WASHINGTON (AP) - Melania Trump is continuing the tradition of First Ladies reading a story to children too sick to leave the hospital for the holidays.

The White House says the First Lady toured a short-stay unit and a surgical unit at Children's National hospital in Washington on Friday (Dec 6).

She also visited patients in a playroom and helped make snowflakes with them.

Mrs Trump went down to the atrium afterwards and sat with two patients in front of a towering Christmas tree to read Oliver The Ornament Meets Belle.

The story is a sequel to the one she read at the hospital in 2018.

The tradition of a Christmastime visit with hospitalised children by a First Lady dates back decades.