Working with Children in a Hospital Environment - Essay Example

Markers or crayons, yarn, buttons, and glue sticks are materials that are cheap and are a great way to decorate the puppets without creating a mess. There are many available designs that workers can teach young patients which can be viewed on Enhantedlearning.com.  After designing the puppets, the worker and the children can develop a dialogue about their specific puppet such as their name and basic characteristics. Workers can prompt the children with questions such as “What’s your puppet's name? What’s the puppet’s favorite food, activity, etc? Does the puppet have any brothers and sisters?” Finally, the children can create a story whether through improvisation or writing out a scene, and act out the story using their puppets.

            This activity does not have any major safety risks that need to be addressed. As long as the adult/worker has prepared the yarn beforehand, there is no need to bring scissors or any other risky material into the patient’s environment. The puppet activity can be modified for children as young as four or five and as old as nine or ten. For the younger age groups, stories and characters might not be as sophisticated as they would be for older children thus the worker might need to be involved in the process of creating a stronger level for younger children.

            The puppet activity serves several purposes. It fosters creativity in the children and provides an outlet for emotions that they may not have the ability to communicate effectively at a young age. With the worker helping in the process of creating the puppets and their characteristics, the children can develop a dialogue and trust with the worker. It might even be a way to open up communications between the worker and children about their hopes and fears as they will be able to place these characteristics into their puppets.  The puppet activity is involved enough as well that it can be an effective strategy for distraction, but also easy enough to clean up and put away when necessary.

            Positive activities such as puppet making and puppet shows can provide a fun and creative environment for children that are going through an otherwise difficult time. Stories and characters present a distraction and also foster a social environment that helps forge relationships with the worker as well as other children. As it is relatively cheap and easy, this is also an activity that will be simple enough for the worker to add to their visits or programs when interacting with their clients/patients in the hospital setting.