The Vet Doc Is In!

   The past few days have been full of imaginative play! I rearranged a few things in the playroom to set up a Vet Clinic! What better way to learn more about pets and how to care for them than with pretend play props.
   My mom gave me a gift card to Lakeshore Learning for Mother's Day, because she is awesome and knows how much I love to teach and engage little ones in learning.  And of course, I used it on my munchkin to buy her a Vet Dramatic Play Set (It will eventually end up in my classroom, no doubt.)  I gathered a few of her stuffed animals toys and her Doc Mcstuffins Doctor kit to add to the area.

   I created a few signs, such as the welcome sign, the waiting room sign and the Doctor on Duty sign. I also used a vet play printable resource from PreK Pages that included the Pet Patient forms.

     I switched out our learning bins and replaced them with random baskets, to be used as crates to store the animals that are under observation, as well as little shapes with the pet name on it.

    I took my dog, Brownie, in for a checkup, and Dr. Naomi gave him a thorough check-up, wrote down his information,  took his temperature, told me he had an ear infection and then gave him some medicine for his ears.

Dr. Naomi was busy all week long, taking x-rays, giving medicine and even bandaged up an injured pet.

    There was so much learning going on. She had hands-on learning about how to care for animals, even when they are sick or injured. She learned a few new vocabulary words relating to body parts of different animals, practiced writing letters and words on paper, and showed empathy when caring for the animals. She was a kind, gentle and loving vet!

Here is what was included in the Vet Dramatic Play Set:

Lakeshore Learning Materials can be a bit expensive, but they are awesome!

 (And the stethoscope is an actual, working stethoscope)

    This has been a very fun, engaging and educational little unit. For a culminating type of activity, we took our two dogs for their check up yesterday and she was able to see firsthand how the vets checked and handled animals. Our dogs got a thorough check up and a few shots... and she was intrigued by it all. I might have a future Veterinarian on my hands!