Constellation Craft Kits bring bright shining star to children, families during dark hospital stays

It’s something a parent never wants to hear. “Your child has cancer.” For Bay City resident and former elementary school teacher Katie Mueller, it became a harsh reality. The now stay-at-home mom recalls when her then four-year-old daughter got sick. 

“In 2020, right around when the pandemic started, my daughter started to have stomach pains and a visible change in her stomach,” she says. “We had her checked out and after a month of back-and-forth, she had a CT scan. It showed she had cancer. They brought us down to C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. She had a tumor in her stomach.”

Given the state’s shutdown, only one parent was able to be in the hospital, and her older brother wasn’t allowed to see her either. The family spent the majority of a month getting treatments started before the four-year-old was able to come home.

“It’s difficult for anybody going through cancer treatment or treatment of a child going through something like this, but the pandemic made it harder for our family,” Mueller says. “We couldn’t be around other people or see other family members during that time — when you really need the support of people outside of your household.”

During that difficult time, Mueller’s daughter spent nearly all of her time laying in the hospital room or hooked up to machines. 

“She couldn’t get out of bed, but wanted to play,” she says. “We had to come up with some ideas to keep her busy while she was in bed. The hospital provided games and activities for her — and some of the things that really got her excited were the crafts.”

Mueller started looking on Pinterest for craft ideas and making kits for her daughter to take to the hospital during her infusion appointments, ER visits, scans, and extended stays. 

“Through her entire treatment, she just could not get enough of arts and crafts,” Mueller says. “When we were staying at the hospital, she would decorate the room with all the things she’d done. Some of the staff members had seen some of the things we brought in and were interested in them. When she finished her treatment, we put some kits together as a ‘thank you’ and donated them to the Mott Hospital in Ann Arbor.”

The kits were well-received, so the Muellers decided to give back to their local hospital, McLaren Bay City too. 

“We’ve continued to do it since winter 2024,” Mueller says. “We’re up to six hospitals, and we donate four times seasonally throughout the year. Each delivery has 200 kits, and each hospital gets 200 kits each season, four times a year. We are donating 4,800 craft kits a year.”

Today, her daughter is healthy and strong — coming up on five years of remission. While Mueller considers her daughter’s recovery as ‘the best case scenario,’ she knows the journey here was not an easy one. Her goal is to help other families going through the same thing with these Constellation Craft Kits. 

The name of the organization refers back to Mueller’s daughter’s Make-A-Wish trip. 

“It honors the star my daughter received at Give Kids the World, where children with critical illnesses are granted a week-long stay as part of a Wish trip,” she says. “Her star is part of the Castle of Miracles, joining thousands of others to form a constellation representing bravery and hope. It also reflects the network of volunteers and donors who make this work possible — each person ‘a star’ helping us bring light, creativity, and comfort to children in need.”

Today, the Michigan-based 501c3 nonprofit creates, assembles, and distributes engaging, therapeutic craft kits to pediatric patients of all ages and interests in care facilities all over the state. They currently have partnerships with McLaren Bay City, Covenant in Saginaw, Hurley Children’s Hospital in Flint, C.S. Mott in Ann Arbor, Helen DeVos Hospital in Grand Rapids, and Corewell Children’s Hospital in Royal Oak. 

“Our goal is to provide children with a sense of normalcy, accomplishment, and joy during hospital treatment,” says Mueller. “Each project is designed to support emotional healing, encourage creativity, promote cognitive development, relieve stress, and foster social interaction.”

Each kit is a convenient, grab-and-go format, with all pre-portioned necessary supplies like scissors, glue, crayons, water cups, paint, etc. included. Many kits are interactive and can be used in inpatient rooms, waiting areas, ER departments, or infusion centers. 

The nonprofit is 100% donation-driven, with folks from the community sharing their money, time, resources, and transportation to help make a difference. Last summer, the nonprofit had a successful crayon drive with donation drop boxes at Crazy Quarters Arcade. An Essexville Garber High School class made some star wands for kits. A local middle school raised money for Constellation during the intermission of their musical performance. Other local clubs rally together members to help assemble kits. 

“We’ve had a lot of people get excited about the idea and support us. It’s been fantastic,” Mueller says. 

The kids and staff at the hospitals are excited too, and Mueller has heard positive responses from art therapists and staff who deliver the kits, aware of the light they bring to patients during a dark time.

“We try to design kits that once the project is made, it’s something children can play with,” Mueller says. “While they’re building, it’s a distraction, it’s a physical gift and it can bring a little bit of joy in a time that can be really scary.”

For Mueller’s daughter, the worst part was having her port accessed. This is when the Pokie Pal, a comforting, hands-on craft designed to provide emotional support, came in handy. 

“When they were getting her ready for her chemo treatments and poking her, that was the worst part for her,” Mueller says. “We came up with Pokie Pals as a way that kids can use it as a kind of a worry stone to help them be brave during scary times at the hospital.”

There’s also the calming cloud kit, featuring a paper cup with a hole in the top. Kids can decorate a cloud on the cup’s side, glued with tissue paper around the bottom like a wind sock. They can hold the opening up against their face, breathing in through their nose and out through their mouth. As they breathe, the tissue paper blows and it’s a way to calm them down — slowing and controlling their breathing. 

Seeing the positive impact these unique craft kits have had on kids has been moving and brought a lot of joy to Mueller, too. She hopes Constellation Craft Kits can reach even more children’s hospitals in the state and eventually expand to other Midwest states. 

Constellation Craft Kits is active on social media, has a website with an Amazon Wishlist for donations, as well as a project fund linked through the Bay Area Community Foundation.