Medical play is a hands-on play experience that uses real or pretend medical equipment and supplies to help children become familiar and more comfortable in the hospital. This type of play helps children master the hospital setting and allows them some control over the environment. Medical play allows children to safely express their feelings and fears about the hospital and the medical equipment. Through exploration and play, children also are able to learn techniques for coping with their stress and anxiety, helping them to become calm and more confident in the medical environment.

Child Life Specialists use medical play to access the child’s understanding of the medical environment. Hospitalized children may develop anxiety, fear and misconceptions about their diagnosis. Medical play interactions allow the child life specialist to address these concerns by giving the child and family the right amount of information/education based on the child’s age and situation, decreasing the fear and anxiety.

The examples below identify a variety of medical play suggestions that can be used with children.*

Infant

• Playing peek-a-boo with doctor hats and masks
• Allowing your child to watch you play with medical equipment and dolls
• Letting your child explore and play with medical equipment, for example stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs and BAND-AIDS.

Toddler

• Providing toy doctor's kits with added items such as BAND-AIDS and cotton balls
• Playing doctor with dolls
• Playing peek-a-boo with doctor hats and masks
• Creating art collages with BAND-AIDS and other medical equipment
• Letting your child explore and play with medical equipment
• Reading books about healthcare experiences

Preschool

• Playing with doctor kits and dolls
• Using medical materials to make painting and collages
• Painting with syringes
• Letting your child explore and play with medical equipment
• Reading books about healthcare experiences

School-Aged

• Making sculptures from medical equipment
• Using medical materials to make collages
• Using syringes in water play
• Making art with tongue depressors
• Playing with doctor kits, real medical equipment and dolls
• Reading books about healthcare experiences

Adolescent

• Writing stories and poems about the healthcare experience
• Making sculptures with casting material
• Creating artwork and music with medical themes
• Exploring with real medical equipment
• Hospital scrap book

*The listed information came from www.chop.edu Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia