Spread a Smile is a registered charity that supports the wellbeing of seriously ill and hospitalised children during extended hospital stays and treatment. Our services are available, free of charge, to all children up to the age of 18 under the care of our NHS hospital partners. We offer a host of activities and entertainment that support your children, their siblings and you while your child is in hospital or shielding at home. Please see a list of current services below, each with details on how to apply/participate. To receive our monthly family newsletter detailing all our latest services and offers please click on the button above. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us on events@spreadasmile.org or speak to a member of your hospital’s play team. We look forward to meeting you.
Sign up for Jelly Week
We’re wobbly excited to be launching a new partnership with Hartley’s, the UK’s No.1 jelly brand. To celebrate we’re declaring the first week of May as Jelly Week when we will be organising a host of jelly-themed activities for all to enjoy including jelly monster drawing tutorials and jelly magic on Smile TV, a virtual Wibble Wobble Jelly Challenge in Jelly Land, jelly play (at selected hospitals) and jelly art sessions. In addition, Hartley’s is delivering more than 1,000 strawberry balloons and pots of jelly to our NHS partners. Sign up your child/children for the virtual jelly challenge experience by clicking on the button below.
Book a virtual visit
Our professional entertainers including magicians, fairies, poets, artists and musicians are available for bedside visits to all children under the care of all our hospital partners. All visits are currently virtual. Please click the button to arrange your visit.
Switch on Smile TV
Smile TV is our entertainment channel full of clips, films and messages from our entertainers and special guests. We’re always adding new videos and clips to Smile TV. Amongst highlights this month is this hilarious film from two of our magicians – Mr Magic and Paul. It’s guaranteed to make you smile!
Join Afterschool Club
If your child/children (including siblings) would like to join our After School Club please fill out the form below. The sessions take place three times each week via zoom. Each Tuesday is art themed, Wednesday is music for under 5s and Thursdays have different activities including magic – all delivered by our fabulous team of entertainers and artists. To tie in with Jelly Week, on 4 May our art session will be jelly-themed. On 13th May we will be hosting a virtual party for Eid. A full timetable can be found on the registration form below.
Half Term Extravaganza
Over the next half term (week commencing 31 May) we will be hosting an entertainment extravaganza with treats lined up for the whole family. There will be a Terrible Tudors workshop with the Horrible Histories team, virtual character visits with Paddington™ and Skye from PAW Patrol plus, for teenagers, a festival make-up tutorial. Places are limited so be sure to sign up ASAP!
Free Readly subscription
Our friends at Readly – the digital subscription service that offers unlimited, “all-you-can-read” access to thousands of magazines in one app – have given us 300 x 3-month free subscriptions to give to our families. Each subscription can have up to five individuals attached.