Reading Room – SickKids Hospital

The Reading Room Program at SickKids

YPT works in partnership with the SickKids Family Programs team to facilitate The YPT Reading Room Residency, a series of weekly workshops focused on creative play for children from 0-6 years of age. This residency is based on another program run by YPT with Parent Resources, a family drop-in centre located in East Toronto. The residency consists of weekly hour-long sessions delivered over six to eight weeks. Led by an YPT Resident Artist Educator, each YPT Reading Room Residency session explores a particular theme through reading, dramatization, song and craft making. The premise of each session aligns with the hospital-wide themes set by the Family Programming staff. The YPT Reading Room Residency  seeks to enhance and integrate learning and literacy among young children by using drama and play as a source for creativity, emotional expression and sensory stimulation.

The Reading Room program at SickKids is a daily drop-in program for children from 0-6 years of age in the Family Centre hosted by a resident therapeutic clown. The program is accessible to all children in the hospital, including siblings of patients receiving treatment. Every session of the Reading Room is broadcast live on the hospitals closed circuit system allowing any child to watch and participate wherever they are in the hospital and regardless of their physical health or ability.