Playrooms, Toys, Movies and Games to Let Kids Be Kids

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Playrooms offer space for kids to get away — no medical procedures are allowed. Children who can’t leave their rooms can have toys brought to them from the playroom.

Teens have access to video games, computers, arts and crafts, age-appropriate magazines and books. Child life therapists encourage communication and understand teens’ need for independence and privacy.

Jarrett’s Joy Cart distributes toys, books and movies to patients in the Addison Jo Blair Cancer Care Center. Caps for Kids provides hats autographed by celebrities, entertainers and athletes to help young cancer patients cope with hair loss.

Flashes of Hope provides professional volunteer photographers each month to create uplifting portraits of kids fighting cancer. The portraits help children feel better about their changing appearance and celebrate it.

Local police officers who are part of Shield of Faith bring a wagon of toys and games to patients once a week.

Camp Quality, Texas Roadhouse and other groups provide meals periodically for patients’ families.

The Coping Cart, a mobile multimedia center, gives kids the opportunity to create videos to share their strategies for coping. With families’ permission, these videos are posted on CopingClub.com to help other children and families who may feel alone in their experiences.

Camp Quality and Indian Summer Camp both offer cancer patients ages 5 to 17 a chance to enjoy summertime fun. There is no cost to families for these camps. Norton Children’s Hospital pediatric oncology-certified nurses work as camp nurses, thanks to support from the Children’s Hospital Foundation.

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