Plastic Arts workshop
This is focussed on teaching children to use the language of art to express themselves through painting, drawing, collage, photography and sculpture. This aids the child to resume contact with their senses and emotions.
This is conducted by a plastic arts teacher who is on site on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
This workshop is intended for children from 6-years-of-age and for adolescents who are inpatients at Gustave Roussy. The teacher helps the children to release tension and tries to get them to forget their illness for a time by working through pictures. She introduces them to the technical limitations and those imposed by the medium in order to stimulate their imaginations. They are not given recipes but are shown techniques and tools which can be developed to fulfil a project. Everything the child expresses is fundamental, because it speaks for him/her.
Educational, play and cultural activities
Within the Department, the children and their families enjoy many dynamic play and cultural activities which result in well-being, pleasure and amusement. These activities are conducted by educational professionals specialised in teaching of young children. The main objectives are:
- To encourage the integration of the child and adolescent and their families into the inpatient units and adaptation to these.
- To offer games and activities for children from 0 to 11 years, which are individualised and suitable for the child’s psychomotor and affective stage of development.
- To organise educational and teaching approaches which encourage socialisation, independence, self-expression and communication.
- To aid and support parents in their relationships with their children and help them to maintain balance within the family.
- To initiate workshops: music (partnership with Music and Health, National Orchestra of France) / Cooking / Play Library (partnership with the town of Villejuif).
- To organise parties for Christmas, carnival, large-scale games, bazaars, etc.
- To suggest pathway plans such as the partnership with Universcience, a project involving the Science and Industry Museum for children aged 2-7 years and 5-12 years.
The role of charitable associations
Because of their diversity, availability and skills, charitable associations offer valuable help to children and their families during their stay in hospital.
Almost 50 associations work with the Department in various ways:
- Leisure activities and package breaks for patients
- Weekly visits
- Support and help for development of programmes across the Department
- Financial support for research projects and work on a human scale
- Financial support for the project « Poussons les murs » (Let’s push back the walls)
> For further information on the associations which support us
