at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and treats

children from newborn to 18 years of age.

There are many areas of the Children’s Hospital which support young

patients. For instance, the Youth Service runs activities and support

for 11 - 18 year olds who attend hospital with a chronic illness or

disability. The Youth Service holds a weekly youth club (a bit like your

unit meetings!) plus regular day trips and residential holidays for

members.

Some of the treatments provided at Nottingham Children’s Hospital...

Broken bones: Have you ever fallen and hurt your arm, wrist, or leg? You may have gone to hospital and had an x-ray and maybe even been put in a cast if

your bone was broken.

Intensive Care Unit: Very sick children are taken into the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, where they can receive the urgent treatment they need. Many of

these children come here from the Emergency Department, as well as lots of other departments of the hospitals.

Organ Transplants: Sometimes an organ doesn’t work properly. Children who need new organs are put on a waiting list and when one is available, they may

have their organ removed and replaced with a new one at Nottingham Children’s Hospital.

Cancer: Sadly cancer can affect people of all ages, including children. Young people suffering from cancer are treated on Ward E39 at Nottingham Children’s

Hospital.

Renal and Urology: Children with complex problems with their kidneys and bladder, including those needing dialysis and renal transplants, are treated here.

Learning About Nottingham

Children’s Hospital

Complementary Therapy services are offered to children and young people with

chronic and acute conditions, to help with pain relief, anxiety and wellbeing.

The Nottingham Children’s Hospital School and library provides high-quality

education to children and young people who are unable to attend conventional

school due to ill health, helping them to stay up to date with their learning.

Learning About Nottingham

Children’s Hospital: Activities

Activity One: Robin Collage

Use your craft skills to produce a collage of Robin.

Think about what materials you would like to use: tissue

paper, recycled materials, brightly coloured paints, scraps of

fabric.

Leaders: Photocopy the outline of Robin included with the

pack resources onto multiple sheets of paper for the whole

unit to get involved in one giant collage!

Meet Robin, he is the mascot for

Nottingham Children’s Hospital!

Activity Two: Storytime

As individuals or groups, create a story to entertain

children being treated in hospital who may have to stay

on a ward.

Think about the age of the children you are writing for:

are they under 5 or young teenagers? What books do you

find help you escape from reality? These could be the

kinds of stories that would cheer up a young person in

hospital.

Feel free to include illustrations and pictures to make it

more entertaining, or even to act it out!

Activity Three: Sneaky Robin

Age 7-10: Big Bad Sheriff and his Deputy have to chase all the Merrymen! If you are one of the Merrymen and get caught by the Sheriff or his Deputy, you have

to sit down in prison until Robin comes to rescue you. Assign one person as Robin who cannot get tagged, but can free others by giving them a high five!

Age 10+: Robin Wink - Assign one person as the Sheriff who has to go out of the room while the remaining Merrymen choose a Robin.

When the Sheriff comes back in, they have to stand in the middle of the circle and try to work out who Robin is. Robin must wink at all of his

Merrymen without the Sheriff seeing. If you get winked at by Robin, make the silliest noise you can to make the Sheriff confused, and

lie down - you are safe and hidden, Robin helped you get away!

Learning About Nottingham

Children’s Hospital: Activities Activity Four: Broken Bones

Only having one properly working arm for children who have had a break

can make simple daily tasks such as eating dinner (or chocolate!) very

tricky.

Use a scarf or piece of material to tie up one of your arms in a sling. Take

turns to roll a dice, and use a knife and fork to cut up as many pieces of

chocolate off a plate as you can. Each person is timed based on the number

that you roll on the dice. For example: if you roll a 3, you have 30 seconds,

if you roll a 4 you have 40 seconds.

Activity Five: Mobile

We quite often have young babies and toddlers in hospital who spend

a lot of time in bed. Decorating their bay and bed area can help to

provide distraction and make their stay in hospital feel a bit more

normal.

Think of a friendly and colourful theme such as forest friends, under

the sea, or the night sky and create a hanging mobile decoration. This

could be used above a baby’s cot, or as a wall decoration.

Activity Six: Have A Chat

Create a survey to ask your friends and family what they think would be the most

interesting and fun events or activities for the Youth Service and Play Specialist

Team to provide for poorly children in the hospital.

Have a think about the sort of things that can happen inside a hospital that could

allow the children to play with each other, go away on a residential, or activities

that might include their families.

Feedback to each other about what you came up with, and don’t forget to let us

know what your great ideas are!

Activity Seven: X-Ray Pictures

Paint your hands and feet white and then print them on to black paper.

This will look like the x-rays that many children have to get in hospital

so that doctors can have a look at what is making them poorly.

What is a Play Specialist?

