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Going to the doctor can be scary for kids. When we talk about community helpers, I always include discussions and books about people in the medical profession. We talk about why it is important to have regular check-ups, going for sick visits and even immunizations. No one likes getting a shot, and preschoolers are often even more apprehensive since they are precisely at an age where many of the booster immunizations are administered. I think helping children know what to anticipate during a visit can be reassuring and helps to alleviate some of the fear. Whenever possible, I try to have parents (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc.) come in and share what they do.
One of our parents (a doctor) came to visit and shared a sweet book called "What's In A Doctor's Bag?" by Neil Shulman and Sibley Fleming. She then pulled out items from her doctor's bag and demonstrated each item. Later, she let the kids explore and experiment with the items. The children listened to their heartbeats and had their reflexes tested.
In our small groups later in the week, children made a little doctor kit, placing some of the first aid supplies inside while discussing what each item was used for.
We had a pharmacist (another parent) come to speak to our class. She talked about medicines, first aid and spreading germs. We did a great little experiment on spreading germs. She added some fine glitter to a bottle of hand sanitizer to simulate germs and gave two children a little squirt to rub on their hands. Each child shook hands with another student and that student continued to pass on the handshake. After everyone had finished, we looked at our hands. Even though only two people had the hand sanitizer germs, almost everyone had a little glitter on their hands! This really helped illustrate the concept of spreading germs in a concrete way.
After talking about simple wound care (such as bug bites, cuts and scrapes), she gave use a little first aid kit for our class. We already have a pretty extensive first aid kit both in our classroom and in our school office, but this one is perfect to use on the fly for field trips.
One of our neighboring classes did a cute craft about x rays. The students traced around their arms with chalk on black paper and glued cotton swabs to represent bones on the x ray. Too cute!!!!
I am so fortunate to have such great parents that are willing to come in to share their occupations with the class! I think many of the children's fears were eased by getting to know our community helpers and asking questions. Thank you, Dr. Syed, and Mrs. Williams for sharing your time and expertise with us!
If you'd like more information about the book Dr. Syed read to our class, click the link below. My Amazon Affiliate link:
And a few links for "medical" supplies for doctor/medical play:
I'd love to read your thoughts or comments! Please share them below the post!
