Hospital

Learning Experience:
A trip to the hospital
Setting: Happy Days Childcare Centre,
Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary
Setting type: Full and part-time daycare
Age group: Young children
Theme: Well-being
Aim 1: Children will be strong
psychologically and socially.
This learning experience is an example
of how one service supports one of the
learning goals in Aistear’s theme of Wellbeing.
Over the weekend one of the children visited
the accident and emergency room with her
brother who had been injured in a football
match. After hearing about this experience
the children wanted to make a hospital of
their own and complained to us about the
lack of props as they wanted beds and a
waiting area! We had to really think on our
feet and quickly realised that there were
beds in toddler rooms that we could use
so we brought these out with the help of
the children and set them up in the wards.
We also worked with the children to put the
chairs in rows to make a waiting area and
added books and magazines for people to
read while they were waiting to be seen by
the doctor.
Learning goal 1: In partnership with
the adult, children will make strong
attachments and develop warm and
supportive relationships with family,
peers and adults in out-of-home settings
and in the community.
Time for your medicine
This resource was developed through the Aistear in Action initiative.
www.ncca.ie/aisteartoolkit
Now, hold still...
Ciara’s brother had twisted his ankle at
the match so he had an x-ray and so we
too had to have an x-ray machine and
x-rays. We also needed blood and a bottle
of ketchup came in very useful here! Lots
of pain relief (water) was also provided
by caring nurses. Every day during that
week most children were busily engaged
in hospital play for prolonged periods–
either being the doctor, nurse, patient,
mammy, daddy, porter, radiographer or
receptionist.
Waiting room
As practitioners, we were also involved
either helping surgeons with their gloves or
taking on the role of patients who were badly
in need of assistance with fractured elbows!
Over the days we added new props as the
public health nurse was able to give us some
masks, surgical gloves and bandages which
really added to the play. We read stories that
were related to hospital play and provided
clipboards and pens to record patient
histories. We also added play thermometers
and syringes. These new props led to a
great fascination with numbers as patients’
temperatures were recorded with some
having very high temperatures indeed!
This resource was developed through the Aistear in Action initiative.
www.ncca.ie/aisteartoolkit
X-ray
Treating the patients
Ideas to extend
the children’s learning
■■
Provide materials for children
to make appointment cards
for patients to come back for
check-ups. Make sure there is a
clock and a calendar available for
children to use.
■■
Invite the local public health nurse
or an ambulance driver to visit to
talk to the children.
■■
Provide props so that a pharmacy
can be set up so that patients can
collect their medicine after they are
discharged from the hospital.
This experience also links to:
Identity and Belonging, Aim 2, Learning goals 5 and 6
Communicating, Aim 2, Learning goals 1 and 4
This resource was developed through the Aistear in Action initiative.
www.ncca.ie/aisteartoolkit
The play leader’s reflections
This experience
helped children understand why doctors and
nurses are important members of our community
and how they help us to get well again when
we are sick.
One of the mums
told me that this hospital play experience
was really helpful for her little boy when
he had to be admitted to hospital one
weekend with a high temperature.
Watching children
take on the different roles was really
interesting. You could literally see the children
become more unwell as they waited for their
spoon of medicine and the doctors and nurses
were so kind and considerate to the sick
patients and their worried parents.
Early Childhood Ireland
Hainault House
Belgard Square
Tallaght
Dublin 24
Tel: +353 1 405 7100
Fax:+353 1 405 7109
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.earlychildhoodireland.ie
National Council
for Curriculum and
Assessment
35 Fitzwilliam Square
Dublin 2
Tel: +353 1 661 7177
Fax:+353 1 661 7180
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.ncca.ie
This resource was developed through the Aistear in Action initiative.
www.ncca.ie/aisteartoolkit