Types of Play Therapy

Play preparation

Distraction

Post procedural play

Normal and developmental play

What do Play Specialists do?

Create a positive environment

Provide play and recreation as well as entertainment for

young people and children in all departments

Support children, young people, and their families through

the hospital experience (sometimes including home visits)

Prepare, support and distract young people for procedures

and treatments

Help children and young people to develop coping strategies

for things like taking medicine or having procedures done

Help children and young people to communicate their anxieties, fears and worries

Assess children and develop play programmes to help them develop skills lost

through long-term hospitalisation

Time in hospital is scary for people of all ages, and even

more so for children. At Nottingham Children’s

Hospital, Play Specialists provide play and recreation

for children and young people on wards, day surgery,

clinics, and in the community. This play provides a

distraction from unpleasant treatments and reduces

anxiety for our young patients.

What is a Play Specialist:

Activities

Activity One: Treehouse

Robin lives in the forest with his friends, can

you design him the perfect tree house home?

Go on a walk outside and find as many

interesting and special

natural resources to build

Robin’s home. You could

either build a giant house

outside, or bring resources

inside to create some

artwork on a large piece of paper.

You may need: glue, scissors, string and tape

to build your nature home.

See how many of these you can include:

feathers, sticks, conkers, different coloured

leaves, different sized leaves, flowers.

Activity Two: Learning How To Help

What makes you anxious? How do you take your mind

off things when you’re feeling hurt or unwell?

Play Specialists distract children and young people

when they have to have unpleasant medical

procedures. Can you think of any ways that they might

do this?

Ideas:

Think of five jokes and tell them to the rest of

your unit

Bring in a page of your favourite book and take

it in turns to read out loud to each other

Put on a short performance—perhaps of a

favourite nursery rhyme or fairy tale

Activity Three: Positivity Pictionary

You will need: pens, paper, a flip board with

paper or a white board and pens

Everyone writes down three ‘positive’ words and

puts them in a hat in the middle. These words

could be emotions, activities, places, or people—

anything that makes you happy.

Split into groups and take it in turns to pick a word

from the hat and draw it on the flip board for the

rest of the groups to guess.

It may be appropriate to have a small prize for the

winning group.

Complementary Therapy

Therapies offered:

Aromatherapy

Massage

Relaxation techniques

Indian head, neck and shoulder massage

Baby massage instruction for parents

The Complementary Therapy Unit is entirely funded by charitable donations,

through Nottingham Hospitals Charity and The Teenage Cancer Trust.

Nottingham Children’s Hospital is the only hospital in the country to be able

to offer complementary therapies to all its children and young people.

Referrals can be made by staff for all children and young people who are

being treated at Nottingham’s hospitals and are experiencing a variety of

acute or chronic conditions. The Complementary Therapy service is

increasingly being seen as part of a programme of care, and not just a luxury.

The aim of Complementary Therapy is to support children and young people

throughout their treatment. It gives them a little TLC, relief from pain or

symptoms, and attempts to improve their quality of life.

“The main benefit of seeing a

complementary therapist was that

I saw it as not only a little treat,

where I could have a lovely back

massage to relieve my muscle

fatigue and pain, but because it

was another person to talk to who

could reassure me and provide me

with the motivation so that I could

motivate myself to persevere.”

A 17 year-old patient

Complementary Therapy:

Activities Activity One: Massages

Organise a massage evening and learn to give hand massages.

Bring in a range of creams and oils to try, and set the room up with cloths

on the tables to create a warm atmosphere.

Using the instructions at the back of the pack, demonstrate how to give a

hand massage.

Members can then practice on each other.

Activity Two: Guess The Scent Quiz

Aromatherapy is one type of complementary therapy. It involves a range of

plant-based and aromatic plant oils, including essential oils, to alter mood,

cognitive, psychological and physical wellbeing.

Have a think about special smells that you could use, for example: lavender,

mint, lilies, vanilla, rosemary, orange peel, fresh cut grass, coffee beans etc.

Put a few examples of different scents on small dishes/cloths.

Blindfolded members can take it in turns to smell each one and guess what

scent it is.

To make the challenge easier for younger members, provide a list of the

scents. These could be in the form of a wordsearch or a crossword puzzle.

Activity Three: Chill Out

What relaxes you?

Meditation helps you to relax and become more focused. People who

practice meditation believe it helps to relieve stress, to turn negative

thoughts into positive, and to aid relaxation. Meditation can be used as a

form of complementary therapy to help you to calm down and distract

yourself from procedures or feelings that may be unpleasant.

Find some calming music to play in the background and sit or lie quietly. Feel

free to do some colouring or reading to help you to chill out. Does

meditating make you feel more calm and relaxed?

Leaders: make reference to Think Resilient, a Girlguiding Peer Education

Resource, in this session.

