The association "les p'tits cueilleurs d'étoiles" was created in March 2016 with the aim of engaging and reigniting the imagination of hospitalized children. How? By immersing them in the realm of outer-space, stars and planets. For the past year, Les P'tits cueilleurs d'étoiles has worked in several hospitals in France. During our events, the children have touched meteorites, discovered the different planets of the solar system, walked on Mars or discovered impact craters on the surface of the Earth and the other planets.

Thanks to the support of researchers from various French research laboratories (Géosciences Paris Sud, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Université de Lille, Laboratoire de Planétologie de Nantes), each child has had the opportunity to encounter “real-life” astronomers who willingly share their passion. Every child gets the gift of a small meteorite donated to us by "Labenne meteorites". During each session children can play, dream and also receive education at the same time.

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The association would now like to provide one on one entertainment at the bedside for the youngest children while dressed as an astronaut. This proved to be a particular success in our partner hospitals and provided a real moment of escape for these children. The association already has 2 astronaut suits for Paris and the South-West of France and we would like to purchase 2 more suits for the Nantes and Lille branches of the association. .

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In Lille, the association is led by Pierre Marie Zanetta and Mathilde Ferrand. Pierre-Marie is a PhD student and works on meteorites and Mathilde is a researcher in chemistry in Lille University. They both organize animations each month at the hospital called “Jeanne de Flandre et Roger Salengro”.

In Nantes, the association is led by Marion Massé, project officer in planetary sciences at CNRS/Planetary Geosciences laboratory of Nantes. Specialist in planetary geology, Marion and her colleagues from the laboratory are sharing their passion for planetary and space sciences with children in Nantes hospital.

Des étoiles dans les hôpitaux

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