The Importance of Play: Creating Comfort and Trust

Program Impact

·May 18th, 2026

The last time everything felt uncertain, how did you get through it?

Maybe it was re-watching an show that makes you laugh, sitting quietly in the sun, or eating your favorite meal.

Whatever it was, you probably felt things start to ease and hoped that everything would be okay.

For hospitalized kids, they’re going through something incredibly hard each day. They feel overwhelmed because they’re taken out of their typical routine. There's loneliness from being separated from family and friends. There’s an uncertainty of what comes next.

Play is an important way children get through their hardest moments. When hospitalized children experience the joy of play, they go from feeling anxious to more at ease, from uncertain to more in control and feel like a kid first and not just a patient.

Play isn’t just something nice to have; it’s an essential part of care.

But play looks different in the hospital than it would be at home. Child life specialists like Shannon help ensure kids play in ways that are right for their development and safe for their care.

Play: The Path to Comfort and Trust

As a child life specialist, Shannon is a child development expert who supports kids and families as they navigate the stress of hospitalization. With the help of play programs, she empowers kids like Kaiden or Kaliyah to find comfort and start to trust the people caring for them.

Shannon might give a child a Starlight Toy Delivery or Starlight Hospital Gown, which can open the door to building trust with hospital staff. She explains why these moments matter:

Shannon Taylor CCLS with Patients 1x1 — Shannon playing with pediatric patients at the hospital.

“It is important to build rapport because it creates trust between the patient and medical staff and makes the child feel safe and comfortable.

When a patient feels comfortable, they are more likely to open up, ask questions, and express their feelings surrounding their medical care.

Overall, that allows us as medical providers to support them appropriately. When a child feels supported, they’re more likely to have a positive experience even during something difficult like a hospital stay.”

Shannon's favorite part of what she does is helping kids get through their challenging moments through play. She shares why these moments are meaningful to her:

"It’s incredibly rewarding to see a kid go from anxious to scared to feeling confident and proud of themselves for doing something really hard ... I can prepare a school-age kid through an IV and see how proud they are that they kept their arm still. These moments show kids need play and fun to help make medical experiences a little less scary."

Help Kids Endure Their Toughest Days

Think back to that moment again – what helped you find comfort during a tough challenge?

When you reflect, you might feel grateful that you had that outlet right when you needed it most.

Kids are looking for ways to cope in the hospital, and play is an essential part of how. Starlight's goal is to remove barriers to access to programs, especially in underserved communities.

Families are never billed for the programs that provide these important moments of play and comfort. With your support, kids everywhere — from small-town hospitals to big city ones — get to feel happy and just be kids.

When you help deliver Starlight programs, you make this essential care more accessible to hospitals and facilities across the country.

“Starlight allows normalization and play to be more accessible for hospitals, especially smaller hospitals like ours, through their donations,” says Shannon. “We can bring smiles to kids’ faces and make them less scared through play.”

Just like those small moments helped you, your support can do the same for a child.