Brightening Up the Children’s Hospital

Thanks to our amazing supporters, we were able to provide £1.1million to Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust in 2015 towards the

Hospital’s £4.7million redevelopment of the Children’s Cancer Wards at Nottingham Children’s Hospital.

The wards treat children and young people from across the East Midlands and is the only unit in the East Midlands which provides neuro-diagnostics and neuro

surgery.

The wards feature colourful wall art, improved play-rooms, a quiet room, and a brand new air filtration system which will help to reduce infection. Many patients on

these wards spend a long time in hospital, or make repeat visits, so it is really important that the wards are as welcoming as possible.

Charity funds have also been used to transform the waiting area in the outpatients department at the Children’s Hospital, replacing tired décor and dull furniture to

make the area more colourful, child-friendly, and less daunting for young patients and their families.

Activity Two: Deep Sea Relay

(Tip – you should do this race outside because it gets a little wet…).

What you’ll need is two sets of over-sized flippers, goggles and beach buckets filled

to the top with water. You then divide into two teams, and have the first in line (of

each team) put on the flippers and goggles. Each person must run to a designated

line with the water-filled bucket and then run the same course back again giving

the next team member the goggles, flippers and water-filled beach pails. (You can

offer two prizes for this game. One for the winning team and one for the team with

the most water left in the bucket.)

Brightening Up the Children’s

Hospital: Activities

Activity One: Whale Talk

Everyone sits in a circle and one person comes up with a fun sentence and

whispers it to the person next to them. BUT you have to say the sentence

in Whale Talk! It’s fun to try Whale Talk (like Dory does in Finding Nemo

and Finding Dory) - just elongate each word to mimic whale sounds! At

the end of the circle, the last person has to say what they heard out loud

and see if anyone can guess the original sentence. How many games can

you play in Whale Talk?! Gooooooood luuuuuuccckkkkkkkkk!

Some of the areas

of the Children’s

Hospital are

decorated with an

‘Under the Sea’

theme!

Activity Three— Water Ripples

For this activity you will need marbles, paper, paint and a tray or box.

Place a piece of paper in a box and dip marbles into blue, green and

white paint. Place the marbles in the box and move them around to

create a pattern that looks like the wall art of the Children’s Wards.

Brightening up the Children’s Cancer Ward

The Children’s Cancer Ward E39 has a rainbow themed playroom and each bay is full of colour! The Children’s Cancer

Ward has had a lot of refurbishment, all funded by our wonderful donors and fundraisers. E39 is a really special place

where children who are really poorly from cancer and their chemotherapy treatment can relax and have fun

whenever possible. We hope to be able to make all of the wards at Nottingham Children’s Hospital as colourful as E39.

Brightening up the Children’s

Cancer Ward: Activities

Activity Two: Funky Headwear

One of the side affects of cancer treatment is hair loss. This can be devastating and

often it can make the person who is suffering with cancer very self conscious.

How would you feel if you lost your hair?

Ages 7-10: The ‘Make A Hat’ Challenge

You may choose your own design, or wish to theme it around the Children’s

Hospital logo by making Robin Hood Hats with paper, glue, and scissors.

Ages 10+: Tie-Dye Head Scarf/Bandana

Use plain pieces of material (e.g. a pillow case) and cut into the shape of a head

scarf or head band. Use elastic bands and dye to create a funky pattern.

Activity One: Wall Art

One of the things that the charity has funded for the Children’s Cancer

Wards is colourful and cheerful artwork for the walls.

Leaders: show photos of the artwork for reference.

How many positive images can you think of? How would you decorate

the walls if you were the designer?

Use the biggest piece of paper you can find, or maybe even an old bed

sheet, to design your own piece of wall art. What makes it positive?

Which colours would you choose, and why? Take it in turns to show

your artwork to the rest of the group and talk about why you have

chosen the images that you have.

Charity Challenge!

Host a party for Nottingham Children’s Hospital

Now that you’ve learned about Nottingham Children’s Hospital, invite

your friends and family along to teach them what you’ve learned!

You can use this as an opportunity to display the art you have created on

this project, to tell the jokes you have written, give hand massages, or

perform your plays. Why not auction off the artwork you have created

and raise funds for Nottingham Children’s Hospital at your party?

For posters, resources, fundraising packs and more party-planning

ideas, please get in touch with our fundraising team!

Challenge yourselves!

Whether you start small or think big, a fantastic way to raise awareness of

Nottingham Children’s Hospital is to hold a sponsored event in aid of the Hospital!

Ideas for sponsorship:

Hold a sponsored silence for one evening at your meeting. Think creatively—

how will you communicate with each other?

