Jason Haney, a labour foreman working at the Memorial Children’s Hospital construction site in South Bend, Indiana, had the idea to build an 8-foot character so the kids could play the iconic game “Where’s Waldo?”

Since the spring, Haney has hidden Waldo in various locations on the construction site within view of the hospital’s southern windows. When kids who can see Waldo find him, they tell Haney and he moves the figure. Then the search begins again.

The idea first came to Haney after the workers put out a snowman on the site last winter.

“One of the electricians said he thought it would be funny if there was a Waldo,” he told the South Bend Tribune.

Haney thought the idea was brilliant, so he made the 8-foot character out of plywood and painted it.

“It gives us something to talk about,” Child Life Program coordinator Tracy Byler said of the game. “A big part of what we want to do is build relationships, so anything that gives us a chance to talk, like ‘Where’s Waldo,’ is great.”

Neveah Garza, a 9-year-old girl currently in contact isolation at the hospital, said she watches Haney and his fellow workers from her window.

“Poor guys, they have to work in the sun,” she said. Neveah often searches for Waldo.

“Mom found him first,” she said while pointing outside toward the site. “See he’s down there, by that fan thingy.”