19 October 2026
Play in Healthcare Week 2026
From the 5th-9th of October, Play in Healthcare Week helps raise awareness on the benefits of play in supporting children’s development, emotional wellbeing and mental health. It is also a time to celebrate all those who create these vital opportunities for play, helping to transform a hospital experience from somewhere that can be scary and isolating, into a place full of creative activities, fun and happiness to support children’s wellbeing.
Why Play Matters
We sat down with Julie and Katie who are Play Specialists at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, to hear how play is a very important tool to help children cope with anxiety, reduce trauma, supporting their emotional wellbeing, and help them understand their medical treatments.
Thank you both for taking the time to share why play is so important for children and families in hospital. We are so pleased the Giggle Doctors are able to work with so many brilliant Play Teams across the country!
What is better than one Giggle Doctor? Five of them!
Every week is a busy time for the Giggle Doctors with many visits taking place across the country, but during Play in Healthcare Week we went all out for such an important time of year!
We scheduled extra visits to reach more children and families in hospital and visited sixteen hospitals in five days! We also organised Giggle Doctor Takeover Days at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and St George’s Hospital to create many playful moments for families to experience first-hand the difference play can have on your emotional wellbeing and hospital journey.
From bedside visits on the wards to designing their very own Giggle Doctor coats, colourful crowns and animals made from hospital gloves, there were many playful activities to take part in.
It’s such a special and magical thing to help create many happy memories for children. It is also such a fun surprise, some families haven’t met us before and we have parents watching in wonder as their children are laughing and playing with us – sometimes it is the first time their child has smiled or laughed in days. A few times staff like nurses, cleaners and porters stop by the door or ward and watch, it’s like everyone gets the ripple effect of the fun too!
It’s increasingly common to see the theme of trauma in children and young people’s experiences of hospital and healthcare settings which is being explored through research in the sector. It is through the power of play that Giggle Doctors address this and can help children make connections, express themselves and take control during these challenging periods.
This wouldn’t be possible without wonderful supporters like you – thank you for keeping play at the heart of childhood, not just this week, but all year long! We hope you know how much all of us at Theodora’s appreciate it.
Meet Joie, our new partner!