How about a sponsored walk or obstacle course? You could support

Nottingham Children’s Hospital on one of your existing events, or could

organise a walk or run specifically for your badge! You might even be able to

walk a route that heads past the Hospital.

Hold an event or activity

There are lots of events and activities that you could choose to organise in aid of

Nottingham Children’s Hospital.

Perhaps you have a team of star bakers who could make and sell cakes at a bake sale?

A teddy tombola is a great way to pass those old toys on to someone who will love and

appreciate them.

Or maybe you could hold a car wash* for your parents and friends?

Please get in touch with the fundraising team at Nottingham Hospitals Charity—we

have loads more ideas to make your event a success!

We can provide you with a fundraising pack to help with your Charity

Challenge. This contains helpful fundraising tips, sponsorship forms, and posters.

We can also provide you with collection tins and buckets, t-shirts, and balloons

for you to use at your event.

For a fundraising pack or any further information, please call us on 0115 962

7905 or email charity@nuh.nhs.uk

*If you plan to hold a car wash, please ensure you refer to Girlguiding UK's guidelines for

this activity. These can found at www.girlguiding.org.uk/what-we-do/our-programme-and-

activities/activity-finder/carwashing/

Information for Leaders

Contact

Email: charity@nuh.nhs.uk

Telephone: 0115 962 7905

Address: Nottingham Hospitals Charity

Sherwood Building

City Hospital

NG5 1PB

Freepost: FREEPOST NUH CHARITY

Hospital Resources

Nottingham Hospitals Charity

Nottingham Children’s Hospital

What is a Play Specialist

What is Complementary Therapy

Children’s Cancer and Neurosciences Ward

Cheque: Made payable to Nottingham Hospitals Charity,

these can be delivered in person or by post using our

‘Freepost NUH Charity’ address.

Cash: Cash can be delivered to our finance team, based

in our offices at City Hospital.

Card: We accept donations by card, either in person or

over the phone.

Bank transfer: Please get in touch if you would like to

make a donation to the charity by bank transfer and we

can provide you with our bank details.

If you would like to arrange a cheque presentation so

that we can celebrate your fundraising efforts by

presenting a big cheque and taking a photo, please get

in touch!

If your unit decides to raise

money for Nottingham

Children’s Hospital as part

of this project, funds can be

paid in the following ways:

THANK YOU!

Activity Resources and Useful Links

Section 1: Activity 1—Robin Collage—See following sheet

Section 1: Activity 5—Mobile— http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Sea-Creature-Mobile

Section 2: Activity 1—Treehouse—http://www.letthechildrenplay.net/2010/10/messing-around-with-wood.html

http://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/outdoor-engineering-building-stick-forts-stem-projects/

Section 3: Activity 1—Massage— See following sheet

Section 3: Activity 2—Puzzles—To make a simple wordsearch or crossword online go to www.puzzle-maker.com

Section 3: Activity 3—Chill Out—calming music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_G1IQLz6ig

Section 4: Activity 1 & 2—Plus more games—http://www.coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com/birthday-games-for-kids/

Section 4: Activity 3— Water Ripples—https://artfulparent.com/2015/05/marble-painting-for-kids.html

Section 5: Activity 2—Funky Headwear— Hat = http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Paper-Robin-Hood-Hat

Tie Dye Scarf/Bandana = http://www.ehow.com/how_7235654_tie-dye-bandanas.html

Section 1: Activity 1—Robin Collage—

Step 1

Wash and dry your hands

Step 2

Put a few drops of massage lotion/oil in the palm of your hand. Rub your hands together.

Step 3

Spread the lotion over the person’s hand and wrist using gentle, flowing, upward motions. Slide your right hand

up from the fingers to the wrist and repeat. Apply light pressure as you glide your fingers over the palm, wrist

and back of the hand. This is called effleurage and relaxes and prepares the person for the massage. Do this 6

times.

Step 4

Slide both your hands underneath the hand. Rest your thumbs on the wrist. Push down gently, and move your

thumbs over the wrist in an outward, circular motion. Work your way down the wrist to the knuckles, then back

again. Repeat this six times.

Step 5

Rest the hand in yours. With your other hand, squeeze each finger between your thumb and forefinger. Use

small circular movements to massage each finger from the base to the tip. Repeat this twice for each finger.

Step 6

Hold the hand with the palm facing up. Lightly stroke the palm with you finger tips. Use the heel of your hand or

your knuckles to knead the palm with a circular motion. Repeat this six times.

Step 7

Squeeze the muscle below the thumb a few times, then squeeze the muscle below the pinkie finger.

Step 8

Flip the hand back over gently. Run your fingers down the wrist ad hand once or twice with very light pressure.

Step 9

Repeat this process on the other hand to complete the massage.

Section 3: Activity 1—Massage—