Entertain your Sick Child in the Most Caring Ways

Play with children when it is appropriate, especially when they are sick. Your attention will make them feel to be valuable and being loved. But, choose only those games which are easy to play and need no much of effort. Take a tip from the following on how to entertain your sick child.

The surprise box can be a shoe box covered with gay crepe paper in which you can put bits of things for a child to play with. Your own child's tastes will govern the contents of this box, of course. For a little girl bits of silk and lace to dress a doll are always a joy. I well remember a surprise box of my childhood given to me on Christmas.

It contained nothing more than odds and ends of materials and laces collected by the family from the scrap basket. It delighted my little girl's heart more than all the other expensive toys put together. For a boy the surprise box can contain mosaic blocks, a new knife and some soap for carving, hammer and nails, and a saw to be used at a later date when he is up and about. He'll love looking at them and dreaming and planning about the things he'll be able to make later.

Perhaps the slip the child draws from the magic hat will say "You may draw a package from the grab bag." Be sure to have the grab bag ready into which you have put little boxes, spools, favors from parties, old Christmas cards and other odds and ends you have gathered up around the house which might afford a youngster a bit of fun.

A sick child always likes to watch things grow. An indoor garden can be fashioned from a heavy tar-paper box. A landscape scene can be arranged in a flat box with tiny slips of plants for borders, real grass growing in the center and tiny stepping stones. Grass seed will begin to sprout in three days and can be loads of fun for the youngster to watch.

Children like to watch bulbs grow, but for fast action grow a carrot top. Scoop out the inside of a carrot about half way down. Hang it by a string near the bed and keep some water in it. It will sprout new greenery in a hurry.

That favorite of our childhood, a Cinderella garden, is fun for a youngster and simple to make. Soak in clear water a large coal or coke clinker or a number of small ones for several hours. Rinse thoroughly and place in a low flat bowl. Mix one cup of salt with two cups of water and pour the solution over the clinkers. The solution should be about one inch deep. Drop in a little mercury-chrome, bluing or water-color paints for color. In a day or two crystals will begin to form and grow. More salt and water can be added later if needed.

Do not let your child stick with his bed, entertained him and make fun with him. Your care and love will take his sickness away.