Exciting things are happening! Where are you???

“We’ve had quite the first year here at Light Spinner Quarterly headquarters creating the world’s very first (and only) Child Life Specialist magazine! In addition to happily meeting and growing close to a community of child life enthusiasts, we are avidly working on larger, more involved projects to advocate for your field. Child Life is our unbound craving!” – Founder, Sarah Mendivel

As of the September 2012 issue, LSQ magazine will be available online, in print, and together as a bundle. People who care about child life will be able to instantly read LSQ on their iPads, mobile devices, and computers. Get easier access to child life specialist stories, interviews, and intervention ideas in the hospital or at home!

You now have 3 options:

1. LSQ Online Magazine (1 Year) $12
2. LSQ Print Magazine (1 Year) $20 (shipping & tax included)
3. LSQ Print and Online bundle (1 Year) $30 (shipping & tax included)

Our introductory offer of $15 a year has shrunk on one side and inched up on another to $20 (less than 2 movie tickets) a year, and you can see why all over our website. Between our child life specialist coloring sheets, comfort positions poster, and Child Life Program Justification Letter, 2,161 people have downloaded these free resources to date!

“What is a Child Life Specialist?” is a question we need to replace with, “How do we get a child life specialist on our staff?” Light Spinner Quarterly is more than a magazine, it’s a movement.

We do more than print the coolest publication happening in child life – we make it work for you. Free job and internship postings, PSAs, child life news… it’s all free. Subscribe to your field, to your future, to your legacy.

*If you have already renewed your subscription, we will honor the $15/year subscription rate.

Welcome to the WORLD’S FIRST RADIO COMMERCIAL FOR CHILD LIFE!

Light Spinner Quarterly is stepping up their global awareness of Child Life in a big, big way. We’ve gone to the airways to let the world know that child life specialists are here! Click on the link below to listen to our 60 second child life specialist radio commercial.

Child_Life_Specialists_-_Complete_-_60_Sec_Spot

 Aired on three radio stations so far, LSQ is taking the world by storm. Want to hear it on more stations? Your subscriptions, donations, and purchase of gifts all go towards spreading the word about child life.

Want to know what else we’re up to? Stay tuned, because this week we’re revealing another very exciting child life commercial.

Now is the time to spread awareness. Get out there and shout it out! Share this commercial on Twitter, Facebook, and every email contact you can conjure. C’mon child life specialists, this is our time to grow!

“Child Life is here. Get Excited!”

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Light Spinner Quarterly is cleaning out our library of child life books and favorite child life resources! Now’s your chance to choose what you want!

Write a story, get a book! Up to 6 winners, supplies are limited!

What is your child life specialist short story? Have a favorite memory from your child life internship? Still smile back on that child life ah-ha moment? How about an on-the-job moment with a patient or supervisor that changed the way you see child life? We’d love to hear about it!

Need examples? Check out page 6-7 in our March 2012 issue for ideas!

Prize: Your choice of child life book, free copy of the September 2012 issue,  in which your story will be published!

Who is eligible: Everyone. Child life specialists, child life students, child life departments, educators, parents, or anyone with child life experience.

Guidelines: Share your short story in 300-800 words. It’s up to you! One entry per person.

What to do: Email LSQuarterly@gmail.com your story with your name and title (unless you’d like to be kept anonymous) and city/state. Don’t worry about editing, we have you covered!

Deadline:July 15, 2012

Available books: The Peanut Butter Jam: a great child life intervention book about life changing food allergies. Hospital Critterz: a fantasy tale for young readers about having adventures in the hospital. Keeping a Secret: A Story About Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis: A child life specialist’s godsend when tackling this tough issue. My Blood Brother: A Story About Childhood Leukemia : Hematology/Oncology child life specialists always need more go-tos for kiddos with tough diseases. Hold the Cheese Please: A Story About Lactose Intolerance: Having a tummy ache can be embarrassing, but not with this read! Oliver’s High Five: An illustrated kid-friendly book about overcoming physical disabilities.

Subscribe to LSQ to stay connect with your fellow child life specialists and share in their experiences. Let’s continue to support one another and grow this incredible field! “Child Life is here. Get Excited!”

Say hello to the bedside/playroom intervention that not only stays within a child life team’s budget, but doesn’t require a budget at all!

Get your patients dancing with a Styrofoam cup guitar! This intervention not only puts to use those nameless, un-sharpened pencils laying around the playroom, but it will also wow the families you work with enough for them to demand that your hospital hires more child life specialists immediately!

Materials Needed:

• Un-sharpened pencil
• Paperclip
• Rubber band
•  Styrofoam cup
• Tape

Directions:

1. Straighten out your paperclip so that it looks like a “J” (click here for visual)
2. Wrap paperclip around bottom of the pencil so that the tip of your “J” sticks out just enough to loop the rubber band through (click here for visual)
3. Tie rubber band to the loop in the paperclip (click here for visual)
4. Tape the top of the pencil to the side of the cup. Use extra tape if you have a kiddo that wants to be a heavy metal rock star (see above image for visual)
5. Poke a hole in the top of a cup and string the rubber band through.
6. Turn the cup upside down and tie a knot on your rubber band bit so it doesn’t pull back up through the hole. Tape in place.
7. Hold steady and start playing!

