Going to hospital can be very daunting for children. Monkey is here to help explain it all through stories and activities. Monkey has a very interesting background as he was created by Helen Sadler, an ex-teacher, for her little girl when she faced major lung surgery.
Through the stories and activities Monkey explains different health procedures and the NHS to young children to help them understand treatments they may have/services they may use with an aim to help them feel calm and relaxed when receiving healthcare and also to improve their knowledge of what happens in an emergency and how to be healthy etc. The stories are engaging with a focus on being realistic, explaining sounds, smells, and sights, to help children recognise environments they may encounter.
Last year when we found Ms C with multiple lumps around her neck, armpits and groin, we were told she might have lymphadenopathy. Our life became a roller coaster with visits to the hospital and blood tests. It would have been great if we had these Monkey Wellbeing booklets to hand to explain to Ms C what is going on especially when Monkey has a blood test. Inside this booklet, it explains in simple plain English with pictures which is very easy for us to convey the message to Ms C.
We had received Monkey’s Guide to Healthy Living and NHS Services; Monkey Visits the Emergency Department activity guide; Monkey has a Blood Test; Monkey Has An Asthma Attack; Monkey’s asthma guide, the Monkey puppet and NHS explorer sticker sets. They are all available to buy from the Monkey Wellbeing website. Monkey Has Type 1 Diabetes book, Monkey Starts School book, Monkey’s book on Hearing, Monkey has an Injection book and Monkey’s Guide To Your Hospital Stay are all coming soon so keep an eye out if any of these interest you.
We find that the booklets are easy to understand and it’s great that they come with photo illustrations. Ms C enjoys reading together with me and we both gain knowledge on each Monkey adventure. Some of the stories are not relevant for us now but maybe in the near future we might need a good read.
Disclosure: I received these booklets from the publisher for free. However, they have not paid me for this review, and they do not exercise any editorial control over my review or anything else on this site.