Featherbed Tales: Recordable Storybooks for Children in Hospital

Featherbed Tales is a digital storytelling platform that lets parents, carers, and play specialists record and share stories in their own voices.
Children can listen to these personalised storybooks anytime, offering comfort, connection, and joy during long or isolating hospital stays.
 

Using the Featherbed Tales app, you can: 

• Record stories, poems, or messages with your own voice
• Add photos, illustrations, or drawings to make them personal
• Share them securely with a child to listen to on a phone, tablet, or computer

Listening to a familiar voice helps children feel calm, safe, and emotionally supported.

Research shows that children who hear stories in hospital experience: 

• Reduced stress and anxiety
• Improved wellbeing and mood
• Less pain and need for pain relief
• More positive feelings about being in hospital

Featherbed Tales aligns with Starlight’s mission to protect play and imagination for every child in healthcare.

The resource can be used by:

• Play specialists and hospital staff to engage children during treatment or recovery
• Families and friends to stay emotionally close when they can’t be there in person
• Children to create and listen to their own recordings, building confidence and literacy skills