Always on
This project successfully funded on 13th April 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Playful Paediatrics
United Kingdom
Aim
Playful Paediatrics transforms paediatric environments into imaginative interactive worlds supporting children's wellbeing when in hospital.
Being in hospital as a child can be frightening, isolating, and overwhelming. Medical routines take over, the environment feels clinical and unfamiliar, and the things that make childhood joyful can feel impossibly out of reach. For children with long-term conditions or complex needs who spend extended time in hospital, this loss is particularly acute.
Playful Paediatrics transforms paediatric environments into imaginative, interactive worlds supporting physical, emotional, and social wellbeing for patients, families, and staff.
Using motion capture technology, the project transforms hospital spaces into immersive, imaginative worlds. Projections on ceilings and walls take children on a journey through galaxies, stars, and the moon. Even the smallest movement from a child affects the visuals around them in real time. This means that children who are living with complex physical needs can still play and explore.
The project runs initially across four days in both inpatient and community paediatric services at a hospital in London, with sessions tailored to the children who need it most. The benefits extend far beyond the children themselves. Families get to participate alongside their child to share moments of joy, creativity, and connection..
Early feedback from the staff organising the sessions has been overwhelmingly positive: they expect children will engage more, families will feel more connected, and staff will feel more supported. The project has received backing from senior clinicians and has already been recognised with Arts Council England National Lottery funding.
Why we need your support today:
Across the country, many children in hospitals spend long periods undergoing treatment with little access to creative activity. We work with hospitals and young people to bring creativity and movement into these spaces, offering moments of joy, expression and escape from the everyday reality of treatment. £900 supports 1x7 hour day in a hospital (including the delivery of performances, group workshops and 121 interactions).
With your support, we can reach more children and ensure they have opportunities to create, move and imagine.
Your support will also enable:
- Extra costumes and KDE tops for the dancers. This is needed to reduce infection control, both by having extra costumes to change into and having costumes and KDE tops that are above the elbow. (£250)
- The printing of Playscape: How to Build a Galaxy activity books. These help extend the children’s experience once we have left the hospital. (£1 per unit)
- For children in hospital, long periods of treatment can mean limited opportunities to play, move or be creative. Our sensory bags contain calming and tactile objects that help children feel comfortable and confident engaging with our dance and motion capture activities. They allow children to explore movement at their own pace, even when energy levels or mobility are limited. With your support, we can provide sensory resources that make our creative sessions accessible, inclusive and joyful for more children during their time in hospital. (£35 per bag)
- As we work in hospital settings, we need to purchase wipeable props that can be thoroughly cleaned between sessions to reduce the risk of infection. (£150)
- Our delivery team often works with children who are seriously unwell. We provide reflective practice sessions to support their wellbeing and ensure they can continue delivering thoughtful, compassionate creative work. With your support we can provide more time for our team to look after themselves so they can deliver the best care possible. (£60 per session)
- Stickers allow children to feel proud and show their carers what they have been up to when they visit. (£65)
Photos by Ruby Gadsby
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made