Resources
Things you can
actually use.
Printables for families and patients, a wish list for anyone running a collection, and a short directory of organizations that do this properly and at scale.
For families & patients
Printables
Free for anyone to print — for families and patients, not part of a care kit. Designed to be usable one-handed, in bed, in short bursts — the constraints that rule out most worksheets you'll find online.
Print on letter paper at 100% or "actual size", not "fit to page" — otherwise the cut lines shift and the cards come out the wrong size. Card stock survives a tray table better than paper.
Coping strategy cards
Concrete things to try while you wait, before a procedure, during it, and afterwards. Plain language, no clinical vocabulary.
Download the PDFBreathing & grounding cards
Four techniques that need no equipment, no privacy, and no ability to stand up — plus four more for when the first four don't work.
Download the PDFAffirmation cards
A set a child can keep on a tray table. None of them promise everything will be fine — children can tell, and a card that overpromises gets thrown away.
Download the PDFWhen your brother or sister is in hospital
Written for the one at home, not about them. Covers the jealousy and guilt almost every sibling feels and almost none admit to. Last page is for a grown-up.
Download the PDFStarting a chapter?
The Chapter Starter Handbook is the one document that collects all of it — the five-slot kit blueprint and three age tiers, the never list, the hospital outreach template, and the Approval Sheet a child-life specialist signs. 20 pages, free, no application required to read it.
For schools, clubs & workplaces
Running a collection?
One rule makes or breaks a drive: collect only from the approved list. "Bring anything" produces used toys, food and scented items that no hospital can accept — which wastes your effort and ours.
The full list is Part Three of our chapter handbook, along with the restrictions behind it. If the hospital you're collecting for has its own prohibited-item list, theirs wins — ask us and we'll help you reconcile them.
Collect
- Activity, puzzle, how-to-draw and Mad Libs books — bound, not loose
- Crayons and colored pencils, sealed
- Quiet, wipeable fidget items — latex-free on the packaging
- Grippy socks, sleep masks, unscented lip balm
- Vinyl sticker sheets, and glow-in-the-dark ceiling stars
Blank sketchbooks are the common miss. They ask an exhausted child to supply the creativity — a how-to-draw book costs the same and hands them something to do straight away.
Never collect
- Anything used, opened or unsealed
- Food, candy or drinks
- Scented products of any kind
- Glitter, or anything that sheds it
- Handmade cards, blankets and craft packets
Directory
Organizations worth knowing
These groups have decades of expertise, staff clinicians, and support lines. For anything urgent or diagnosis-specific, go to them before you come to us.
Across any illness
Association of Child Life Professionals
The professional body for child life specialists — the people who do this work full time, on every ward. Useful for understanding what a hospital's child-life team actually does.
Starlight Children's Foundation
Hospital gowns, play kits and virtual-reality programs aimed squarely at the experience of being in hospital, whatever the diagnosis.
Courageous Parents Network
Video and written guidance from parents and clinicians for families caring for a seriously ill child. Unusually honest about the hard parts.
Family Voices
Family-led organization on navigating care, insurance and school for children with any special health care need, with affiliates in every state.
Ronald McDonald House Charities
Somewhere for a family to stay and eat when their child's treatment is far from home.
Make-A-Wish
Grants wishes for children with critical illnesses. Referrals can come from a parent, a doctor, or the child themselves.
Condition-specific
American Childhood Cancer Organization
Free resource kits for newly diagnosed families, plus school re-entry and survivorship support.
Child Neurology Foundation
Support and plain-language resources for families navigating any serious pediatric diagnosis, including transition-to-adult-care guidance.
Epilepsy Foundation
Seizure first aid training, school resources, a 24/7 helpline, and local affiliates across the United States.
Brain Injury Association of America
Information and state-level support networks for traumatic brain injury, including returning to school after injury.
Cerebral Palsy Foundation
Practical guides and short videos on daily life, school and equipment for children with cerebral palsy.
Muscular Dystrophy Association
Care centers, equipment support and summer programs for neuromuscular conditions.
Hydrocephalus Association
Shunt and surgery information, school support, and a community for families managing hydrocephalus.
NORD — National Organization for Rare Disorders
A database of rare conditions plus assistance programs — the right starting point when a diagnosis is uncommon enough that little else exists.
Something missing here?
If you're a family, a teacher or a clinician and there's a resource you keep wishing existed, tell us. It's a good candidate for the next thing we make.