BooBear's Love Notes

"No one has ever become poor by giving." - Anne Frank

One of the greatest gifts we can give to children is giving them a heart willing to give freely and we give this gift to them through freely giving ourselves. Years ago I envisioned creating "love notes" for children in children's hospitals, but was never able to fully realize this vision due to several complications. The vision for these "love notes" included a note and themed art activities for children of various ages. One of the complications was how to package these "love notes", but recently I came across a perfect solution 6" x 9" Manila envelopes and finished making the "love notes" using the supplies I had purchased years ago. It was a wonderful feeling to complete these "love notes". However, it posed another complication: would the hospital administration allow these particular donations. Previously I had received mixed responses as to what the hospitals would accept, but recently I received an email from a child life specialist accepting the donations. I look forward to donating these "love notes" to the children's hospital. 

A lot of people I encounter are not familiar with the field of child life and I wasn't familiar with it myself until a few years ago when I heard about it while I was finishing my bachelors degree. Child life specialists are pediatric health care professionals who work with children and their families in hospitals, as well as other settings, to help them cope with the challenges of hospitalization, illness, and disability (Wikipedia). Children are provided with age-appropriate preparation for medial procedures, pain management, and coping strategies through play and self-expression activities. Child life specialists also provide information, support, and guidance to parents, siblings, and other family members. The field of child life is a wonderful addition to the medical community. It is also the field I am preparing to enter into this year. I was fortunate enough to be accepted into a wonderful child life graduate program at the beginning of this year and look forward to being a certified child life specialist. 

Children, who are confined to a hospital for prolonged periods of time, experience changes in their "normal" routine and this can cause depression in these children. One way to combat depression is to receive visitors and letters from people who care about them. This is why I decided to create BooBear's Love Notes and send "love notes" to children in the children's hospital. The note was a way of telling the children they were loved while the activities included in the envelope were meant to provide the children with an activity when they were unable to leave their beds. Each envelope contains post cards, velvet magnets to colors, foam activities, and crayons. These items are centered around a theme, such as cowboys or pirates. Most of the items I have used were purchased from the Oriental Trading Company. Their website has several different items in various different themes. I was able to order plenty of supplies without spending a fortune.

I have pictured the "love notes" I have made thus far and am working on more "love notes", which I will show in upcoming posts. Are there any projects you have planned to help others? Or ideas for future "love notes"? If so, I would love to read about your projects and ideas in the comments below.