With the recent COVID-19 pandemic sweeping our country, there is an even greater need to find creative ways of serving children and families. Many children with cancer are feeling more isolated now than ever, since all activities and events have been canceled in order to observe social distancing. On Monday, April 13th, after many positive communications with managers and coordinators at the hospitals, For A Day sent craft activities to the children who are receiving treatment for cancer and other serious illnesses. 

The amazing company KiwiCo gave us a reasonable bulk price to enable us to purchase 80 STEM activity kits. We had two different activity kits, one for older children and one for younger children. "Pinball Machine," geared for older children, teaches children how to design a fully operational pinball board game, all while teaching pinball physics such as angles and momentum. In addition, the activity teaches children how to create geometric artwork to design the game board. "Safari," geared for younger children," encompasses three activities plus a bonus magazine. Children are able to create four safari toy puppets and learn about textures, colors, and patterns. They are also able to construct their own binoculars. Finally they can play a memory-building matching game with mix-and-match animal cards.  

When we told MD Anderson Cancer Center, Ronald McDonald House, and Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center that they will be receiving these awesome STEM activity kits for their pediatric patients, they were so happy. The children, upon receiving the kits, absolutely loved them. 

Allegra, a manager at Texas Children’s Hospital wrote,

"The KiwiCo boxes have been great! They are very engaging for the kids. I personally love that the boxes are allowing the kids to engage in STEM activities. Thee boxes facilitate engagement in higher-level thinking, without them even realizing that they are learning! The kids are loving creating, designing, and having fun!"

Nicole, a manager at MD Anderson Cancer Center wrote,

“ The Kiwi Crates are great!  The families really like them because they not only have the specific activity listed on the box, but also a couple of smaller tangential activities too, so it keeps the kids busy for a longer amount of time.  Families also really like that the crates have an educational component, so they feel like they’re slipping something school-like in while the kids only see the fun.  In a time when lots of parents are being asked to “homeschool” this is a really nice feature! 

From our staff perspective, amidst the COVID situation we have been forced to move to single use activities for our kids to limit the amount of exposure they are getting to staff and to any materials coming in and out of the rooms.  To be able to give a child an activity that is theirs to keep, and doesn’t have to come back out of the room to be cleaned and passed to another child, is an additional layer of safety and security we can provide the families in these uncertain times.  As our kids are all severely immunocompromised, this is a huge win for us. 

I hope that you will share with your supporters how much we appreciate their, and your, efforts on behalf of our patients.  We know that healing the body is only one piece of curative medicine – healing the mind and heart are equally as important.  Donations like these help us keep kids developmentally, emotionally, and socially on track during one of the hardest journeys they will ever take in their lives. We appreciate you!“

Thank you to everyone for making this, and other services, possible, especially during this time of even greater need. We at For A Day are grateful to you all. Wishing everyone good health and safety!