What do sick eight-year-olds like?

July 6, 2006 1:15 PM

What should I bring to an eight-year-old boy who just had major surgery?

My friend's eight-year-old is in the middle of an all-day surgery to remove a (benign! yeah!) growth from his pancreas. What can I bring him for his week-long hospital room recovery?

posted by clh to Human Relations (27 answers total)

A brand new GameBoy (or similar handheld video game device). I don't think flowers go over too well with boys his age, and liquor is out of the question. =)
posted by triolus at 1:20 PM on July 6, 2006

When I was that age and in the hospital, I enjoyed "Where's Waldo" type of books.
posted by raedyn at 1:21 PM on July 6, 2006

- Find out if he has any portable gaming systems (gameboy, etc) and get him a game or two.

- Grab some books / comics from the bookstore.
posted by AmericnJewl at 1:21 PM on July 6, 2006

I also thought of the GameBoy type device, but they're kind of expensive. If he already has one, a new game would probably be appreciated.

Another idea: he could learn simple magic tricks and entertain his visitors and hospital staff with them. So maybe a book of card tricks and a deck of cards?
posted by raedyn at 1:23 PM on July 6, 2006

Best answer: As I mentioned ina recent previous thread, MadLibs! I remember whiling away car trips filling in those little booklets with little kid obscenities (fart, toot, Lake Titicaca) and laughing like crazy with my sisters.
posted by Sara Anne at 1:36 PM on July 6, 2006

Best answer: Catherine Zeta-Jones.

(or, failing that, Legos are freakin' failsafe. Especially the Technics ones)
posted by scrump at 1:37 PM on July 6, 2006

A bag of cool Matchbox type cars. They're fun to play with on Blanket Mountain!
posted by crw at 1:38 PM on July 6, 2006

MadLibs are great as long as you have someone else to laugh at your "Grand Tetons" jokes, but if he's more solitary, I found the Yes and Know Invisible Ink Books pretty dang captivating when I was his age.
posted by plinth at 1:56 PM on July 6, 2006

Here's a better link.
posted by plinth at 1:57 PM on July 6, 2006

Check out the answers from this question, too. Somewhat similar circumstances.
posted by frogan at 2:28 PM on July 6, 2006

How about a really engrossing novel that he could have read to him by whomever is around? When I was 7, I was in the hospital for surgery, and a neighbor brought me The Hobbit. I wasn't quite ready to read it myself, but family/friends/nurses' aides read it to me aloud. It was something to do, and complex enough to be worth thinking about when I was alone.
posted by donnagirl at 2:37 PM on July 6, 2006

Being of a similar age once, anything to do with the world cup.
posted by popcassady at 2:38 PM on July 6, 2006

As a follow up, there is Childs Play, the PA gang does yearly donations to hospitals for exactly this type of thing. If you're looking for ideas, future donations, etc etc.
posted by iamabot at 2:57 PM on July 6, 2006

Response by poster: Awesome suggestions. He has a PSP, but being a 35-year-old girl (ew!), I have no clue what games he'd be into.

I know he loves Legos, so that is a great one. His 11 year old brother is around most of the time, so MadLibs might be a cool thing for both of them.

More suggestions are more than welcome. :) Thanks!
posted by clh at 2:57 PM on July 6, 2006

Nintendo DS. Games for said DS.

On preview:
Then tell him to sell the PSP on eBay. :)
posted by BaxterG4 at 3:02 PM on July 6, 2006

The one 8 year old boy I know loves both his GameBoy and plain old regular drawing. So I suggest a sturdy sketchbook and some crayons or colouring pencils.
When I was 8 and sick I got a lot of notebooks and sketchbooks (and stationery to write letters to my friends while I was away from school, but that's probably more of a girl thing)
posted by easternblot at 3:07 PM on July 6, 2006

When mine was 8, nothing made him happier than a bag of lizards and dinosaurs (preferably rubber and very wiggly).
posted by zerokey at 4:00 PM on July 6, 2006

For the PSP, Me and My Katamari is non-violent, but not lame. It seems to entertain my six-year-old daughter and 32-year-old boyfriend equally well.

