I spent a lot of prep time wrangling with ideas for booths, and gradually conceded to the simplest, most basic design : A3 colored card folded in half to make a floor and a backdrop supported by pipe-cleaners punched through the card so it could easily be folded up and brought home. In the end, however, there was only time for one child to make one and she immediately modified it, declaring it too big and cutting it in half. She was 5 and working with her was one of my highlights of the day. She jumped enthusiastically into the work and I couldn`t supply her with materials or technical assistance fast enough. She produced a whole jungle of animals, perhaps inspired by my mentioning the "magic bus" could go to Africa - it had been my intention to show Hospital B`s film of there through its windows, but in the end there was no need/opportunity. Her jungle however, was somewhere near Youghal in Cork, and it contained a mammy and baby butterfly, a little girl, a monkey, a lion and an "eenchy squeenchy elephant" (subsequently eaten by the lion). They were all called Sarah. She was so excited about her making that she cut a hole in the floor of her booth to make the elephant and then was inspired to build a tower up out of the hole. We had hoped to link with children in Hospital F but in the end they weren`t ready but luckily a fox in Hospital E turned up instead. She pealed with laughter at her own performance`s appearance on screen - butterflies flitting around, lions roaring, and was delighted when she heard Hospital E comment on her toy spider`s appearance. The children did not exactly communicate - my participant was too involved with her own work - but they did each seem to have a great time...

It was due to the fact that her puppets were simply drawn and cut out that she had time and energy to create a `world` and story. This also allowed her a lot of creative independance. The other children made more detailed and time consuming puppets. One of the things I love about this job is how the opportunity to work one on one like this, allows you to let the child`s energy, mood (health often) and their ease with myself, suggest how best to work with them.

The three year old, long stay, high energy patient I have every week I find particularly challenging to engage in any kind of focused way. I was hardly in the door though and he was following my set-up with his puppet from last week. I was delighted it had survived: his mother presumed it lost but he knew exactly where it was. This week we managed to add legs and hands to it and he christened him Freddie. All week I had been mulling over a focus for his performance/play (the origins of my booth angst) and asked him would he do a job for me. I gave Freddie a little clipboard and told him he was the smile collector. his job was to see how many people he could make smile. Whether Freddie or his puppeteer earned them is debatable, but each time a staff member or visitor responded with a smile (in one case even a kiss) a vigorous scribble marked it in the clipboard. Again, I am not sure if this meant very much to the boy but he did certainly enjoy himself, and it helped to develop Freddie`s character. Maybe next week we can make him a place to be...

Another highlight involved a patient (3 years) who last week had been too miserable and shy to work with me, but this week had no hesitation. Her parents told me she had little english and were surprised when she was able to tell me what she wanted. At the end of the day, exhausted myself, I noticed she had fallen asleep with her puppet "Mudi" in her hand.

Another three year old, with little english, bossed his mother and I around directing us to help make his puppet, and then surprised her by naming it Mummy. As it was link up time we attempted to engage him with a sweet puppet from Hospital F but this did not make much of an impact, perhaps because of his age, problems with sound and that he was getting tired then too. 

Reminded by these two overseas patients of the Puppet Portal book from Phase 1 I went at lunch time to get it from the school. This also gave me a chance to catch up with the teacher who I had not seen yet that day. In the afternoon then, I used the maps inside to explain the portal project idea and to find out and place where everyone was from.

Other puppet `passengers` today were a simple head on a stick by a five year old boy too exhausted/ill to take it any further (although his brother turned up later and I left him materials to make another, which seems to have lead to the development of the first one whether by him, the brother or his mother); a simple cut out made by a father for his 16 month old who joined us in the corridor - the usual puppet making venue for the long term patient allowing maximum social encounters; Chloe, the Queen Bee who left an ice cream spoon on the bus - a clue to the fact that she was on her way home from a party : she "puts lots of glitter on her. And she loves disco and dancing with her friend Laura" she was so glamorous she made a short film, and, inspired perhaps by the films by children from the first week, she had her photo shoot with her owner`s toy dog. Her owner was 7, my eldest this week.

I am having a hard time to think of low-lights. Good! But I did spend a lot of time as usual, struggling and juggling with wires, equipment and materials on my bockety trolley, leaving a trail of paper and markers: a red-nose wouldn`t go amiss, maybe I should try it.

Direct involvement with: 7 children from 16 months to 7 years, 1 sibling, 9 parents, 4 nursing staff, 3 support staff plus 8 `caught smiles`