Additional ideas: Start a marching band on your unit!

Do you have kiddos sharing a hospital room? Let them play battle of the bands!

What about bored parents that are eying your intervention while wishing they had their own? Get them involved as an opportunity to bond with their kiddos.

Have ideas? Let us know: LSQuarterly@gmail.com or subscribe to our magazine to get hands on ideas. “Child Life is here. GET EXCITED!”

My Body Poster
Materials: Poster board, cut outs, markers, glitter, it’s up to you!

Welcome to the intervention that creates an exciting a dialogue about your patient’s body. The “My Body Poster” creates ownership and control, where the child may be feeling none. Medical procedures may need to happen, but find a time where it’s appropriate for the child to have control. Try modifying the poster to say,”In the playroom, my body belongs to me.” Create safe havens, trust, and confidence.

Touch and Feel Wall
Materials: Poster/foam core board, tape, IV tubes, electrode patches, sedation mask, medical tape,gauze, etc.

Looking for an easy way to give patients a hands-on experience with medical equipment? Child Life Specialists are experts in medical education, and now families can be too. Create the ultimate “Touch and Feel Board” to carry with you to a new patients room. Use it on a hospital tour, or prop it up in the playroom! Place velcro tabs on the back of the items so that patients and families can remove them from the board for further play!

IV Pole Jellyfish
Materials: Needlepoint canvas squares, thin ribbon (glittery preferred!)

Child Life is known for bringing light into a dark room. Spritz up your patients IV pole with supplies that should be in anyone’s playroom! Simply string ribbon through the holes of the mesh needlepoint canvas and you’re ready to go! Hang on an IV pole, decorate a patients room, or wear as a necklace. Great for building little hand dexterity through fine motor planning.

Photos are courtesy of Dakota County Technical College’s Early Childhood and Youth Development blog. This child life friendly blog is run by Dawn Braa, a recent presenter at the 2012 Child Life Conference!

Have ideas? Let us know: LSQuarterly@gmail.com

Want more ideas? Subscribe  to our child life magazine so you don’t miss out!

Need some fresh child life intervention ideas? LSQ has some that we’ll be sharing on our website periodically. Want more in general? Check out our next issue- it will be packed with good intervention ideas!

Use the matching game for things you find in the hospital! Think of stethoscopes, IVs, blood pressure cuffs, x-rays, etc! Are you a child life specialist that works on a specific unit? Taylor the cards to fit your specialty.

Play with patients to teach them about their hospital surroundings. This will be a great opportunity to create a dialogue and build rapport. It also does a snazzy number on cognitive development, recall, and works the fine motor skills.

Directions:

• Grab some cardstock (Joanns), paint swatches (free at Home Depot), or scrapbook paper (Scrapbook Heaven)
• Trace shapes of hospital items on a piece of paper, then cut it out to fit the card. Getting anxiety because you don’t think you can draw? No worries dear child lifer, whip out a camera and print the hospital item instead!
• Place shapes onto a blank card with glue or tape
• Cut card in half
• Laminate with contact paper (because every real child life specialist is obsessed with disinfecting used items!)
• Create enough to have a deck
• Now shuffle, mix, and play!

Additional ideas:

• Turn the cards upside down on the patient’s hospital bed or in the playroom and play “Memory”
• Get the patient moving by placing the top half of the cards on one side of the room, and the bottom half of the cards on the other side of the room. This is great for kiddos who need to move around after surgery or aren’t feeling motivated. Child life specialists are the ultimate motivators!
• Create hospital items that the child fears most to create a familiarity with them that will appear less threatening. Use their favorite colors or patterns to make the scary needles or stitches more approachable.

Have an idea? Let us know: LSQuarterly@gmail.com

Couldn’t make it to the child life annual conference in DC? No problem, FACLP has you covered!

“App-ortunities Await You…Slide to Unlock the Future of Child Life” marks the 21st annual conference hosted by the Florida Association of Child Life Professionals.

Light Spinner Quarterly is so excited about this conference, that we decided to go too! Come visit our booth in the exhibitor hall for fun giveaways!

When: September 14-16, 2012

Where: Marriott Tampa Westshore Hotel

Cost: Varies

Contact: Kelley Cowan, CCLS cowanke1@memorialhealth.com

FACLP brings you a keynote speaker, handfuls of breakout sessions, and networking opportunities…all in the shadows of palm trees and the warm Florida sun. Come hang out with your child life specialist colleagues for a an educational weekend in the sun!

“Happy Birthday LSQ!”

Our friends at Alphabotz and Playworks gave us some cool birthday presents that we’d like to share with You!

Need some affordable ways to snazzy up those bedside activities? How about some new distraction ideas? Click on the coupons above to see the LSQ exclusive offers!

Better click fast though, these coupons expire by the end of the month!

LSQ thanks all of the child life specialists, child life programs, children’s hospitals, and organizations that supported us in making our first year a phenomenal one. Subscribers should expect their June issues in the next week! Don’t forget the Playworks subscriber raffle! Your ticket will be attached to your June issue.

Thanks for following us, child life communicty; here’s to another dynamite year!!