I'm all about books.
The I SPY Spooky Night is engrossing like a Where's Waldo, and the creepy factor keeps an 8-year-old boy intrigued and occupied.

The Little Lit from Art Spiegelman (It Was a Dark and Silly Night, Strange Stories for Strange Kids and Folklore and Fairytale Funnies) are great books that don't talk down to his age group.

The Everything I Know series by Tom Lichtenheld (Everything I Know About Monsters, Everything I Know About Pirates) are a little easier to read and time consuming.

And the -Ology series is amazing and super cool. (Dragonology by Ernest Drake, Wizardology by Dugald Steer, Egyptology by Emily Sands). They're elaborate books with tons to read, explore and interact with.
posted by Gucky at 4:21 PM on July 6, 2006

If there will be family there most of his waking hours, a couple board games might be the thing. My stepdaughter loves Life in particular (my five-year-old does, too, but doesn't have the patience for a full game--an eight-year-old who's bedbound shouldn't have that problem). At that age, I loved Risk, cribbage, and Trivial Pursuit (the junior edition, which is what I was given in a similar situation when I was my son's age). A deck of ordinary cards and a book of card tricks for normal cards and a book of solitaire games if he'll be on his own, as well as actual books, which depend entirely on the child.
posted by Cricket at 4:33 PM on July 6, 2006

I was 8½ when I had my appendix removed. Back then, this meant a several-days stay in the hospital. What I remember best enjoying among the recuperation gifts my parents bought were a set of some kind of plastic modules one could assemble in many different ways (like Lego, although there was no physical resemblance -- these were hexagonal tubes) and surprisingly, since I mostly tolerated only SF back then, a copy of Jack London's The Call of the Wild (which may have been edited down, as it was a juvenile edition).
posted by Rash at 4:42 PM on July 6, 2006

Has Loco Roco released where you live yet? That's a game that seems to put a smile on everyone's face.

Or what about Daxter?

Maybe you could ask his brother what games they own.
posted by lucien at 4:47 PM on July 6, 2006

Comic Books are a great idea. They're not too expensive, and for the same price as a PSP game you can get him a whole big stack. When I was 8, I didn't even care what they were, or about continuity. I even read the first issue of SuperPro. You can't go wrong with Marvel and DC, just make sure they're appropriate for 8 year olds, as many aren't nowadays.
posted by hoborg at 4:51 PM on July 6, 2006

After major surgery kids tend to like things aimed at a slightly younger age group than the one they normally fit into. They are not at their best, may be a bit lacking in patience, may need confidence-boosting easy challenges.

For some kids in hospital it is a good thing to take them a stuffed toy with a bandage on the appropriate part, and tell the kid that the toy is scared of hospitals and will he look after it? The kid may accidentally (or quite deliberately) give information about his fears while playing with the toy. And just running through the reassurances for the toy may help the child. If he is not into stuffed toys, you could try taking in a wounded GI Joe.
posted by Idcoytco at 5:06 PM on July 6, 2006

Just to follow up my last comment -- I didn't mean that the kid only needs a stuffed toy, the "slightly younger age group" bit was aimed at which video games, books etc you can expect him to enjoy. Now is not the time to "stretch" him too much, though variety is good.
posted by Idcoytco at 5:26 PM on July 6, 2006

Small DVD player with headphones. He has plenty of comfort movies that his family can bring him.
posted by popechunk at 8:47 PM on July 6, 2006

Response by poster: I just got back from Toys R Us. I got him a PSP game (Exit), MadLibs and Legos. Thanks all for the suggestions!!
posted by clh at 1:44 PM on July 7, 2006

I still think you should have gotten him Catherine Zeta-Jones.
posted by scrump at 9:02 PM on July 7, 2006