According to www.post-gazette.com, an animal shelter is giving children in a Chicago hospital the chance to play with kittens and puppies in a way similar to playing video games. Wright-Way Rescue in Morton Grove, Illinois paired a live video feed with Internet-accessible interactivity features to create a virtual experience for kids at downtown Lurie Children’s Hospital.

The kids have been able to watch the live feed from the shelter since the beginning of the year, and the interactive content will be available to anyone until coding issues can be resolved and the program can be set up at the hospital.

The system allows one viewer at a time to “play” with animals in one room of the shelter for two minutes. Using a platform called iPet Companion, which connects children’s hospitals with shelters around the country, the person in control can activate one of three toys by clicking on them, piquing animals’ interest. Currently, Wright-Way is one of 14 shelters using this program.“It’s sort of a day in the life of puppies and to be able to experience that in real time is really a unique opportunity,” said Susan Ruohonen, director of children’s services at the hospital.

The interactive room is located in the shelter’s new facility, which opened in September 2014 after a bus crashed into the side of their old building in 2013. The video camera and toys used in the iPet Companion program were funded with a grant from LinkedIn for Good.

Wright-Way hopes the partnership with the children’s hospital will benefit both the kids and the animals. The no-kill rescue wants to put smiles on the children’s faces while they interact with the pets while also generating interest in the pets themselves, leading to more adoptions. According to Lisa Aiken, director of development at the shelter, one pet has already been adopted by someone who fell in love from a hospital bed.