How to Play Doctors (Kids)

Co-authored by Joel Warsh, MD

Last Updated: August 5, 2024

So, are you bored at home? Well, read on and find out how to have fun as a kid playing doctor with your pals or family members!

Steps

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1
Get your doctor's kit together. You need some tools and instruments to be a doctor! You can use a toy doctor's kit, or you can make your own using kitchen utensils, pencils, blocks, other toys, or anything else that you can pretend to be medical instruments.
- If you have it, wear a white coat and a stethoscope! There are toy stethoscopes that actually work, use one if you have one.
You'll need patients - they can be a sibling, friend, or even stuffed animals.

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You can pretend to take notes and fill in charts about your patients, write prescriptions for medicine, and look illnesses up in books. You can keep it simple with blank/scrap paper, or you can write and draw details!
Don't forget to make them comfortable!
Knock on the door and then come in.
Put it under the patient's arm and leave it there before taking a reading.
Ask your patient to lift up their shirt to expose their chest or remove it. Then, put the stethoscope in your ears and hold it against the bare skin of the patient's chest. Listen carefully to the thumping sound of the patient's heart beating.
Ask them to lift up or remove their shirt. Put the stethoscope in your ears and hold it against the bare skin of their chest. Ask them to take deep breaths in and out through their open mouth. Repeat using the same method holding the stethoscope against the bare skin of the patient's back.
If they are wearing two shirts, ask them to lift up one. Listen to the patient's heart again. You can hold the stethoscope against the bare skin of their belly and listen for rumbling and gurgling noises.
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Tell your patient to open their mouth, stick out their tongue, and say "aah". Use a flashlight to inspect the throat and peer at the tonsils. Use the same flashlight to check their eyes and nose. Use an otoscope to look into the ears.
Get into the pretending - pick fake names, try helping different kinds of patients, and go along with the ideas and twists that your friends come up with.

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Question

I'm 13 and I want to play doctor. Is that okay? Am I too old?

Abby Elizabeth

Community Answer

You can play doctor at any age! And maybe, when your old enough, you can be a real doctor.

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What if you do not have a stethoscope?

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You can buy a toy stethoscope, or make one yourself! Be creative.

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What items should be in my doctor kit?

Community Answer

Here are some things you can include: a stethoscope, bandages, a reflex hammer, an otoscope, thermometer, and a blood pressure monitor.

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Tips

Set up a waiting room. Get some toys the patients can play with while waiting.

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Ask your parents for some snacks in case the patients get hungry.

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Be sure to always hold the stethoscope against the bare skin of the patient's chest, belly or back.

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Tips from our Readers

The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.

Personalize each patient by designing fun ID wristbands or badges on paper using crayons, markers and stickers. Add in details like birth date, weight, past surgeries or illnesses, emergency contacts and one of those appointment barcode sticker sheets if you have them.
Print out some free doctor's note templates or prescription pads online to make the paperwork side of things more authentic. Get creative dreaming up imaginary patient names, medical histories, and health issues to describe. Let those imaginations run wild!
Plush stuffed animals or plastic dolls work great as faux patients since they usually have removable outfits, allowing easy stomach or chest access for placing your toy stethoscope directly on their "skin" during checkup roleplaying. Way more realistic!
Make a waiting area for impatient friends "awaiting" their appointments by placing magazines, toy medical pamphlets and clipboards with paperwork to fill out around a small table. This gives them something entertaining to do before their pretend visits.
To keep safe, it's best not to create makeshift injections from household items like needles or thumbtacks glued to squirt bottles. Simply pretend to give shots — no risky materials needed!

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Warnings

Always ask your parents for permission to use something that are not yours.

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Do not play with tools that aren't toys. Someone can get hurt.

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