Specialist play

Specialist play uses creative activities and play to help children and young people understand and cope with their experiences, distract them and help them manage difficult situations. Our play specialists can visit anyone requiring support through play at home, in community settings or spend time with them during their stay at the hospice. All sessions are relaxed and flexible.

We also have specialist sensory rooms at all three of our hospices:

Sensory rooms

A specialist play session may include:

Stories – tactile, musical and sensory story sacks.
Food play – jelly, cornflour and pasta.
Construction – Lego and Duplo.
Music – instruments, songs and rhymes and karaoke.
Cooking.
Sand and water.
Sensory equipment – bubble tube, fibre optics and projectors.
Sensory play – space blanket, bubbles and hand and foot rub.
Technology – switches, accessible computers, iPads and game consoles.
Physical play – outdoor play, parachute and musical movement.
Arts and crafts – painting, collage, card-making and modelling.
Outings – park, beach, bowling, cinema, zoo and shopping.
Imaginative play – dressing-up, puppets, train track, farm, role play and Playmobil.

Benefits of specialist play

Physical and cognitive development

Specialist play can be used as a tool to reach a child’s developmental aims.

Support communication and interaction

Play can be a way to express thoughts and feelings, as well as to interact with family members and create memories.

Encourage control and choice

Specialist play can empower a child to make creative decisions and improve their self-confidence.

Sensory rooms

Our sensory rooms can be used for storytelling, going on a calming journey into space or walking thought a forest of crunching leaves. They can be used to promote relaxation - with calming colours, the warm water bed and gentle music. Or the rooms can be used to stimulate and raise alertness - with vibrant colours, fast pace music, and a rock on the waterbed. These rooms contain a variety of technology that children and young people can explore and experience through cause and effect.