In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, my 4 year old was asking me a lot more about my profession as a pharmacist. He wanted to know all about viruses, bacteria, medicine, shots, sickness, etc. I absolutely loved his interest in the medical field and how he wanted to understand how medicine and the different medical devices worked. I wanted to help teach him and foster that desire to learn. So I figure what better way to learn than to give him his own patient case where he could diagnose the patient and determine the appropriate treatments. We spent the day working through this fun and interactive medical playtime case which helped him learn about some of the different healthcare workers, the medical devices they use, and how to use them to diagnose and treat a patient. So I figured I’d share with you how I set up my patient case and what you’ll need for a successful medical playtime!
Supplies you’ll need to setup medical playtime:
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- Kraft paper – If you don’t already have kraft paper, you need to get some! There is something so magical about rolling out a giant sheet of paper to create huge artwork. There are so many crafts and activities, in addition to this one, that you can do with kraft paper. You have to get some! I’ve linked my favorite kraft paper right above here
- Painter’s tape – I always use painter’s tape whenever attaching kraft paper to any surface in my home (ie floor or walls) because it peels off easily for a quick clean-up and doesn’t leave behind any residue
- Markers – You have to check out these dual tip markers linked below. On one end they have a regular marker tip and on the other end they have a fine tip marker. So cool!
- Bandaids – I bought an inexpensive box from the Dollar Tree that the kids could use up. You may want to hide your expensive character bandaids so you still have something for your kids real cuts hahah!
- Ice Pack
- Kids Doctors Kit – I have linked one of my favorite children’s doctors kits. This kit has a large variety of medical equipment that comes in a sturdy carrying case. It also comes with a dress up costume and includes dental equipment too for even more pretend play!
How to setup medical playtime:
- First, tape down a large sheet of kraft paper to the floor or kids table.
- Then lay out the doctor’s play set, an ice pack, oral syringe, and a pack of bandaids.
- Next, draw your patient on the sheet.
- I used a red marker to signify a bloody scrape that needed a bandaid and a purple marker for the bruises.
- I also drew zig zags radiating away from certain areas to indicate pain
- Then introduce your children to the patient by explaining what they are at the hospital for and what symptoms they are experiencing.
- Our patient was a 7 year old girl that fell off of her bike and hurt her leg. She is unable to stand on her leg and believes it is broken.
- She has a lot of scrapes and bruises that are causing her pain.
- She also complains of pain in her ear and reported a fever.
To take care of our patient, we had to:
- Put bandaids only on the cuts. I made sure to emphasize to my 2 year old that the bandaids could only go on the bleeding scrapes and cuts. She loves putting bandaids on every bump, scrape, and bruise. So this was a great way for me to teach her that bandaids are used only when blood is present. An ice pack is a better option for a bruise when there is no blood present. This was such a great teaching opportunity for my 2 year old that also got her a good fine motor workout in from opening all those bandaids.
- Put the ice pack on the bruises. Remember – Ice packs are for the bruises and bandaids are for the cuts!
- Use the stethoscope to listen to her heart and lungs. We determined that her lungs and heart both sounded good.
- Use the stethoscope and blood pressure arm cuff to check her blood pressure and heart rate. Both of these were elevated in our patient, but our doctor determined that this was due to her being in a lot of pain and that giving her some pain medication would help.
- Use the otoscope to check her painful ear. We diagnosed the patient with an ear infection and decided that the best treatment would be to prescribe her an antibiotic to get rid of the infection and give her pain medication for the pain she was experiencing.
- Use the thermometer to check her temperature. Our patient had a fever which makes sense since she had that ear infection. The pain medication that we were already giving her would also help to lower her fever.
- Use the oral syringe to draw up the pain medicine and antibiotic and give it to our patient.
- Pretend to give the patient an x-ray. The x-ray showed that the patient had broken her leg and would need to go to surgery to fix the break. We used the syringe to give her a shot to numb the area and our scalpels to perform surgery.
My kids absolutely loved this activity! They, of course, went for the bandaids first. Opening and applying the bandaids was such a great practice of those fine motor skills. Then they used their problem solving skills as they talked through what the patient needed next. This kept them busy for at least an hour straight and they kept revisiting it throughout the day for more play. The next morning, they requested markers to draw more cuts and bruises and applied the rest of the bandaids. I’d say this will definitely be something we do again. Give it a try, it’ll be a hit!
If you loved this medical playtime idea, you’ll love some of our other imaginary play ideas linked below.
