The Use of REAL Tools

I posted this picture on our Facebook Page before Christmas of last year.  This was a gift for my then barely 3 year old son - real medical equipment - and his Poppy's (my father's) medical bag from 1969.

"Dr. Kit"

The use of real materials not only goes along with our parenting style, but it's also an integral part of the Reggio Emilia philosophy - where children are seen as highly capable learners having an extraordinary amount of inborn abilities, potential, strength and creativity. 

The Dr. Kit consists of (click on the items for link on where to buy).....

• Stethoscope
• Otoscope
• Reflex hammer
• Child sized blood pressure cuff

CLICK HERE

FOR A VIDEO OF OUR CHILDREN EXPLORING THESE TOOLS

RLs girls have been playing Doctor for as long as I can remember.  Her oldest recently got some real tools for her 4th birthday. Check out this amazing Doctors Office RL created....

Doctors Office

Tools

We also use real "tool tools" in our playroom:

Real Tools

- AK (MESE, MECD)

Broken Bones - Orthopedics at Work

As you all know my girls love playing doctor.  You can see our latest doctor post where they performed open heart surgery HERE.  Here is yet another extension off of that play.  One of their favorite books right now is "Maisy Goes to the Hospital".  In the book, Maisy falls off the trampoline and breaks a leg.  They are always asking a million questions...

How does it get better?

Is the cast hard?

Can she take it off?

How come her friends are writing on it?

I set us this invitation up for them below.

Casting Invitation

I know there are a bunch of different paper mache recipes out there.  For this invitation we used one part glue to one part water.  

Newspaper

Gauze

A willing participant.  (LOL)  

Pouring in the water

(All my oldest's curls are gone.  :-(  AK and I had some BAD experiences at the hair place last week)

Glue

Mixing it all up.  

My oldest (3.5) prepping me for the cast.  

Sorry about the quality of pictures.  I was taking them myself while they put my cast on.  

My 27 Month old getting her first strip ready.  She was EXTREMELY particular that they didn't bend, fold, etc.  Very true to her nature.  If it wasn't perfect she tossed it in the garbage.  

My oldest ditched the invitation at this part.  She did NOT want to get messy!  

Carefully placing newspaper on my leg.  

Very precise!  I was kinda shocked at how much she enjoyed this. I thought for sure my oldest was going to run the show.

Taking off excess glue.

Almost done!  

Finished!!  

Our original plan was to let it dry and then paint it white so we could color it.  It ended up being a bust. "The doctor's" told me I was healed much sooner than expected and we needed to cut it off.  :-)  We tried to save it so we can use it again for future play but it fell apart.  I'm sure it was a combination of taking it off before it dried and my 27 Month old didn't quite cover my complete leg.  There were a few holes and it was only a layer or two deep.  

This was a bit messy.  I would definitely recommend laying a blanket or some sort of sheeting down underneath.  I also had a garbage can and towel close by.  My 27 month old liked to wipe her hands off after each piece.  

RL  

Routine Visits to Open Heart Surgery (A growing imagination)

The invitation below was set up for my girls after a recent visit to see my husband at work.  My oldest had a MILLION questions while we were there and after we got home.  She really wanted to see what daddy does at work.  Why not show her!  She loved loved loved this.  

Open heart surgery invitation.  

Prepping for anesthesia.  

Injection

My 25 Month old thought this was hilarious.  

Marking incision.  

Cutting Tigger open

Vein harvesting.  

Watching intensely.  

Sewing him back up.  

All better!  

RL  

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=