Doctor's Office

My daughter has an amazing creative power.  I love when she gets lost in her own little world.  From trips on her horse and carriage to Nonny and Poppy’s house, to her made up songs, to her endless scenarios of what she can do with a little red box on wheels we have in our playroom.  She AMAZES me and has taught me so much in her short two years of life.  :-)  

I have a 15 month old and I am pregnant with #3… between the two of us we spend a lot of time at the doctor’s office. Daddy is in the medical field as well so we occasionally take trips to the hospital.   She loves role-playing Doctor.   She generally makes up her own situations with things we have around the playroom.  After observing and listening to her for a while now I created an environment that expanded off her play.  I set the playroom up as a doctor’s office the night before and let her wake up to it.  I should have video taped the initial reaction.  Priceless.   

I can't even begin to tell you about her visions and conversations that took place in that room for next two hours, the hour after lunch, and the hour before bed.  

You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'” - George Bernard Shaw

2011

Waiting Room

Patient Table... marking the feet and head for measurement.

Measuring

Doctor's Table

Patient Chart

X-Ray Table

2012

One of my daughter's favorite things to do is to "play doctor".  A Doctor's office is created in our play room every day, at least once a day.  Watching their play evolve over time is so much fun. 

Each time they play out this scenario they fall deeper and deeper into their play.  Some of the stuff they come up with is astonishing.  

The pictures below show what they have been up to these days.  :-)  

Bandages, Band-Aid's, Alcohol wipes, scissors, and gauze.

My oldest sets this up for herself often.

She started drawing marks... AKA bumps and bruises on her dolls

Head Injury

All fixed up! 

Hard at work.  She has a lot of patients to see!

Never leave your 4 month old with "Dr. B" and Nurse M" while you get dressed. 

Real Doctor's Tools

Thanks to AK, we also added real doctor equipment to 

our play.  Here is her son's doctor bag.  

The doctor kit consists of:

***Click on the words to find out where to purchase***

Stethoscope

Otoscope

Reflux Hammer

Child size blood pressure cuff

2013

As you can see in the pictures below we have expanded 

off their play even more.  

A doctor's office has now become a permanent part of 

our playroom.  

Doctor's Office

This was very easy to set up.  We purchased a few shoe 

organizers and laid a shelf across the top.  We also 

hung up our old light panel to use as an x-ray viewer.  

Close-up of cubbies

Aside from the real doctor tools mentioned above, we 

also added...

Popsicle sticks, cashiers tray, test tubes, paper roll, 

petri dishes, dropper bottles, pony bills (aka pills), tape 

measure, surgical mask, lab coat, cotton balls, finger 

lights, plastic shot glasses, tweezers, Q-tips, and 

Band-aids

We also added some office materials.

What is included:

Paper, pens/markers, key board, mailboxes, scissors, 

envelopes, tape, stickers, and postal stamper.

The office can easily be "packed away".  We often do 

this if we know we have visitors coming over.  

To see more our involved doctor play please check out 

these posts...

Open Heart Surgery

http://www.playathomemomllc.com/2012/04/routine-visits-to-open-heart-surgery.html

Broken Bones - Orthopedics at Work

http://www.playathomemomllc.com/2012/06/broken-bones-orthopedics-at-work.html

You can also check out some fun videos!

Our Children exploring real doctor tools: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrviyaL8B1I&feature=plcp

A video of my girls playing doctor back in January 2012:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAuMEntHHd0&context=C4f8318aADvjVQa1PpcFP-TW8wnHJ0cotzS9za-2CzEEK1t8HQu9c=

Bandages and Band-Aids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWdlaZNLpYU&context=C432fe4eADvjVQa1PpcFP-TW8wnHJ0ciN09o5BIuKRfc6HQc2MCGs=